Last week the Institute of Fundraising opened up its new Diversity Access Fund for applications from fundraisers for bursaries to attend its fundraising convention in July.
The IoF has put forward £5,000 worth of bursaries for those fundraisers “who self-identify as BAME (Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background), LGBT+, or disabled” to attend its annual fundraising convention.
The IoF encouraged "partners and supporters to join the initiative by contributing to the fund". As of today, the IoF said that it has recieved a further £4,000 in matchfunding from Nisa's Making a Difference Locally Foundation, Think Consulting Solutions, and FastMap. It is hoping to raise a further £1,000.
A spokeswoman for the fundraising membership body said: "We're really pleased that we're so close to the £10,000 mark that we hoped to achieve and are looking at how we can expand the fund further to increase its impact and open up more opportunities".
Applications from fundraisers to recieve a bursary will close at 5pm on 8 June 2018. Those interested in applying can do so here.
The bursaries are the first to be made available by the representative body’s Expert Advisory Panel on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, which was appointed in February this year. Its aim is to “develop a strategy for the IoF to tackle the lack of diversity in the profession”.
The initial fund will cover passes, travel and accommodation to the IoF’s Fundraising Convention, which will be held in London from 2-4 of July.
The IoF said that a £500 bursary would “cover a one day pass, travel and accommodation costs” for a fundraiser, while a £1,000 grant would “cover a three day pass, travel and accommodation” to the event. Currently the fund would either cover five fundraisers attending the full conference, or 10 fundraisers attending one day of the conference.
Peter Lewis, chief executive of the IoF, said: “We’re delighted that MADL, Think, and FastMap have all contributed towards the Access Fund, meaning that within a week of launch we have nearly doubled its impact. We look forward to welcoming even more contributions to enable a greater diversity of fundraisers to develop their skills and experiences.”
Sufina Ahmad, chair of the IoF’s diversity panel, said: “I am delighted that the IoF has taken the initiative to launch this access fund for convention 2018. Whilst our main role is to develop a long term strategy for the IoF to improve the diversity and inclusiveness of the fundraising profession, we believe it is important that the IoF launches this fund to enable more fundraisers from diverse communities to attend convention.”
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