The Art of Stewardship
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27 April 2026 10:00am - 4:30pm
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Online
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Training Courses
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- Stewardship
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SC1021
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Current
This fundraising training looks at how we shape experiences for supporters from the moment they hear about us, to their first engagement and on to a lasting relationship. It will explore the psychology of giving and how you can build trust with supporters by making sure you create experiences that they find appropriate, meaningful and memorable.
Course Fees
Key Information
Fundraisers and support staff from any fundraising specialism with responsibility for keeping supporters engaged and giving. This course is suitable for all levels of professionals and volunteers working in individual giving, trust and foundation, legacy, major donor, corporate, mid level giving, community and events fundraisers and online fundraising teams. If you fundraise or support fundraising, you should steward!
Sector standards show that attracting new supporters to your work can be 10 times more expensive than keeping them, so not only does stewardship keep income higher it keeps the need for recruitment expenditure lower. The impact on your fundraising can be remarkable and yet with time and short term financial constraints we often de-prioritise standout experiences for our supporters. We worry about the cost, whether it is appropriate, find it hard to keep up with the many relationships we might manage and struggle to find the time to really think outside the box.
It will redefine stewardship way beyond the thank you letter and give you design thinking tools used by the leading commercial innovators to create ideas and experiences that will not only amaze your supporters but get them talking about you to others. And because we understand how important it is for stewardship to be cost effective the goal is to keep all ideas within realistic budgets as well as use fun and energising tools to design ideas back in your organisations
Trust is fast becoming a key driver for people and organisations choosing to support our work. This course is a must have for anyone wanting to stand out from the crowd and find special and distinct ways to make our supporters feel special.
- The value of stewardship in fundraising
- The principles of creativity and how to implement this for supporter stewardship
- The donor cultivation cycle and how to implement stewardship within the cycle
- The psychology of giving and how to understand donors’ giving choices
- The important of ‘thank you’ within stewardship
- Describe the importance of stewardship across all income streams
- Apply the creative techniques behind developing stewardship for your supporters
- Employ effective stewardship techniques within the donor cultivation cycle to great long-term, sustainable income
- Recognise the psychology behind why different supporters want different experiences and how to spot them and cater for them
- Utilise the use of ‘thank yous’ to further engage your donors
About your trainer
The live virtual training experience
The Chartered Institute of Fundraising's live virtual training is delivered by trainers who are leading experts in their chosen discipline. Each virtual course has been especially designed to deliver a rich virtual learning experience. Your course will feature:
- Zoom platform learning environment
- Interactive engagement with the trainer and peers
- Group discussions and exercises
- Real-life case studies and examples
- Ample Q&A opportunities throughout the sessions
Technology requirements
The course is being delivered via the online platform zoom. To enable you to interact with your tutor and your class you will need to have access to a microphone (or access to a landline phone) and ideally have a working video link via a camera. To test compatibility with your system, you can join a test meeting via this link.