We readily accept the notion that medicine and law are professions. As members of the public we even have a general idea of how membership in these professions works: doctors, lawyers, and accountants get the required education, pass a licensing exam, and agree to ethical conduct as outlined in their profession’s code of ethics.
If they don’t achieve and maintain these standards, they either cannot initially join the profession or, if currently practicing, their ability to practice is revoked.
This clear set of standards is partly why established professions generally enjoy an enhanced level of trust and respect.
Mind the Knowledge Gap
Fundraising as a profession has an open career pathway with fewer barriers, as there are no educational or licensing requirements for practicing.
While opportunities for formal training in fundraising (including degree and certificate programs) are growing, the overall lack of consistent, formal training can leave wide gaps in fundraisers’ professional and ethical knowledge.
Frequently, fundraisers are trained on the job. When managers and directors aren’t aware of ethical best practices, they can all too easily pass down bad habits inadvertently when training junior staff, creating a compounding problem that could mean raising less money or even land the organization in hot water.
Fundraising is a profession built entirely on trust and relationships. We owe donors, funders, and corporate partners complete confidence their monies will be properly used and stewarded.
That can be hard to guarantee when development staff have blind spots in their practice and haven’t committed to learning broad-based industry-accepted standards.
This makes voluntary certification through CFRE certification and adherence to a binding code of ethics even more important.
As various (but thankfully isolated) cases have shown over the years, fundraisers can do more harm than good to an organization if they operate without sufficient professional and ethical knowledge. Inefficient fundraising, unachieved fundraising goals, and unintentional ethical breaches are all more likely to occur if fundraising staff have insufficient knowledge and experience.
How the CFRE Credential Upholds Professionalism
The CFRE credential’s valid and reliable certification process addresses this issue by offering a valid indicator that fundraisers meet globally recognized baseline standards in fundraising experience, results, education, knowledge, and ethics.
Being CFRE certified signals fundraisers have proven their professional knowledge and proficiency. The CFRE credential reassures employing organizations that their fundraising operations are in capable hands.
CFRE certification goes beyond growing professionalism on the individual and organizational levels—it also strengthens the overall fundraising profession. Accreditation by the American National Standards Institute’s National Accreditation Board (ANAB) according to international ISO 17204 standards for Certification of Persons shows that the CFRE certification program follows best practices in certification—assuring that fundraising has a quality certification just as other established professions do.
CFRE certificants must attest they are knowledgeable of and abide by the International Statement of Ethical Principles in Fundraising as well as of laws and regulations governing fundraising in the geographic areas where they work.
This added layer of assurance brings peace of mind to employers and the public that CFRE certificants are dedicated to ethics and best practice.
But it’s not only CFRE International that believes the CFRE certification program is important for professionalism in fundraising.
The nearly 7,800 CFRE certificants worldwide think so, too. So do CFRE International’s 31 Participating Organizations, which include national and international associations for fundraising professionals and large nonprofit organizations; and CFRE International’s more than 400 Approved Education Providers worldwide, which include major universities, associations, and other entities providing education in fundraising.
Vibrant professions encourage their members to grow in their knowledge and capabilities. They work to serve the public and build trust in the profession.
For fundraising, CFRE certification is an important part of building a solid base of knowledgeable and ethical practitioners, strengthening organizational fundraising through promulgation of best practices, and helping all to understand that fundraising is a noble profession with accountability and ethics.