Association of Fundraising Consultants

Why Join AFC?

AFC’s mission is to be the professional association that sets standards in fundraising consultancy in the UK in order to safeguard the interests of not-for-profit organisations their donors and beneficiaries. Its two main reasons for existence are

• to promote high standards in consultancy and
• to ensure that the interests and opinions of consultancies are taken into account by government departments, regulatory bodies and other relevant organisations in the not-for-profit sphere. 

Quality and Ethics

The first act of the AFC in 1991 was to adopt a Code of Practice that would distinguish its members from those operating at the margin of respectability. Many of the employees of AFC member companies also belong to the Institute of Fundraising and therefore adhere to the fundraisers’ code of practice. The AFC Code of Practice complements the Institute code as it covers issues of business ethics as well as of fundraising ethics.

AFC rapidly attracted most of the larger consultancies and a number of small ones. It currently has 19 full members and 1 affiliate member. It is the firm or trading entity which is the member, not the individual.  Over the years the Code has been sharpened in the light of experience. In addition a Complaints Procedure has been adopted that enables clients of members to challenge their consultants if they consider that a breach of the Code has occurred.  AFC thus seeks to self-regulate its own Code and reassure not-for-profit organisations that they can safely use its members, but by implication should be cautious about hiring non-members.

Since its founding, AFC has steadily tightened its membership review arrangements. New members have to be proposed and seconded by existing members and references are taken up with four recent clients of the applicant firm. Every three years references are checked again with two more recent clients.

Since it was founded in 1991 AFC has set out to be the body to which all the best and most reputable fundraising consultancies belong so that not-for-profit organisations can safely hire any of its members.

Representation

Fundraising consultancy is quite heavily regulated in some other countries and there have been various attempts in the last 20 years in the UK for regulations to be adopted that would threaten fundraising consultancy or make it difficult to operate. Whereas the Institute of Fundraising seeks to represent the views of all fundraisers when public policy issues come up, the AFC has found it rather important to put forward a purely consultant view. In the early 90’s the government tried to implement a definition of fundraising consultancy that would have treated consultants as professional solicitors rather than advisers. After representation by AFC the proposed regulations were amended so that consultants could still function practically. 

In more recent years, the government has set up the FundRaising Standards Board. Our views as consultants have been made known to this Board on more than one occasion. We have also made clear our very strong opposition to commission-based fundraising – not just for consultants, but for all fundraisers. This has been important because within the Institute of Fundraising, many of that organisation’s members have favoured a dilution of such prohibitions.

Marketing

There is undoubtedly a marketing benefit to members of AFC. This arises generally because it is natural for organisations seeking consultancy advice to gravitate to the members of an organisation that takes a clear and unequivocal stand on ethical questions. Benefit also arises because anyone searching for a fundraising consultancy through Google or any other search engine will quickly find their way to the AFC website. Members report that the thousands of hits which that site receives each month do lead to a worthwhile number of approaches to them directly. At any one time three member firms are especially featured on a rotating basis and there is an opportunity to pay an extra sum for a banner headline.

In addition, AFC offers members the opportunity to subscribe to listings in publications such as Professional Fundraising and Third Sector and this is felt to be a cost-effective way of highlighting the ethical standing of all AFC members, encouraging visits to the website, attracting enquiries and promoting subscribing members’ names.

CFRE

Of course AFC cannot guarantee the quality of advice offered by individual members – however carefully it checks references – and there will be legitimate disagreement about what advice is best given in a particular situation.  One step AFC has taken to encourage standards is to be a sponsoring organisation for the Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) in the UK.  Originally an American accreditation, it has now been extended with country specific examinations to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.  It differs from national qualifications in that it is not a “once off” examination, but does require evidence of continuing professional development and fundraising performance, although no further examinations need be taken once initial certification has been achieved.  Many employees of AFC member firms have acquired the CFRE, which is also open to fundraisers working for not-for-profit organisations, provided candidates have at least five years experience in the profession.

Other Benefits

For many members one of the greatest benefits of being part of AFC is the professional friendships that are formed. Members’ meetings and Board meetings (which may be attended by any member) provide opportunities for consultants to network, socialise and even discuss business issues with others who face similar problems and have similar interests. Confidential second opinions can sometimes be invaluable in finely balanced or delicate situations. A collegial atmosphere of friendly competition exists among members but in view of the membership vetting which is undertaken, this is underpinned by mutual respect.