Draft National Occupational Standards for fundraisers available for comment

Howard Lake | 27 November 2002 | News

The project to develop a common UK definition of the competencies involved in fundraising has published its draft standards and is asking fundraisers to comment on them.

The project has been led by the Voluntary Sector National Training Organisation with the support of the Institute of Fundraising. It aims to provide the sector with a tool to support recruitment and selection processes, identify training needs and develop training courses and qualifications to nationally agreed standards.

The draft National Occupational Standards for fundraisers can be viewed online and comments are being sought on them from fundraisers.

The project team want to make sure that what they have developed reflects the work that fundraisers do whether it is for a large or small organisation and whether it is done by a paid member of staff or a volunteer.

The draft consists of standards for fundraising assistants, fundraisers and fundraising managers. In particular the projec team want to know:

• are they a good reflection of the fundraiser’s role?
• can they help fundraisers (and others) understand their role?
• do they accurately describe the knowledge and skills fundraisers need to develop?
• could you use them to design training and development activities?
• could they help make appraisals more objective and meaningful?
• what qualifications based on the standards do fundraisers want?

In short, are the standards accurate and appropriate and are they missing any competencies?

The site also includes a questionnaire on qualifications. What qualifications would fundraisers like to see developed? On this issue the project team are keen to hear not only from fundraisers but also from together with HR/Personnel staff and trustee and management committee members.

The deadline for comments is 10 January 2002. Following this consultation, the final suite of standards will be published in March 2003 and will be ready for use by the summer.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.