Membership
Individual membership is designed to provide resources, professional development opportunities and support enabling fundraisers to be as effective as possible.
Organisational membership is the route to drive and affect change, enabling charities and suppliers to sign-up to best practice in fundraising.
Organisational members are kept up-to-date with key policy and regulatory developments, as well as changes to the recommended standards for fundraising, the Codes of Fundraising Practice.
The membership team works to increase the number of Individual and Organisational members.
Policy and Information
The Institute’s Policy team works to shape policy and influence legislation, engaging with members, charities, government, media, the general public, and relevant bodies across a broad spectrum of issues that impact on UK fundraising.
For example, consulting and representing the views of the sector resulted in 11 of the 54 recommendations of changes to the Charities Bill, now the Charities Act 2006, coming directly from the evidence and concerns of our Organisational members.
The Policy and Information Team provides advice about legal requirements and best practice in fundraising and responds to a wide range of other queries about the voluntary sector, including questions received via the Tax-Effective Giving Project free telephone helpline.
Professional Development
Continuing Professional Development is a key element in the life long learning process required by fundraisers at every level. The Professional Development (PD) team provides individual fundraisers with the resources they need to perform effectively, and with the tools required for professional development.
As well as promoting fundraising as a career choice, PD works with partners to increase the training available to members, others within the sector and those looking to move into fundraising.
Events
The events team organise the one-day conferences, the National Awards and the National Convention. The one-day conferences, such as Event Fundraising and Major Donor Fundraising, are based on what fundraisers tell us they want to hear about and are delivered by the people they want to hear it from.
National Convention is the Institute’s annual flagship three-day event which offers unrivalled learning, networking and social opportunities with up to 2,000 fundraising practitioners taking place in July.
The National Awards are the only awards designed by fundraisers for fundraisers. Celebrating the outstanding achievements of both professional and volunteer fundraisers, the first National Awards will be presented at a gala dinner on the first night of the Institute’s National Convention 2007.
Tax-Effective Giving
The Institute offers tax-effective giving training and support throughout England, including a dedicated helpline, training workshops, and free guidance materials.
To date, the Institute has trained over 1,100 individuals in tax-effective fundraising techniques, disseminated over 20,000 copies of the guide Making Giving Go Further and continues to assist charities in increasing their income through the current tax reliefs.
Payroll Giving
The Institute was the lead partner in the SME Payroll Giving Grants programme which ended in March 2007. This resulted in 3,380 SMEs signing up to Payroll Giving and gained government support and funding for the Payroll Giving Quality Mark and Awards, which is promoted and administered by the Institute. This scheme recognises and rewards organisations of all sizes for making Payroll Giving available to their staff.
National and Regional, and Special Interest Groups
Our members and also lone fundraisers in organisations with few resources and high expectations benefit from our network of national and regional and special interest groups (SIGs), led by a group of committed volunteers. The Institute is currently represented across the UK by 12 national and regional groups and 14 SIGs, with a further five in Scotland, covering a wide range of fundraising areas.
PR and Communications
The Public Relations and Communications function works to increase awareness of fundraising issues through the media. Aiming to put fundraising on the news agenda, the team works to gain coverage in trade, national and regional press, amongst others.
