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Institute of Fundraising sees role in boosting giving

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 23 Jan 2012

The Institute of Fundraising sees itself as having a role to play in boosting giving, according to a newly-published consultation document on its proposed new strategic objectives.

The Institute released its proposed new strategic objectives for 2012 to 2017 on Friday, focusing on three key areas: creating a better environment for fundraising, improving understanding of fundraising and enabling individual fundraisers to be “the best they can be”. The second of these three objectives sees the Institute aim to become a knowledge centre for both fundraising and giving.

These three areas mark a slight change from its current strategic objectives, which include a greater emphasis on standard setting and promoting best practice and increasing Institute membership, now at 5,200 individual members. The new strategy as a whole falls under the proposed new vision “excellent fundraising for a better world”.

The central position of the Institute remains steady. The consultation document states: “The Institute is first and foremost the professional membership body for fundraisers – with a primary role to support, develop and represent fundraisers.”

But within the document, the Institute also says that it views itself as “having a role to increase giving more widely”. In doing this, and supporting fundraisers more generally, the document suggests the Institute must engage with the world outside fundraising – both in terms of engaging more with government and the private sector alongside civil society, and in relation to improving fundraising skills and knowledge among all those who are touched by it, including trustees or chief executives.

The Institute proposes that it will need to boost its own capacity in three fields: policy and research, evaluation, and campaigning.

The document goes on to say: “We also need to be bold enough to take on calculated risks and innovate, without fear of failure.”

The consultation will run for two months, until March this year. It follows on from the appointment of Peter Lewis as chief executive in October last year.

In an interview soon after his appointment with civilsociety.co.uk, Lewis emphasised the need to work with other sector bodies and indicated an interest in the Institute commissioning research which would provide a strong evidence base for fundraisers. 

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