Legacy Futures & The Elischer Foundation announce new cohort of Future Leaders
Melanie May | 28 May 2024 | News
The next round of the Legacy Futures and The Elischer Foundation’s Future Leaders programme will see a record 19 fundraisers take part.
The 12-month mentorship programme is designed to support fundraisers in developing their careers and working towards positions of charity leadership.
Spearheaded by Legacy Futures and The Elischer Foundation, Future Leaders assigns mentees their own mentor – each one a senior leader in the sector. Mentees meet regularly throughout the year with their mentors who support them in their development pathway, alongside which there are quarterly learning sessions with expert speakers and mentees are also introduced to The Elischer Foundation’s alumni of programme graduates for further support and networking.
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This year saw three times as many as normal apply, with a 19-strong cohort, which is seven more than the previous year. Six of these are legacy fundraisers.
One is Viet Anh Hua, legacies manager at the London School of Economics and Political Science, who commented:
“I applied to the Elischer Foundation’s mentoring programme because of its partnership with Legacy Futures. The prospect of being potentially mentored by a sector leading legacy specialist who shares my ambition and dedication to innovation and bold thinking within the legacy fundraising space was hugely attractive.”
Also joining this year’s cohort is Ruchika Jayatilaka, who moved to New Zealand from Sri Lanka amid the civil war. For the past 22 years, she has been working as a fundraiser in various roles and is now a bequests and major donor specialist at the Mary Potter Hospice.
She commented:
“The Nurturing Future Leaders programme is a great opening to enhance my experiences and leadership qualities. This programme is a stepping stone towards confidently entering developing economies to bring in much-needed funds for their worthy causes and supporting them to become financially independent.”
The Future Leaders programme is for fundraising leaders looking to progress to the next level in their careers. It is free to participants, thanks to the support of donors, and there are no geographical restrictions. Applications for this 2024/25 programme opened last December.
Ashley Rowthorn, CEO of Legacy Futures, said:
“The Nurturing Future Leaders programme is an excellent opportunity for participants to gain the knowledge and contacts that will help them become inspiring charity leaders.
“That almost a third of this year’s intake is from a legacy background should be welcomed news for the sector, as it means the leaders of the future will have a solid understanding of the importance of legacies – key for helping to secure and stabilise organisations. In previous years, we haven’t seen enough legacy fundraisers following leadership pathways, so it’s a very positive step that that’s now starting to change.”
Laura Swan, Director, The Elischer Foundation, added:
“Pooling our resources with Legacy Futures on this initiative has meant we’ve been able to invite even more fundraisers onto the mentorship programme. Mentees have come from all over the world, including the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and represent many different types and sizes of organisations, from education and the arts to cancer research and humanitarian aid.
“We’re fortunate to have some very high calibre mentors on board who are selflessly sharing their years of experience and expertise for the benefit of the sector and the next generation of leaders, and to them we are enormously grateful.”
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.