What's your view?

Poppy Berelowitz ASFLP 2007-08 writes about a past session on running a Jewish communal organisation, led by Chair of WJR, Nigel Layton

"People say you get two big life-changing opportunities in life, this was one of mine" Nigel Layton, Chair, World Jewish Relief on Running a Communal Organisation.

Adam Science participants gathered round a falafel, salad and humus filled table at the Jewish Social Action hub to hear Nigel Layton speak about the responsibility and personal fulfilment that comes with chairing a large Jewish charity.

Nigel's talk was honest and his ideas were insightful into the 'top' level of a large charity. Below I have picked a few to share with you:

1. To be involved with a charity should begin with a passion for the cause. Leaders can emerge from outside the community but for Nigel, his values have been developed through his close relationship to his family and his traditional upbringing. It is important to look out for opportunities in the community as it can enrich and shape your own life as well as the organisation.

2. Taking on a role on a Board of Trustees is huge a commitment. For instance, if you are a director of a commercial organisation you are not personally liable to the business, however if you are a trustee of a charity you are fully liable for all your personal wealth. If you take on a specific role at a charity, it is important to spend time with your predecessor finding out how they approached the position in order to gain a better insight as to how you should tackle the role. Early on in a new position, it is important to source your successors and give people ownership of their roles, so you can be sure others are committed. The charity commission gives advice on optimum numbers and roles of a board.

3. To be a successful lay person on a board of a charity, it is important to have a good relationship with the professionals working for the charity. It takes good communication skills to deal with both the people above you and below you. There needs to be constant interaction with these groups as well as clear role definitions. It is also key to earn respect from the people above you by being honest and also standing up when you think it is right.

Nigel's strongest message for me was to not sit in a comfort zone that you are used to but to take on opportunities to challenge and push yourself further.

Sarah Kaiser, has prepared a summary of their session on Interfaith.

Speakers:

Brian Pearse, The Interfaith Network
Samuel Klein, The Coexistence Trust
Stephen Shashoua, The Three Faiths Forum

All the sessions on the Adam Science course have tested our group in some way, but the Interfaith session presented a unique challenge. In fact, some of our speakers left disheartened at the scale of the job they have to do, although their work is inspirational in many ways.

As we were nearing the end of the Adam Science course, our group particularly requested an extra session on interfaith: we decided that interfaith is an area of growing importance for the British Jewish community and one we should think more about. Despite this, going into the session, many of us were sceptical about the abundance of interfaith organisations and the efficacy of their work.

The three excellent speakers gave us an overview of the work taking place within the interfaith world and clarified the very different roles that each of their organisations fulfils and the clear need for this work.

It is surprising now to hear that when the Interfaith Network was established in 1987, interfaith was seen as heretical and marginal work. Now there are more than 250 interfaith organisations operating in Britain alone and the government has put interfaith work at the heart of its community cohesion agenda.

But how successful is interfaith work? How do educational or political activities have an impact on the way we talk to our neighbours? How will interfaith organisations achieve community cohesion when many British people increasingly eschew faith altogether?

We quickly realised that it is almost impossible to measure the success of interfaith work. The real tests of how well we get along are hard to define and harder to measure - small, day-to-day activities that go largely unnoticed.

The session ended with a challenge to us all -- what are we going to do to make the multicultural society a reality?

The Pears Foundation contributes to the core costs of the Adam Science Foundation Leadership Programme and the Adam Science Foundation Alumni Network