AJF@HOME and LaunchPad: Behind The Screens present:

'3 Part Leadership Series'
With Aaron Katler, Adena Philips, Mordy Walfish

AJF@Home and LaunchPad: Behind the Screens are facilitating a Leadership Series to assist Jewish not-for-profit lay and professional leaders navigate the unprecedented challenges faced during COVID-19.

Join us to hear from three inspirational game-changers from the US who are leading the way providing skills, wisdom and training to help Jewish organisations make more strategic decisions during this crisis. Together we will consider threats and opportunities as we navigate uncertainty to support impactful philanthropy and connect community.

The leadership series will include 3 sessions with the international experts every Tuesday and a lunchtime debrief with the LaunchPad team on Thursday.
The lunchtime debrief will allow us to dive deep into the learnings taken from each session and to build a community that supports each other as leaders.

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Workshop Details:

Aaron Katler
Date: Tuesday 19th May 2020 | Time: 9:30am - 10:30am, AEST

Lunchtime debrief
Date: Thursday 21st May 2020 | Time: 12.30pm - 1:15pm, AEST

Adena Philips
Date: Tuesday 26th May 2020 | Time: 9:30am - 10:30am, AEST

Lunchtime debrief
Date: Thursday 28th May 2020 | Time: 12.30pm - 1:15pm, AEST

Mordy Walfish
Date: Tuesday 2nd June 2020 | Time: 9:30am - 10:30am, AEST

Lunchtime debrief
Date: Thursday 4th June 2020 | Time: 12.30pm - 1:15pm, AEST

Join URL: to be supplied upon booking (please read your email from Humanitix)

To get the most out of this series, we highly encourage you to attend all of the 6 sessions. We do, however, understand that you may not be to attend every session, so if needed you are welcome to reserve your spot for individual sessions.

When you select 'Get Tickets' you will have the option to choose the full series or if you can't make all 3, select the individual sessions you can make.

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Aaron Katler, CEO, UpStart
How to build resiliency - the do’s & don’ts of leading NFPs

For years, Jewish not-for-profits and their ventures have been fuelling a renaissance in Jewish life in the USA. From creative afterschool programs to youth movements, these organisations have been the front lines of making our community more just, vibrant and inclusive. These ventures are sometimes the only connection point to Jewish life for individuals seeking alternatives to more traditional offerings.

These ventures currently face unprecedented challenges as they navigate the new realities of lost revenue and financial uncertainty. The US is at risk of not just losing these ventures, but the incredible progress they’ve made for Jewish life.

In this session we will learn about how the US are building resiliency thanks to the incredible support that UpStart offers organisations so that NFPs cannot just survive the days ahead but thrive into the future. Aaron will share these resiliency techniques so we can apply them here in Australia, to further develop our resiliency and support local Jewish not-for-profits.

Aaron will delve into how we navigate this reality as a leader with three primary audiences: Jewish social entrepreneurs, Jewish not-for-profit intrapreneurs, and those who fund them.

Aaron will address what has been working in this emergency, and what the risks are as this state of emergency continues, who is emerging as a positive force and what’s showing up as bad behaviour.

As AJF and LaunchPad deepen our partnership with UpStart, AJF’s CEO Tracie Olcha looks forward to facilitating this vital conversation to support Australia’s Jewish not-for-profit sector with their insights, wisdom and network of trailblazing leaders.

To get a taste of what is to come and the incredible work that Aaron has been stimulating you can read this article recently published by Aaron in eJewish Philanthropy: Leading Leaders Through Uncertainty

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About Aaron Katler

Aaron is both an experienced entrepreneur and intrapreneur, having worked in key strategy, operations, and leadership roles for Jewish nonprofits and private sector businesses.

Prior to UpStart, Aaron served as Director of Special Projects and a Senior Philanthropic Advisor at the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, The Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties. For five years, he served in senior leadership at BBYO, including three years as its Chief Field Officer. Aaron holds an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and a Certificate in Informal Jewish Education from Hebrew College in Boston. Aaron founded Endangered Spirit, a successful Jewish edu-tourism business that led environmental education trips throughout the United States, Central America, and South America.

Joyful Jewish expression is an integral part of Aaron’s family life in Berkeley, CA, where his wife Deb is also a Jewish communal professional and their children, Shoshana and Noah, are actively engaged in the many vibrant Jewish programs available in the East Bay

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Adena Philips, Strategy and Change Consultant
Organisational Leadership in a Time of Crisis

This session will draw on change management theory to help leaders transform this challenging period into a catalyst for growth. Adena views this moment as a rare opportunity for leaders to reconnect their teams to a sense of values and purpose and strengthen the foundation required to thrive in dynamic realities.

This is a facilitated space for you to pause, examine the challenge of today, and turn the lens inward on what you are learning to deepen your self-awareness and leadership skills for tomorrow.

The unusual circumstances of the last few weeks have enabled many of us to break old habits, step outside our comfort zones, and encounter our needs, challenges, and strengths with a different lens. Moments like these are precious and rare opportunities to meet ourselves anew, deepen our self-awareness, and strengthen our skills and practices for the long haul - as opposed to siloing our learnings as discreet episodes related to the crisis.

Let’s come together to do the important work of integrating this experience into our narratives and paths for sustained growth.

This session will support you in reflecting on your experience during the Covid-19 crisis and in envisioning ways in which it may sustain positive change in the future.

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About Adena Philips

Adena is an organizational consultant and executive coach based in New York. She's passionate about connecting people and organizations to their purpose, and working with organizations that are in transition and asking big questions. Adena has more than a decade of experience working with organizations in industries including; pharmaceuticals, finance, technology, consumer packaged goods, foundations, faith-based organizations, and NYC agencies.

Prior to founding APC, Adena worked in the strategy and operations group at Deloitte Consulting. Adena is on the board of several non-profits in the leadership and policy spaces. She is also a trainer for Resetting the Table, a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening dialogue across conflict. She is a noted lecturer and public speaker and loves facilitating and training for local NYC agencies and communal organizations, as well as college campus groups.

Adena graduated summa cum laude from York University with a BA in Philosophy and Communications and holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business with specializations in Global Business, Strategy, and Leadership & Change.

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Mordy Walfish, COO, Leading Edge
Leading Edge: Navigating the Lay-Professional Relationship During a Crisis

Leading Edge was developed by funders to support the not-for-profit sector. Leading Edge influences, inspires and enables dramatic change in attracting, developing and retaining top talent for Jewish organisation by creating a forum for the sector to address talent and culture issues.

Leading Edge’s flagship program areas focus on the immediate and long-term leadership and talent questions facing the Jewish sector. AJF have been working together with Leading Edge since it first began in 2014.

In conversation with Tracie Olcha, CEO at Australian Jewish Funders (AJF), Mordy will delve into what leaders need in this moment to continue to build great organisations. He will discuss how lay and professional leaders can weather these unprecedented challenges together and share best practice on successful and supportive collaboration. In this session Mordy will share tips, tricks and tools of how board, staff and volunteers can be working together during this time.

The focus of this session will be around building relationships between lay and professional leaders, looking at:

How to navigate change together?
How to fundraise collaboratively during COVID-19?
How to get your board and professional team on the same page?

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About Mordy Walfish

Mordy is Chief Operating Officer at Leading Edge, the Alliance for Excellence in Jewish Leadership.

Prior to joining Leading Edge, Mordy was Vice President for Programs at Repair the World, where he launched and scaled Repair’s multi-site community-based service programs.

A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Mordy holds a B.A. in Contemporary Studies and German from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia and an M.A. in Comparative Literature from Northwestern University. As a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar, Mordy also completed an MPA in non-profit management from NYU.

Mordy received the 2015 JPRO Network Young Professional Award. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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Looking forward to sharing these three inspiring sessions with you