A single professional membership body ready for the future of fundraising
Howard Lake | 18 March 2016 | Blogs
This has been a year of challenges and changes for fundraisers and fundraising organisations. We are now at the start of a new era for the sector – there will be a new, universal fundraising regulator and media, political and public interest in the sector is likely to continue.
Within this new context, we are moving forward with plans to create a single professional membership body for fundraisers working with and for the whole fundraising community.
Peter Lewis
The IoF and the PFRA have been the two membership bodies for the charity fundraising sector, with distinct roles and remits. However, changes over the last year have made it clear that now is the time to look afresh at how we can best pool our experience, expertise and resources. With the merger of our two organisations now agreed unanimously by both our boards, we are starting the process to build an even better organisation to support and promote fundraising.
At the heart of the merger is a renewed focus on supporting our members to rise to the challenges presented by the new environment. A new fundraising compliance service will be established within the Institute to drive the very best fundraising practice by combining and expanding the PFRA’s respected track record in compliance work with the IoF’s expertise in advice, guidance, training and qualifications. The merger will allow us to combine and strengthen our role as the voice of fundraisers, ensuring that we are able to play an even greater role championing the work of the fundraising community.
Peter Hills-Jones
We believe that the creation of this new, single membership organisation is in the interest of our members, the fundraising community as a whole, charities, donors and the wider public. This is the start of a process of consultation and engagement with members through which we will work to answer any questions you may have ahead of the final decision on the merger in the middle of June.
The fundraising environment we work in has changed dramatically in a short period of time. Change brings with it opportunities. For the Institute and the PFRA we believe that the merger will provide our members and the wider fundraising community with a stronger, single professional membership body that is fit for purpose in the new world in which we find ourselves. Great fundraisers and fundraising organisations who raise billions of pounds every year to make the world a better place deserve nothing less.
Peter Lewis, Chief Executive of the Institute of Fundraising
Peter Hills-Jones, Chief Executive of the Public Fundraising Association
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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.