# Careerbank folders distributed to Institute of Fundraising members

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/10/06/careerbank-folders-distributed-institute-fundraising-members/
- Published: 2004-10-06T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Institute of Fundraising individual members should now have received their personal
copy of a Careerbank folder, the Institute’s new professional development tool.**

The Institute of Fundraising launched Careerbank in July at its annual convention,
describing it as “a tool designed to help fundraisers plan and record their professional
development.”

The Careerbank A5 plastic folder contains

## Advertisement

information which can help fundraisers identify, plan and reflect upon their career
aspirations.

At its heart is the Fundraising Career pathway, a standard format against which 
fundraisers can map their skills. The folder can be used to build up a “Personal
Development Record”, by recording details of training courses undertaken, committee
work, books read, and on the job learning, and plans of action arising from them.
Careerbank therefore should become for fundraisers, as the Institute puts it, “the
handbook to their career”.

The Institute clearly has high hopes for the tool: “Careerbank is a state of mind,
an attitude and a culture”, it claims, rather grandly.

The ring-binder approach however seems a little dated. Wouldn’t a Web-based tool
be more effective, and perhaps even less expensive? It could act as a professional
development calendar for fundraisers, sending out reminder alerts about upcoming
courses, and could allow the Institute to track to what extent and in what ways 
the tool was being used.

 * **[New head of Professional Development at Institute](https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/10/23/new-head-professional-development-institute/)**(
   23 October 2005)
 * **[Institute of Fundraising to repeat new media conference](https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/11/15/institute-fundraising-repeat-new-media-conference/)**(
   15 November 2005)
 * **[Institute announces corporate partnerships conference](https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/03/04/institute-announces-corporate-partnerships-conference/)**(
   4 March 2006)