Non-Profit Business Skills for Entrepreneurial Clergy

Catalog description

When clergy leave seminary, we often find ourselves being asked to take on roles and tasks that we didn’t train for -- especially in the business realm. “Rabbi” or “Cantor” often end up also being a version of CEO, financial planner, and head of marketing. In this intersession course, we will spend two days immersing ourselves in the business skills clergy need the most, especially in entrepreneurial settings where there aren’t other staff to help. Through a combination of readings, expert speakers, panels of clergy in the field, as well as group and individual work, participants will come out of this intersession course with the following: • Understanding of how business skills impact clergy work and can dramatically elevate impact • Ability to craft basic business documents, including mission/vision statements, one-pagers, case for giving, websites, and social media posts • Best practices in board creation and structuring • Ability to do basic fundraising in a variety of settings • Understanding of communications plans and how to support organizations with public relations • Connections to potential mentors in the field • Greater comfort with the business side of Jewish communal life and knowledge of in what areas they want to expand their skills in the future The course will include some pre-reading as well as a final assignment. The final assignment will be approximately five pages, in which students will create something they haven’t done before -- for example, a fundraising plan, a mission statement, or a marketing plan.