The Chartered Institute of Fundraising has unveiled its new long-term purpose, which is focused on tackling the key issues facing fundraising and ensuring that fundraisers and charities are supported amidst challenging times.
The 10-year strategy was announced to fundraisers at this week’s annual Fundraising Convention. It presents a roadmap for “transforming the fundraising landscape across the UK” at a time when the profession and what it enables charities to achieve is at a “critical juncture”.
The Chartered Institute, which is bringing in individual chartered status for fundraisers, has based its purpose on four key pillars:
Advertisement
• Attracting, retaining and nurturing fundraising talent • Changing perceptions of fundraising • Driving excellent fundraising practice, setting standards, ethics and guidance • Fostering a culture that inspires more people to give
Two pillars, it can be said, take an internal focus and the other two an external, public focus.
Fundraising Convention at the QEII Convention Centre, London. Photo: Howard Lake
Addressing Convention delegates, Katie Docherty, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, said the need for change has never been more urgent – but is clear that the CIOF needs the expertise and skills of its members to make this a reality.
She added:
“We are at a critical juncture – we need to take action now. I have been a fundraiser for almost 25 years, and I have seen all of this firsthand throughout my career. It can’t continue. Fundraisers are burning out. Charities are facing recruitment challenges. And every day we do what we can to help those who need us. Fundraising is not just a means to an end – it’s a profession that needs to be valued, supported and seen as absolutely essential to the delivery of charitable missions – and fundraisers can be the bridge between generosity and impact, turning resources into positive change”.
She urged the delegates, wider membership and beyond, and charities to join the Institute on its journey.
“We need your help to enable us to shape a stronger, more positive future for fundraising”, she said.
Harpreet Kondel, chair of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, added:
“In the 30 years I have been involved in fundraising we have moved forward – of course we have – but not enough. More needs to be done and I am truly excited about the work the CIOF has planned to achieve its purpose in the coming years. I am proud to play my part in this next chapter, and I hope my fellow fundraisers are too.”
WATCH: CEO Katie Docherty on the CIOF’s new strategy and purpose
Four pillars
The four key pillars of the new organisational purpose each have five- and ten-year goals.
Attracting, retaining and nurturing fundraising talent – with widespread staffing shortages and a lack of diversity in the profession, the CIOF aims to make fundraising a more attractive and sustainable career. Initiatives will include creating accessible career pathways, expanding training and certification opportunities, and launching new mentorship programmes to nurture early-career fundraisers.
Changing perceptions of fundraising – fundraising is frequently misunderstood and underfunded. The CIOF will lead a sector-wide effort to reframe the narrative, educate key stakeholders (including charity boards and policymakers) and advocate for renewed investment in fundraising, with a goal to measurably increase the value and understanding of fundraisers’ contributions within a decade.
Driving excellent fundraising practice, setting standards, ethics and guidance – to protect and grow public confidence, the CIOF will strengthen ethical standards, guidance and training in partnership with sector regulators. By embedding high standards across the profession, fundraisers will be better equipped to deliver a more positive supporter experience.
Fostering a culture that inspires more people to give – with the percentage of people donating on the decline, CIOF is working to reverse the trend by making it easier, clearer and more inspiring to give. The CIOF will seek to reduce barriers to giving and improve understanding of how even the smallest of donations can make a difference.
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.
Stay ahead of the curve
Join thousands of other top UK fundraisers by registering for our newsletter to get all the latest news, advice and opinion from the world of fundraising.
The cf_use_ob cookie informs Cloudflare to fetch the requested resource from the Always Online cache on the designated port. Applicable values are: 0, 80, and 443. The cf_ob_info and cf_use_ob cookies are persistent cookies that expire after 30 seconds.
session
__cfwaitingroom
The __cfwaitingroom cookie is only used to track visitors that access a waiting room enabled host and path combination for a zone. Visitors using a browser that does not accept cookies cannot visit the host and path combination while the waiting room is active.
session
cf_chl_rc_i
These cookies are for internal use which allows Cloudflare to identify production issues on clients.
session
cf_chl_rc_ni
These cookies are for internal use which allows Cloudflare to identify production issues on clients.
session
cf_chl_rc_m
These cookies are for internal use which allows Cloudflare to identify production issues on clients.
session
__cfruid
Used by the content network, Cloudflare, to identify trusted web traffic.
session
__cf_bm
Cloudflare's bot products identify and mitigate automated traffic to protect your site from bad bots. Cloudflare places the __cf_bm cookie on End User devices that access Customer sites that are protected by Bot Management or Bot Fight Mode. The __cf_bm cookie is necessary for the proper functioning of these bot solutions.
session
__cflb
When enabling session affinity with Cloudflare Load Balancer, Cloudflare sets a __cflb cookie with a unique value on the first response to the requesting client. Cloudflare routes future requests to the same origin, optimizing network resource usage. In the event of a failover, Cloudflare sets a new __cflb cookie to direct future requests to the failover pool.
session
_cfuvid
The _cfuvid cookie is only set when a site uses this option in a Rate Limiting Rule, and is only used to allow the Cloudflare WAF to distinguish individual users who share the same IP address.
session
cf_clearance
Whether a CAPTCHA or Javascript challenge has been solved.
session
__cfseq
Sequence rules uses cookies to track the order of requests a user has made and the time between requests and makes them available via Cloudflare Rules. This allows you to write rules that match valid or invalid sequences. The specific cookies used to validate sequences are called sequence cookies.
session
cf_ob_info
The cf_ob_info cookie provides information on: The HTTP Status Code returned by the origin web server. The Ray ID of the original failed request. The data center serving the traffic
session
Formidable Forms is a powerful WordPress plugin for creating advanced forms and data management solutions.
Name
Description
Duration
frm_form_
Saves the ID of the form and the time the entry was submitted.
2 hours
Google reCAPTCHA helps protect websites from spam and abuse by verifying user interactions through challenges.
Name
Description
Duration
_GRECAPTCHA
Google reCAPTCHA sets a necessary cookie (_GRECAPTCHA) when executed for the purpose of providing its risk analysis.
179 days
Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us understand how visitors use our website.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks and analyzes website traffic for informed marketing decisions.
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
Marketing cookies are used to follow visitors to websites. The intention is to show ads that are relevant and engaging to the individual user.
OptinMonster is a powerful lead generation tool that helps businesses convert visitors into subscribers and customers.
