World’s first Advanced Diploma in fundraising starts this year
Howard Lake | 24 August 2013 | News
The Institute of Fundraising has developed a new advanced qualification in fundraising in association with the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the European Fundraising Association. Recruitment for the first students for the Advanced Diploma in Fundraising is underway and the course will begin in the 2013/14 academic year.
Although a number of Higher Education institutions in the UK offer masters level qualifications in various nonprofit studies, the Advanced Diploma is the first international masters level qualification in fundraising.
In the UK it will be delivered through the Institute of Fundraising Academy. Its international partners mean that the common curriculum will also be taught in Europe and North America.
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The course
The course will be led by Professors Adrian Sargeant and Jen Shang. It will focus on “how to create the institutional and societal environment in which giving can flourish”. The qualification contains content on a number of new areas of study, including ‘philanthropic psychology’.
It will comprise about 600 hours of study over the full academic year, a substantial element of which will be self-study. Students will use the Blackboard online learning management system, and attend two residential courses of three days each in south-east England. They will have to complete seven assignments during the year.
The Advanced Diploma will cost about £3,500.
Paul Marvell, director of professional development and membership at the IoF, said: “If you want to develop your understanding of fundraising in the context of your organisation and society as a whole; if you want to stretch your skills in analysis, synthesis and evaluation to the limit; if you want to understand how to represent fundraising better to your board and senior management team; if you want to understand philanthropic psychology and how to apply it, the Advanced Diploma in Fundraising could be for you.”
Other qualifications
The Advanced Diploma represents the fourth tier of a framework of qualifications begun three years ago by the Institute. Since then 1,203 fundraisers have completed the entry-level Introductory Certificate in Fundraising, over 250 have completed the Certificate in Fundraising and over 100 the Diploma in Fundraising.
Photo: Education and pound sign by 3dfoto on Shutterstock.com
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.