Al Fozan Academy Celebrates Graduation of 47 Financial Resource Development Professionals
Yesterday, the Al Fozan Academy for the Development of Non-Profit Leadership celebrated the graduation of 47 Saudis who completed a training program on the development of financial resources for non-profit organizations; thereby contributing to supporting the performance of the charity, service, and volunteer institutions and entities in which they work.
The first-of-its-kind training program qualified leaders of non-profit institutions to develop financial resources scientifically by bringing in and harmonizing international best practices and standards, as the trainees obtained a professional certificate in the development of financial resources certified by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and Indiana University after completing 96 training hours held in stages over the course of three months.
The Al Fozan Academy organized the graduation ceremony at the headquarters of the university today in the attendance of the President of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Dr. Khalid Al Sultan and the President of Indiana University Nasr Bidar.
Training the Leaders of the Non-Profit Sector
During his speech at the ceremony, Al Sultan stated: “King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals was and still is a platform for aspiring leaders with its valuable global partnerships and professionalism in offering academic programs or applied research in a nation dedicated to developing its youth and promoting the values of good citizenship and giving back to society, with great ambitions and aspirations represented in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.”
Al Sultan pointed out that the university believes in the necessity of forging global partnerships to bring in international best practices to serve the aspirations of the Kingdom’s Vision and the non-profit sector. It also believes that the relentless pursuit of the Kingdom’s development places a responsibility on all its youth and government and private institutions to cooperate to achieve national aspirations.
He noted that the university’s partnership with Al Fozan Group resulted in the Al Fozan Academy for the Development of Non-Profit Leadership, a living example of unified government and public efforts to develop the community development sector by training the leaders of non-profit sectors in different occupations.
The academy targets 10 main jobs in the non-profit sector and trains them through several tracks, including short courses, professional qualification, master’s degrees in non-profit management, and scholarships.
“Today we are witnessing the completion of the first program in the professional qualification track, and we are all proud to graduate 47 financial resource development professionals (24 men participants and 23 women participants) from across the Kingdom,” Al Sultan stated.
He noted that the non-profit sector is moving towards enhancing professionalism in performance standards and practices, and the university has been able to lead this trend; sending a message to everyone working in the non-profit sector that Al Fozan Academy was created to fulfill its mission of becoming a leading platform in non-profit professionalism. He expressed his hope for the ceremony to be a starting point for professional, quality programs that maximize impact and develop the community.
Expanding in the Non-Profit Sector
During his speech at the ceremony, Bidar stated: “We aspire to expand the influence of the Saudi non-profit sector to become a part of the National Transformation Program to realize the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.”
He added that the first program tackled fundraising, and its principles and techniques were successfully implemented, which was an incentive and motive to hold the same course in Riyadh and Jeddah in April 2018, noting that the cooperation with Al Fozan Academy will continue to offer short programs and courses for various certificates in the future.
Ambitious Plans and 8,376 Training Hours
President of the Al Fozan Academy for the Development of Non-Profit Leadership Dr. Bassem Madani explained that the academy completed several development programs within a year of its establishment, including the financial resources development course, the leadership program for CEOs of non-profit institutions, the first and second batches of the non-profit executive leadership certification, and grant management.
He noted that the number of participants in these courses and programs reached 223 trainees trained by 20 specialists, amounting to 8,376 training hours.
Regarding the future of the academy, Al Fozan mentioned that targets for 2021 include training 2,160 leaders, holding 50 short courses and 21 professional programs, training 90 master’s degree students, and providing 67 scholarships.
The certification program for Saudi interns was offered in partnership with the Lily Family College of Philanthropy of Indiana University, a college specialized in philanthropy studies. The program included four training levels, during which 24 men and 23 women learned about the principles and techniques of financial resources development in level one. In level two they learned about how to develop annual financial sustainability, and in level three they worked on the development of huge grants. Finally, they worked on managing capital campaigns in level four.
The Al Fozan Academy for the Development of Non-Profit Leadership is the fruit of the cooperation between King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and the Al Fozan Social Foundation. It seeks to achieve leadership in its field by building, designing, and implementing professional training excellence programs to develop leaders in non-profit organizations in several specializations and to establish a generation of leaders able to manage third sector institutions the right way to fulfill their required role in the society.
Through its training programs and courses, the academy targets the CEOs of non-profit institutions, board members, volunteer managers, project managers, financial resource development managers, grant managers, PR and media directors, social investment managers, social advisors, and finance directors.
The academy is distinguished by partnerships with well-established universities specialized in the non-profit sector, such as Indiana University and Arizona University, and by cooperating with major third-sector specialists. It is also characterized by its scientific and applied methodology in building, implementing, and measuring the impact of programs, and its international and local accreditations from partners and relevant ministries, respectively. The academic quality standards of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals are applied to all academic programs.
All the academy’s programs are announced through the official platforms, and registration is available through www.alfozanacademy.com.
