Meet our executive director – 5 questions with Eva Torsson

Eva Torsson is EFA’s first executive director, a role she took up on October 1. Here she shares what brought her to this post – a part-time position supporting EFA’s board, the rationale behind its creation, and more about how she will work with EFA and its members.

1. Tell us a little about yourself and your experience – including your role at the Swedish fundraising association.

I started my career at the international nonprofit organisation Up With People, where I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work in 15 different countries in five years and with people of different cultures and nationalities. After a Social Sciences master’s in international political science, I moved to the training and educational business sector, holding various roles, including eight years as CEO of SAUF, the Swedish Association of Certified Educational and Training Companies.

Today I work at the Swedish fundraising association, Giva Sverige, as Deputy Secretary General and Head of Training and Business Development. During my time there I’ve been responsible for professionalizing and expanding training and events, synchronizing this with a broader offering for suppliers and corporates and generating new income streams. In fact, since 2017, we have increased Giva Sverige’s turnover from training and events from 3 million SEK a year to 5 million SEK. So, I have a broad background in both the nonprofit sector and business, including a lot of experience in professional education and training, all of which is perfect for this role!

Charlotte Rydh and Eva Torsson at Skillshare 2024

2. You’re EFA’s first executive director – what was the rationale behind creating this role?

As the voice for professional fundraising in Europe, EFA has an important role to play in providing support and advocacy to members and the wider sector that helps to strengthen and protect fundraising. There is a lot more that EFA wants to do, and this means it’s time to develop it as an organization and to strengthen its voice. Appointing an executive director is about building capacity so EFA can achieve this.

We’re not political, and we shouldn’t be, but with space for civil society shrinking right across Europe, it’s more important than ever that EFA provides that common voice for Europe’s fundraising community. And, with advancing professionalism in fundraising a key focus for our members, strengthening our support here, including through the further development of EFA Certification, is another central priority.

3. What attracted you to the role?

On a personal level, I’m very much looking forward to working not just on a European, but an international level. Developing branch and industry organisations and working with educational and training companies are two areas where I have a lot of expertise and experience, and I’m looking forward to applying this here to support EFA’s next stage of development.

4. What will your initial priorities be?

As a membership organization, the most important thing to do is to listen to your members to find out what their issues are, what their own priorities are, and how on a unified level, you can help. This is essential. So that’s my first goal – I will be listening to EFA’s members and taking in their perspectives on how EFA can help them become stronger advocates for the sector in their own countries.

Other priorities, in addition to what I’ve said about the role already, will be to help EFA develop its work with other umbrella organisations, broaden its member base, and build long-term financial security.

5. How will you be working with the EFA board?

In a nutshell, my job is help EFA develop and grow, which means I’ll be working closely with the board, and its various different committees to make this happen. My first priority here is to spend time with them to understand what they’ve been doing so far, and how I can help them to develop this further most effectively.

Eva is keen to hear all thoughts and ideas. To share your feedback, email her at eva.torsson@efa-net.eu.