Yesod Board Foundation | Jewish Care Victoria

Building a new generation of leaders

What is Yesod?

Yesod (Hebrew for 'foundations') is a 10-month program, made possible due to the generous support provided by Kelly and Simon T. Morris and Simone Szalmuk-Singer. The program involves participants gaining a solid understanding of the professional duties and responsibilities of not-for-profit board directors.

Jewish Care has partnered with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) to run the initiative, which includes interactive workshops with keynote speakers, firsthand experience with Jewish Care's sub-committee and board directors; and one-on-one mentoring opportunities for participants and board directors - matched according to their interests and skills.

Yesod is the premier leadership and community engagement program for the next generation of Jewish leaders.
- Jesse Kochen, 2017 participant

About the program

During the 10 months of the program, participants will:

Be involved in interactive workshops
Hear from keynote speakers
Join a Sub-Committee that best suits their interests and skills
Be paired with a Jewish Care Board Director to build a mentor relationship

Outcomes for participants

Gain a solid understanding of your professional duties and responsibilities as a not-for-profit director. Witness the dynamics of board leadership as you cover topics that explore strategy and risk, finance and duties and responsibilities of not-for-profit directors. Some of the benefits gained by participants include:

Experience duties and responsibilities of directors in the not-for-profit environment
Understand governance structures
Gain firsthand experience of the dynamics of a not-for-profit board
AICD Certificate of completion for the Governance Foundations for not-for-profit directors

The commitment

Professionals with at least 5 years of professional employment can apply to the program. Successful applicants must commit to attend 80% of the sub committee meetings that they are paired with. Meetings take place outside business hours and are held each month depending on the committee frequency. In order to receive the AICD Certificate of Completion for the Governance Foundations for not-for-profit directors, participants need to attend 5 training workshops that will take place after hours.