New partnership offers free training for professional fundraiser hopefuls

To that end, Fundraising Institute Australia (FIA) and Minderoo Foundation have teamed up to train hundreds of new fundraisers, with Minderoo Foundation picking up the cost.

The partnership will drive the expansion of the Fundraise for Australia program, which aims to train and support more people considering a career as a fundraiser within the not-for-profit sector. The program answers a Productivity Commission call for more feet on the ground and plans to build the skills, capacity and pipeline of professional fundraisers, with the aim of reaching the federal government’s ambitious 2030 goal.

FIA CEO Katherine Raskob said a larger pool of highly trained fundraisers was crucial to achieving the goal of doubling philanthropy by 2030.

“Doubling giving isn’t just about generosity – it’s about capacity,” Raskob told the Community Advocate. “We need to have more fundraisers to do more asking and in a professional, knowledgeable way. To grow philanthropy at scale, Australia needs more skilled fundraisers who understand fundraising best practice and the tenets of the self-regulatory FIA Code. This partnership with Minderoo Foundation is a critical investment in the people who make giving happen.”

Raskob said research consistently showed that 85 per cent of donations in Australia and globally were the result of the work of professional fundraisers. Giving didn’t tend to happen organically, but instead was the result of careful connection, storytelling, messaging, and requests from charities, she said.

Minderoo Foundation’s Ryan Ginard said the push to double giving offered a chance to be creative with fundraising culture.

“While Australia is a generous nation – currently ranked fourth in the World Giving Index, which considers three measures of generosity: financial, time, and acts of service – its rates of giving in relation to GDP are low in comparison to similar societies worldwide, at 0.81 per cent,” he said. “But with this double giving agenda there is a real opportunity to develop a new culture of giving within the country and to develop the infrastructure to ensure this goal is realised.

“A critical part of that infrastructure will be frontline fundraisers – those who build cases of support and will need to make these additional ‘asks’ to grow and secure a larger share of funding – but they are often missing from the conversation and have been ultimately missing from the policies informing the government’s 2030 goal.

“Just about every charity relies on donations for some of its work, and that means a good fundraiser can be worth their weight in gold to an organisation. That’s also why the National Skills Commission has identified fundraising is one of Australia’s fastest-growing occupations.”

Ginard said using conservative modelling for what was possible – based on a $2 return for each $1 invested – the Fundraise for Australia program estimated that if it could identify, recruit and train over 1000 new fundraisers, that would leverage an additional $117 million in charitable donations by 2030.

“FIA is looking to train up to 500 in the next two years which would be a phenomenal contribution to the social sector and the communities they serve,” he said.

Raskob said a professional fundraiser brings a diverse skillset to their role, including knowing how to deeply connect with potential donors and bring them along on a charity’s mission. “I think a lot of it is in the marketing and communications realm and also being clear and very good at telling the story of the cause for which you are fundraising,” she said. “Being a good storyteller is critical and being able to articulate the reasons for the cause and what you are trying to achieve thanks to the donor’s generosity. Having skills around relationship building is critical and making sure you can carry a donor through the journey of their engagement with you as a charity.”

Another element taught in the program is ethical best practice, including transparency with donors about how funds are raised, dispersed and distributed. “The general public should be happy about that because you want your money to be used efficiently and not wasted,” she said. “Professional fundraisers use sophisticated techniques, they know the channels of communication, and they know the requirements for accountability.”

With the much-discussed transfer of wealth happening between generations of Australian philanthropic families – estimated at between $3 trillion and $5 trillion – Raskob said it was essential for charities to have professional fundraisers who understand how to target the recipients of family fortunes, whether through a will, a giving fund, a trust or other mechanisms.

In fact, she said charities were beginning to increase salaries for elite fundraisers, as awareness grew of the required skills, knowledge and contacts.

The Fundraise for Australia program was created and originally taught by none other than Ryan Ginard, before he joined Minderoo as head of sector development and innovation. Looking to continue the program, and expand it, he approached FIA, which already had a record as an industry body running training programs. The resulting partnership is locked in for two years with the intention of training more than 200 potential fundraisers per year.

“Fundraise for Australia was largely created to fill a talent gap in the market and was driven by an amazing advisory body of industry leaders,” he told the Community Advocate. “The stars aligned when the federal government decided it was their goal to double giving in Australia because everyone who contributed to the creation of the program knew a critical part of helping achieve that goal would be frontline fundraisers, given research shows that 80 per cent of all gifts come from some sort of ask.

“Minderoo Foundation, through its field building work, identified a number of ways we could both grow giving in Australia while concurrently supporting the sector to leverage the opportunity of the largest intergenerational wealth transfer we have seen,” he said.

“Given our theory of change is to strengthen the sector through peaks and intermediaries working with the FIA to scale, the promising ROI from this program was critical as it would not only help scale the number of newly trained fundraisers but also give them the opportunity to keep growing in their role by being plugged in to this professional association.”

Raskob said it was the first time a school leaver could actively decide on fundraising as a potential career.

“When you’re in high school or university, there are no programs to go into fundraising,” Raskob said. “There isn’t a pathway in this country or in others, such as the UK or USA, either. Over the years, I’ve had discussions with universities about whether we could help develop a program, but I think there’s a challenge because they are not sure what the demand would be. That’s why FIA’s training program and partnership with Minderoo is so important.”

The course will be online, making it accessible to people across metropolitan, regional and remote Australia, and is fully funded by Minderoo Foundation, meaning there is no cost to participants, removing a major financial barrier for entry into the profession and helping diversify the fundraising workforce.

Since launching in 2023, Fundraise for Australia has supported dozens of emerging fundraisers. Under the expanded partnership, the program will be delivered nationwide to multiple cohorts each year, supported by a growing alumni network focused on long-term professional development and retention.

More information

Fundraise for Australia program details.