Have you been in fundraising for five years? Do you thrive on helping organizations achieve their goals? Do you keep current with fundraising trends? Has it been awhile since you took an exam? Is giving back to your profession important to you?

Fundraising Competencies

The following are the current fundraising competencies, as identified by the most recent CFRE International job analysis, that are required for individuals with at least five years of professional fundraising experience.

These competencies have a direct relationship with what is then tested on the CFRE exam.

Knowledge areas required to perform the tasks listed:

Current and Prospective Donor Research
Fundraising professionals should be able to:
1. Develop a prospect list by identifying individuals and groups who have the capacity and propensity to give in order to qualify candidates for further research and cultivation efforts
2. Analyse the prospect list using characteristics such as interest, values, giving history, and relationship to the organisation in order to select potential donors for particular projects
3. Implement and utilise a data management system that stores information about prospects to enable retrieval and analysis
4. Rate prospects in categories of giving potential in order to prioritise and plan solicitations
  Key Knowledge Areas for the above tasks:
  - Trends and characteristics (such as socioeconomic, historical, and cultural) of a constituency
  - Sources and of financial support, (such as individuals, corporations, grant-making bodies, foundations, government) and their motivations, practices, and policies
  - Benefits and uses of various market and donor surveys, and donor giving patterns
  - Techniques for gathering, segmenting and analysing prospective donor research, indicators of gift potential
  - Prospect information sources, including people and written/published materials and electronic
  - Prospect screening, qualifying, and rating methods
  - Relationships between and among annual, capital/major, and planned giving programmes
Securing the Gift
Fundraising professionals should be able to:
1. Develop a compelling case for support by involving volunteers, staff, and other groups in order to communicate the rationale for supporting the organisation's fundraising programme
2. Design and conduct studies and/or surveys to plan and evaluate specific aspects of a fundraising programme
3. Design a comprehensive solicitation programme in order to generate financial support for the organisation's purpose
4. Design and conduct training programmes for volunteers, staff, and other groups using various training methodologies in order to increase solicitation effectiveness
5. Ask for and secure gifts from prospects in order to generate financial support for the organisation's purpose
6. Prepare donor-centred solicitation materials in order to influence and facilitate informed gift decisions
7. Evaluate the solicitation programme using appropriate criteria and methodology in order to produce accurate analytic reports for effective decision making Key Knowledge Areas for the above tasks:
  - Psychology of giving, motivations/incentives for giving, ways in which gifts benefit donors
  - Case statement and feasibility study components and uses
  - External factors that may affect the viability of the organisation and its programmes/services
  - Types of gifts (such as cash, securities, grants, property, gifts in kind, bequests and other deferred gifts)
  - Solicitation strategies and techniques (such as moves management, relationship management, and prospect management) and their effectiveness with different donor groups
  - Fundraising techniques, vehicles, and media, such as:
  - peer-to-peer principles and their application to fundraising
Relationship Building
Fundraising professionals should be able to:
1. Initiate and strengthen relationships with all constituents through a systematic cultivation plan designed to increase support of the organisation over the long term
2. Acknowledge and recognise gifts in ways that are meaningful to donors and appropriate to the mission and values of the organisation
3. Develop and implement a comprehensive communications plan in order to inform constituents and identified markets about the mission, vision, and values of the organisation, its funding priorities, and gift opportunities
4. Inform constituents about the value of giving in order to promote a culture of philanthropy Key Knowledge Areas for the above tasks:
  - Cultivation techniques as they relate to various prospective donor segments or other stakeholders
  - Methods for optimising relationships between and among constituencies and external spheres of influence
  - Components of a comprehensive communications plan and processes for creating one
  - Communication methods and messages to reach target audiences
  - Relationship between philanthropy and fundraising
Volunteer Involvement
Fundraising professionals should be able to:
1. Create a structured process for the identification, recruitment, evaluation, recognition, and replacement of volunteers in order to strengthen the organisation's effectiveness
2. Empower and support volunteers by providing orientation, training, and specific job descriptions in order to enhance the volunteers' effectiveness
3. Engage volunteers in prospect identification, cultivation, and solicitation activities in order to raise funds more effectively and efficiently
4. Participate in recruiting experienced and diverse leadership on boards and committees in order to ensure that these groups are representative of and responsive to the community they serve
5. Involve volunteers in the planning, development, and execution of a broad range of activities in order to maximise commitment to the mission and goals of the organization
6. Delineate the roles of volunteer board members and staff in order to distinguish who have governance and management responsibilities Key Knowledge Areas for the above tasks:
  - Personality types and personality attribute theories
  - Volunteer roles and job descriptions in fundraising
  - Volunteer recruitment, management, retention, recognition, and evaluation techniques
  - Principles of adult learning
  - Strategies for optimising volunteers' time and talent
Management
Fundraising professionals should be able to:
1. Participate in the organisation's strategic planning process in order to ensure that philanthropy is an integral part of the strategic plan
2. Design and implement short-and long- term fundraising plans and budgets in order to support the organisation's strategic goals
3. Conduct performance analysis of the fundraising programme using accepted and appropriate standards in order to assess efficiency and effectiveness
4. Recruit, train and support staff by applying human resource principles in order to foster professionalism and achieve the goals of the organisation
5. Supervise staff by applying appropriate human resource principles in order to foster a productive, team-oriented work environment and enhanced personal performance
6. Contract for various services, when appropriate, in order to optimise the efforts of the fundraising function
7. Create gift acceptance and acknowledgement policies in order to reflect the values of the organisation and satisfy legal and ethical standards Key Knowledge Areas for the above tasks:
  - Culture and definition of philanthropy
  - Governance models, mission/vision statement components and uses
  - Strategic and action planning methods as they relate to fundraising
  - Financial management (including budgeting, financial statements, return on investment) and human resource management (including, training, managing, evaluating)
  - Development audit and standards and methods used to analyse fundraising effectiveness
  - Contract service provider/consultant management
  - Methods for assessing the organisation's impact on the community
  - Policy development procedures (i.e., gift acceptance policies)
  - Data management, record-keeping systems and security procedures
Accountability
Fundraising professionals should be able to:
1. Report to constituencies the sources, uses, and management of donated funds in order to preserve and enhance confidence in the organisation
2. Ensure that the intent of gifts is honoured so that public trust is established and preserved
3. Ensure that the solicitation of gifts is conducted in accordance with the regulatory environment in which fundraising activities are conducted
4. Clarify, implement, and monitor donors' instructions by ensuring that allocations are appropriate and documented in the organisation's financial records
5. Comply with all reporting requirements and regulations in order to demonstrate commitment to accountability and transparency Key Knowledge Areas for the above tasks:
  - Donor Bill of Rights/Donors' Charter
  - Ethical principles relevant to cultivation, securing and accepting gifts
  - Laws and regulations affecting donors and not-for-profit organisations
  - Legal and ethical practices related to donor record maintenance, gift accounting, and audit trails
  - Development of /adherence to gift acceptance policies
  - Methods of recording, receipting, recognising, and acknowledging gifts
  - Accounting principles for not-for-profit organisations
  - Personal privacy and information protection

Fundraising Competencies

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