Charity Supp 19

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www.jewishnews.co.uk

Jewish News 21 February 2019

Charity / ORT UK

LEADING THE CHARGE Renowned for his global Mitzvah Day chicken soup challenge, Debbie Lightman asks Dan Rickman about his new challenges as ORT UK’s chief executive “My goal is to make ORT UK relevant again,” announces Dan Rickman. “To raise our profile, we need to share our legacy and heritage, going right back to our origin in 1880. And what an amazing story we have to tell.” Having hit the ground running in January as the education charity’s new chief executive, Dan, 33, is embracing the huge task ahead of him by familiarising himself with ORT’s schools and training programmes across 35 countries. Specialising in science and technology education, ORT is active in more than 235 institutions, enabling 300,000 students – many from impoverished backgrounds – to graduate with employable skills. “When you join an organisation, you expect to find some skeletons in the closet, and have the ‘you didn’t tell me

about this’ conversation!” says Dan. “But the more I unearth, the more impressed I am with what ORT has achieved and continues to achieve. “It’s not just another education charity. The aim is to empower our students to become self-sufficient; teaching how to fish rather than providing the fish, which is so vitally important.” ORT also seeks to strengthen Jewish communities by incorporating Hebrew and religious studies into its curriculums. Dan is about to witness this first hand, when he joins the 16 children and their families enrolled in ORT UK’s bar and batmitzvah twinning programme on a journey of discovery to Kiev. “Looking back at my own teenage years, I was privileged to be involved with the Jewish community through BBYO, which led to my first job with Aish UK,” reflects Dan, “So it’s exciting that we have kids in our 17 schools across the former Soviet Union, some of whom

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didn’t even know they were Jewish, learning about their history and teaching their parents the traditions. I can’t wait to meet some of them and hear more about their experiences.” In addition to the bar and batmitzvah scheme, ORT UK runs a number of domestic projects, such as the ORT JUMP mentoring programme – matching more than 250 students across 11 London sixth-forms with industry experts – plus there’s an active Professional Women’s Network. Known for his innovation and creative ideas, Dan is already laying plans to expand these projects as well as experiment with new initiatives. “I love that we can connect people to the Jewish community in a multitude of ways,” he says. “Whether it be socially, through educational opportunities or through mentoring, at ORT UK, the potential for new projects, particularly around career progression, is vast.” Growing up, Dan was famous for his entrepreneurial streak, selling designer clothes sourced on eBay, in the school playground. Outside of school, he was a president of Brighton BBYO, known for drawing in the crowds with a calendar of original activities. Later, as a fieldworker at Jeneration and, while working for Langdon, he put the fun into fundraising, smashing targets as his events saw guests queuing outside the doors. Despite having planned to focus his creative talents on a career in marketing, Dan became hooked by the charity sector and continued his career at Magen David Adom UK, working his way up to head of fundraising. “You don’t start out thinking ‘I want to be a chief executive’,” he says, smiling. “I realised

EVENT

I wanted to make an impact in the Jewish community. I felt I had the ability to lead and I wanted to utilise that for good. In my early 20s, a rabbi described me as a pied piper, everyone would follow my lead, but I didn’t know what tune I wanted to play! I just needed to find my direction.” From MDA, Dan spent three years as executive director of Mitzvah Day. By the time he left, there were more than 40,000 people taking part in over 25 countries with more than 30 MPs engaging each year. His last show-stopping venture, The Chicken Soup Challenge, which brought Jews and Muslims together across the world, to make a whopping 2,500 servings of ‘Jewish penicillin’, even making national news. A memento of his success now stands in the ORT UK office – a large photo of Dan standing side by side with his former colleagues and a grinning Theresa May. At ORT UK, he won’t be making chicken soup. Instead, he’s focusing on funding a recipe of an educational nature, so students around the world can feed themselves and future generations to come.

ORT UK Dates for your Diary

5 March – ‘The Power of Promotion’ – The Professional Women’s Network welcomes Claudine Collins (MD MediaCom UK), Alex Prinsley (TEDxNHS organiser) and Keren Beaumont (Image Consultant) in conversation with Karen Ackerman (founder and director of Mediastories), to discuss the challenges of promoting ideas, self and products. For more info, contact natasha.levine@ortuk.org, call 020 7446 8527, or visitortuk.org/events. 28 March – Business Breakfast – ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall DBE will be in conversation with BBC business editor, Simon Jack. For more details, contact anthea.jackson@ortuk.org, call 020 7446 8525 or visit ortuk.org/events If you’d like more information on any of ORT UK’s projects, email info@ortuk.org, call 020 7446 8520 or visit ortuk.org


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