Italian fundraising professor joins EFA’s certification committee

March 21, 2018

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EFA certification

Valerio Melandri, University of Bologna and Philanthropy Research Centre

Valerio Melandri, a leading consultant, trainer, and educator in the field of Italian fundraising, has joined EFA’s Certification Committee.

Developed with EU funding, EFA Certification is a framework that enables members to develop national qualifications for fundraising based on one core syllabus and a set of fundraising competencies. The Certification Committee’s role is to support fundraising associations and their educational partners in developing and maintaining accredited qualifications. EFA Certified qualifications are now available in 11 European nations: Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

The first professor to have taught the discipline of fundraising in a degree programme at an Italian university, Melandri is a professor and director at the University of Bologna, where he directs the university’s Masters programme in fundraising and teaches ‘The Principles and Techniques of Fundraising’ at its Faculty of Economics in Forlì.

Melandri is also the founder and president of the Philanthropy Research Centre, a centre for research, training and consultancy based at the Faculty of Economics. He has published several books on philanthropy, and is the creator and promoter of the first Italian internet portal and blog on fundraising. He chairs the organising committee for the Fundraising Festival, the largest Italian event for fundraisers.

Melandri works internationally, participating in over 40 national and international conferences and, since 2013, has been a visiting professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), teaching International Principles and Techniques of Fundraising.

On his appointment to the Committee, Melandri said:

“The world of fundraising has changed a lot since I started out, but practitioners still face many of the same difficulties: the governance demands of nonprofit organisations, the donors’ expectations of transparency and accountability, and an oligopolistic labour market. It’s a difficult, but wonderful challenge and one that EFA Certification plays an enormous role in helping fundraisers meet, which is why it is so important and why I am so honoured to join the Committee.”