Amanda Bringans is to be new Chair of the Institute of Fundraising
Howard Lake | 20 April 2017 | News
Amanda Bringans, Director of Fundraising at the British Heart Foundation, will be the next Chair of the Institute of Fundraising. She will take over from Richard Taylor when he stands down at the end of his three-year term in July at the Institute’s AGM.
Bringans joined the British Heart Foundation as Director of Fundraising in December 2015. Before that she was Director of Global Fundraising and Communications at VSO, and spent 16 years at Macmillan Cancer Support where she became Director of Fundraising.
She has also held senior roles with Leonard Cheshire Disability and Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.
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She takes over the voluntary role of Chair following two immensely challenging years for the fundraising profession, during which the Institute, other sector bodies and individual charities have responded to criticism of some fundraising practices by some charities and their agencies. Some of these challenges are yet to play out: these include understanding of the implications for prospect research, for example, of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the implementation of the Fundraising Preference Service (or whatever it might be renamed).
The implications of Brexit on statutory funding and individual giving, political challenges to the UK’s overseas aid funding, and reports of declining trust in charities and other civic bodies add to the challenges faced by the Institute and the fundraising sector over the next three years.
The vacancy for a new Chair was advertised in January 2017.
Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor, Chair of the IoF, welcomed Bringans’ appointment. He said that she takes over when “we have a bold new strategy in place which is all about representing and championing the fundraising profession so that we can all achieve high levels of excellent fundraising across the UK.”
He added: “I know Amanda will relish the opportunity to lead us in delivering our ambitions, and those of our members and fundraisers, so that charities can raise even more money to make the world a better place. Amanda will be an excellent Chair and someone that our members will be able to look to for leadership and inspiration.”
“It has been a huge privilege for me to be Chair of the Institute of Fundraising and I wish Amanda all the best in the role. I know that she will have the full support of an amazing community of fundraisers behind her.”
Bringans herself emphasised the breadth of the fundraising sector when she described her appointment as Chair-elect as a “huge privilege”.
She said: “I know how important the IoF is to so many fundraisers and charities across the UK. Whether it is providing support for the sole fundraiser in a small local charity or a specialised fundraising team in a large international charity, the IoF has an important role to play in training, representing and championing fundraisers.”
Focus of Chair-elect
Bringans said she saw her role as including:
- ensuring that the Institute continues to demand the highest standards from all its members
- maintaining the trust and confidence of the public in the way charities raise funds for the good causes they care about
Acknowledging recent and current challenges, she said:
“The past few years have been difficult for the fundraising community, but with each other’s support we were able to come through better and stronger. That is what I think is at the heart of the IoF – our members’ passion and willingness to share insights and knowledge as we push each other to be the best we can be. Fundraising is a unique profession in that respect, and I’m looking forward to meeting with fundraisers across the UK to hear their stories and champion their achievements as Chair.”
She paid tribute to the work of Richard Taylor who chose to complete his three-year term on being offered a non-fundraising role when the scale of the challenge to the profession emerged.
She said: “Richard Taylor has led the IoF superbly through tumultuous times to a position of strength on which I want to build. Fundraisers across the UK owe him a huge vote of thanks for the time, passion and commitment he has dedicated to us and to the IoF.”
You can follow @AmandaBringans on Twitter.
Previous Chairs of the Institute of Fundraising
- Nick Lowe, Barnardo’s (1983)
- George Medley (1984)
- Anthony Clay
- Giles Pegram
- Andrew Ross
- Ian Ventham
- Kim Maxwell
- Brian Roberts-Wray
- David Ford
- John Kingston (2000)
- Simon Burne (2003)
- Joe Saxton (2005)
- Paul Amadi (2008)
- Alan Gosschalk (2010)
- Mark Astarita (2011)
- Richard Taylor (2014)
WATCH: IoF Fundraising Convention 2017 – network with your peers
Editor’s note 1 January 2022
Amanda Bringans recieved an OBE for her services to charity and fundraising in the 2022 New Year’s Honours List:
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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.