Not an IoF Member? – you can't be serious!
Howard Lake | 17 September 2010 | Blogs
This year membership of the Institute of Fundraising reached 5,500 for the first time. That’s a lot of fundraisers! They recognise the value to their careers and to the sector of the IoF and its work on their behalf. But hang on – what about the thousands of others who call themselves professionals but have not yet joined? Do they know something we don’t or are they missing a trick?
Last week I was in a meeting of experienced fundraisers, all IoF members, and several said they sometimes found it hard to make the case for membership. Frankly this surprised me, as I have always found membership very beneficial in numerous ways. For example, it has been great for networking and for access to discounted training. I also find it lends credibility and shows I am serious about my career. I’ve been a member since 1992 and my subs have definitely been money well spent.
These days, I see quite a few CV’s and one thing I always look for is IoF membership. Not that this in itself makes you a great fundraiser, but it shows you are serious about your career and are at least committed to professional development. Non-membership definitely makes me think twice.
Ten years ago, I could have understood those who questioned the value and role of the Institute, but not today. At that time, it was a bit of shambles and near to collapse. Fortunately, some brave new trustees stepped into the gap, Lindsay Boswell was recruited and the rest is history. OK, so the Institute is still not perfect and probably never will be, but it has lobbied hard for fundraising and done much valuable work in developing standards and promoting best practice. As a result, fundraising is now taken more seriously by government and the sector as a whole. We have all benefited from this.
I know for people on low wages and those in very small charities, membership may seem expensive and perhaps a luxury. Realistically, the IoF will never sign them up unless it develops a low cost product for them. For the rest of us though, membership really ought to be the obvious, automatic choice.
As the Institute introduces a CPD programme in the near future, I suspect this will encourage more fundraisers to join. I certainly hope so, as it has worked for me, but if you’re a fundraiser and not a member, why should I take you seriously?
For more details of IoF membership, see
http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/membershipforyou/individualmembership
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.