The Institute of Fundraising is planning to make it a condition of membership that members subscribe to some form of continuing professional development.

The new requirement is part of the Institute’s new five-year learning strategy, which aims to make career-long learning synonymous with Institute membership, and to turn fundraising into an aspirational profession.

While it won’t be insisting on a commitment to continuing professional development (CPD) immediately, within three to five years the Institute hopes to have convinced enough members to engage with CPD voluntarily that making it mandatory has little impact.

Professional fundraisers who join the Institute will be required to prepare annual plans setting out their learning ambitions, what they want to achieve by the year-end, and their success criteria. They will also be required to demand an annual appraisal from their line manager.

A new CPD section on the Institute website will provide templates to help fundraisers record their targets and achievements, both in terms of their own professional development and how this has translated into raising more funds for their organisation.

The tools will begin to become available this year.

The learning strategy is being led by the Institute’s director of learning, Paul Marvell, who joined last May and immediately set about consulting members on his proposals for instilling “career-long learning” into the profession.  He said the feedback was “wholly positive”.

Marvell new five-year strategy also comprises new professional qualifications, a drive to get fundraisers onto trustee boards, an online learning platform, an overhaul of National Convention, and a nationwide mentoring programme.

• Subscribers to Fundraising magazine and civilsociety.co.uk can read Tania Mason’s in-depth analysis of the Institute’s new learning strategy here .