If there is one thing that is abundantly clear in 2025, it’s that you never know what’s going to happen next. On every landscape, sands have shifted. Some of them have changed people’s lives for ever. At the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, we have been doing our best to plan against a backdrop of uncertainty and turmoil. A friend recently asked me how we can possibly plan for the next ten years, when predicting the next ten days is almost impossible.
But of course, we have an ace up our sleeve. And that ace is our volunteers.
I have worked in the Third Sector for over 30 years, and one of the things that has remained constant during that time is, well, a lack of consistency. Governments and policies change, trends go up and down and sometimes even back up again. The attention of the public is distracted this way and that as charities compete for hearts, minds and hopefully a financial contribution. In every organisation that I have been lucky enough to work for, it is our fundraisers’ dedication which has allowed us to do our work, effecting change and improving people’s lives.
I am proud to say that they are also our volunteers.
It feels like every year the job of a fundraiser becomes more difficult. The demands more extreme, the balance more precarious. And yet despite operating in an increasingly challenging environment, our volunteers still have energy, passion and skills to spare for other fundraisers. To help support their peers, educate them, lift them to greater heights.
From networking events to training, mentoring, webinars, conferences, and awards – our volunteers do amazing things all year long. They are truly a community of dedicated professionals who are determined to make a difference. Only this week a fundraiser contacted us to say what an amazing impact one of our groups has had on her, and to ask how she can get involved. That’s the impact our volunteers have.
The number of people attending our volunteer-led events are increasing all over the country, with some record numbers already being seen in 2025. Several groups have already delivered sessions on AI, showing that our volunteers are able to not only adapt to changing and evolving technologies, but also, crucially, to share that learning with their peers.
A career in fundraising is truly meaningful. And we are so grateful that fundraisers all over the country work with us, to help secure a better future for us all. From everyone at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, thank you for everything that you do for us and for your fellow fundraisers.