LaunchPad Leadership is an online program that empowers leaders of Australian Jewish for-purpose organisations with the skills and resources to lead their organisations through change. Blending Jewish values with technical skills and leadership theory with experiential learning, the program is designed to nurture and develop a cohort of empowered leaders.
Jewish community organisations are facing unprecedented challenges as they navigate the new realities and uncertainty due to the COVID-19 crisis over the last two years.
LaunchPad Leadership seeks to develop a culture of leadership development and connection in the Australian Jewish for-purpose sector by building a network of senior professional and lay leaders to collaborate, innovate and navigate complexity for the purpose of ensuring a thriving, vibrant and engaged Jewish community in Australia.
As the network of funders inspiring effective philanthropy and strengthening community, Australian Jewish Funders (AJF) has seen firsthand the urgency to support communal organisations pivot. It is evident that things are not simply going to return to the way they were before the outbreak of this pandemic, so it is up to the leaders of our community to pre-empt, prepare and connect with one another as we emerge from the last two years into this ‘new normal’.
Themes that will be explored include:
Design thinking;
Communication and leadership presence;
Organisational strategy and culture;
Fundraising;
And more.
Get a feel for the LaunchPad Leadership experience by watching the 2020 and 2021 highlights videos:

Personal Leadership Growth
Through various introspective and reflective processes, leaders will be supported to develop self-awareness, embrace vulnerability and build empathy to become more attuned to their effectiveness.

Skill Development
As the world rapidly shifts and changes, it is increasingly important for leaders to be equipped with contemporary modalities to lead through contemporary challenges. The program will provide a series of cutting-edge skills and tools that can be applied and refined to the leaders’ unique leadership contexts.

A Leadership Cohort
Leaders need peers and confidants; people who they trust and with whom they can speak freely and authentically, as well as spaces that offer support and nurturance. This leadership journey is centred around the creation and curation of a cohort for its members to turn to and lean on.

Jewish Inspiration
We recognise the canon of Jewish text, thought and ritual as a source of inspiration for the soul and wisdom for leadership. Drawing on fundamental Jewish values and integrating Jewish sources, this unique experience will be focussed with a view to building Jewishly literate leaders in the community.

Collaboration Dave Grants
Through this platform, leaders will be able to actualise and implement their core learnings from the leadership journey and discover what is possible as they seek to engineer a more dynamic Jewish Australia. Leaders will be eligible to apply for Collaboration Grants to put their learnings into practice and facilitate cross-communal and inter-organisational partnerships, endeavours and projects.

Executive Coaching
Each leader has individualised needs to assist them to lead their organisation through change. To enable specific skills required, participants will be provided with coaching opportunities to further develop skills they wish to strengthen.
We are looking for senior professional and lay leaders (e.g. board and committee members) of all life stages, those in a position of influence within Jewish communal life and from organisations that support them (e.g. foundations), from across the diverse Jewish landscape of Australia. Such individuals have a growth mindset and are open to learning and finding new ways to lead their organisations and communities.
To apply you must also:
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Have the ability to commit to at least 90% of the program;
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Have the capacity to put your learning into practice by implementing new ideas within your leadership approach and organisation; and
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Be open to cross-communal and inter-organisational partnerships, endeavours and projects for the benefit of the Australian Jewish community.
Applications have closed.
For any enquiries, please contact Rebecca.
0421 733 691 or rebecca@ajf.org.au
FORMAT
Program will be delivered online using Zoom.
DURATION & TIME
April – June 2022
2 hours / week online programming
(4 hours during first two weeks of the program)
1 hour/week offline reflection
5 hours on a Sunday
Reading and preparation work
PROGRAM DATES (AEST)
Session 1: Tuesday, April 26, 2022 10am – 12pm
Session 2: Thursday, April 28, 2022 10am – 12pm
Session 3: Tuesday, May 3, 2022 10am – 12pm
Session 4: Thursday, May 5, 2022 10am – 12pm
Session 5: Tuesday, May 10, 2022 10am – 12pm
Session 6: Tuesday, May 17, 2022 10am – 12pm
Session 7: Tuesday, May 24, 2022 10am – 12pm
Session 8: Sunday, May 29, 2022 9am – 2pm
Session 9: Tuesday, May 31, 2022 10am – 12pm
Session 10: Tuesday, June 7, 2022 10am – 12pm
Session 11: Tuesday, June 14, 2022 10am – 12pm
COST
The cost of the program is $1000 + GST per person and includes:
- Expert facilitation;
- Guest speakers, masterclasses, Leadership Labs and virtual programming;
- Personal / introspective analyses and goal setting;
- Guided independent offline learnings between virtual sessions;
- Learning materials;
- Access to a network of fellow leaders;
- Access to “Collaboration Dave Grants”; and
- Access to Executive Leadership coaching.
Subsidies are available and can be requested.
LaunchPad Leadership has been made possible over the years by the unwavering support of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies and our program partner Shalom.

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