This is the booking page for our Professional Development Programme for Pears Foundation partners.
We offer our grantees a changing programme of workshops and ‘lunch and learns’ as well as tailored training for individual organisations and teams.
We are not able to offer training for the wider sector so please only book a session if you work for a UK-based organisation that is currently in receipt of Pears Foundation funding.
The Pears team are hard at work planning the next set of sessions for our Professional Development Programme. If you have any feedback or suggestions for topics you would like us to cover please do get in touch.
In the meantime, if you would like a tailored training workshop for your team or organisation, or support planning an awayday, please contact your grant manager to arrange a conversation with Shoshana, our in-house trainer, or take a look at Rhodri’s philanthropy sessions below.
We offer staff from current Pears grantees a changing programme of reflective workshops, either online or in person, focusing on skills for teamwork, problem-solving and leadership.
The workshops introduce various tools and frameworks and give participants time to practise them with each other. They are a safe space to explore the challenges you face in your work and connect and learn with other Pears partners.
Most of the sessions are taught by our in-house trainer and Director of Leadership and Learning, Shoshana Boyd Gelfand, but we occasionally work with external presenters or organise ‘lunch and learns’ with guest speakers.
Our Pears Professional Development ‘tool box’ includes:
Polarity Management: a tool to help map and manage the underlying tensions and dynamics within organisations.
Belbin: a framework for exploring the various types of roles necessary to build high-performing teams and maximise working relationships..
MBTI: a tool for understanding differences and making the most of the strengths that different personality types bring to an organisation.
Adaptive leadership: a practical leadership framework that helps both organisations and leaders adapt to changing environments and address complex, long-term challenges.
The art of gathering: a workshop based on Priya Parker’s framework for creating meaningful gatherings, designed to help grantees who are putting together anything from a team away day to a fundraising event.
Leaning into conflict: an introduction to the Thomas-Killman Instrument (TKI) to help individuals and teams learn about different approaches to conflict and how each of us can choose to react to conflict in the most constructive way for a particular situation.
Managing transitions: a theoretical framework for leading people through transitions and the importance of attending to ‘endings’. This can apply to any kind of ending – from a role or project coming to an end to redundancy and retirement.
Reading the room: an introduction to Structural Dynamics, a theoretical tool to help individuals better understand the dynamics of any conversation and intervene more intentionally and effectively in discussions.
We also offer regular opportunities to join an Action Learning Set of Pears grantees. Facilitated by Action Learning Associates, our action learning sets offer peer support in a constructive and confidential setting.
Please use the links below to book or find out more about our upcoming sessions.
Our Director of Leadership and Learning Shoshana Boyd Gelfand offers tailored training for teams and/or senior leaders. These bespoke workshops can be run on Zoom or in person at your office or the Pears Hub – whatever works best for you.
Any of the ‘tool box’ sessions above can be adapted for individual teams or organisations. Some of these tools are particularly useful for teams to do together, either as a whole organisation, a senior management team, or a single department. Belbin, MBTI and Polarity Management in particular are useful for helping leaders and teams reflect on how they can adapt to the changing realities of hybrid working, virtual programming, and remote team-building.
Shoshana would be happy to talk you through them and help plan something that will meet your needs.
Please contact your grant manager to request this support or a conversation with Shoshana.
Pears Foundation’s Philanthropy Expert in Residence, Rhodri Davies is on hand to talk to Pears Partners about a wide range of topics to do with philanthropy. Rhodri also runs the new philanthropy think tank Philanthropy Matters, hosts the Philanthropisms podcast and works at the University of Kent’s Centre for Philanthropy.
Whether you want to get a better sense of the historical context for modern giving, find out more about key trends and current debates in philanthropy, or tap into insights about what the future might bring, Rhodri can help you and your team navigate these complex issues in an accessible way and understand how they might be relevant to your work.
Rhodri has designed three one-hour sessions, consisting of a presentation plus time for Q&A, that can be delivered in person on zoom to whole organisations or smaller teams. Please note, at present we will be focusing on online delivery.
If you would like an introductory call with Rhodri to discuss these sessions and identify what might be helpful for you and your team please contact your grant manager or Rachel.
What is philanthropy?
This session will take you through what philanthropy is, where it has come from, and where it might be going in coming years. We look at some of the key trends, how they reflect fundamental recurring themes, and what famous historical and literary figures have had to say about them through the ages, with a view to equipping practitioners to better understand and navigate the landscape of philanthropy today.
The key challenges facing charities in 2022
This session will explore some of the biggest issues facing charities right now, from attacks on the legitimacy of charity campaigning to grappling with the implications of new ways of working post-pandemic. We will look at the challenges and opportunities these present for the charity sector, and what organisations should be doing right now in response.
Charity 2040: The future of fundraising and philanthropy
A look ahead to what the coming years might bring for philanthropy and fundraising. We explore how new technological developments – from digital platforms and cryptocurrency to artificial intelligence and web3 – are already affecting the ways in which we give and fundraise, and what this can tell us about the possible futures for philanthropy and the charity sector.
We are pleased that Rhodri will now be able to offer Zoom ‘consultations’ for CEOs and senior leaders who have a question about philanthropy or who would like to explore how greater engagement with philanthropy might support them in their work.
If you would like to book one of these sessions or a call with Rhodri please contact Rachel Franklin or your grant manager.