Belgian association expands membership services to meet the needs of fundraising practitioners

Belgian fundraising association Fundraisers Alliance Belgium (FAB) is broadening its membership services to meet the needs of non-profit employees, whose primary role is not fundraising. This comes in response to almost 100 professionals having joined the organisation in the past three years and half of those carrying out fundraising on a part-time basis as part of a wider role.

According to the association, this is as a result of market changes increasing the pressure on fundraising as an income source for non-profits, which in turn is prompting involvement from a wider pool of staff members. In response, FAB has broadened the scope of its conferences to include topics such as social media, how to organise events, and new tech trends, hosting its inaugural Young Adult Donors & New Tech Trends conference this summer, as well as addressing mainstream fundraising issues. It is also reaching more people through its newsletter, which includes a range of articles and best practice examples.

While members are seeking a mixture of essential knowledge and examples of best practice that is relevant to their job and organisation, there is also an increasing interest in gaining new skills to help them widen their expertise as a fundraising professional. The association’s work programme will be further developed in 2019, with the intention of offering more job specific content and broader skills-based learning.

FAB secretariat Marc Mestdagh said:

“Our member base includes a lot of small organisations with limited staff numbers, as well as those looking to adopt a more professional approach to fundraising. In both cases fundraising is not so much the responsibility of one person with a specific function or job title, but rather a set of tasks designated to one or more staff members within the organisation.

“The challenge for FAB therefore is to keep in mind that fundraising is a ‘role’ rather than a job title, and that it is becoming increasingly important for organisations to make sure all staff members are in one way or another aware and involved in the fundraising process. We would also like to hear from other EFA members with similar experiences on how they tackle this challenge.”