BME fundraising training programme celebrates first 50 trainees

Howard Lake | 20 October 2004 | News

• Tagged with:
• diversity
• inclusion
• Training

A project which trains black and ethnic minority (BME) people from the voluntary sector as professional fundraisers is celebrating its success today with an event at Haberdashers Hall in London.

The £711,000 fundraising project has been set up and funded by the London Development Agency (LDA) and is run in partnership with the Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG), the Institute of Fundraising and the London Voluntary Service Council.

So far the project has trained 50 people from BME-led voluntary and community organisations as professional fundraisers. It has also provided additional support for the trainees and their organisations plus access to good quality specialist business information, support and advice.

Mary Reilly, Chair of the LDA said: “This dynamic project is proving its worth providing the professional fundraising skills which are now essential to the survival of black and ethnic minority voluntary sector organisations.”

A further 25 trainees will start the course in the New Year and graduate as professional fundraisers in 2006.

David Parker, Head of Accreditation and Training at the Institute of Fundraising, added: “Small community organisations, particularly those from the BME sector, may lack the skills or experience to ensure that they attract sustainable funding. Programmes such as the BME Fundraising Training Programme provide an invaluable source of expertise which supports the sector as a whole”.

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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.