Thirty Years of Making a Difference

Formed thirty years ago, and joining the Chartered Institute of Fundraising twenty five years ago, the Researchers in Fundraising group have been creating opportunities for the prospect research community in the UK and internationally for many years. 

What is the Researchers in Fundraising Special Interest group?

Researchers in Fundraising (RiF) is a volunteer-led group that supports anyone who does ‘prospect research’ as part of their fundraising role. Prospect research is essentially the use of data, research, and insight to identify prospective donors and funding partners for a fundraising organisation but can also cover areas such as carrying out donor due diligence and designing and implementing pipeline management systems. We provide opportunities for the prospect research community to undertake skills and knowledge development, networking opportunities, as well as running regular events and an annual conference.

What work is the group currently doing?

In March 2022 we launched the RiF Handbook, a central online resource for knowledge, skills and resources across prospect research. The Handbook has been devised and written by a global team of volunteer prospect researchers and is genuinely a ‘one of a kind’ initiative. It has already had major interest from across the sector, with over 170 subscribers since its launch.

Following the pandemic, this year we are running our first annual conference since 2019, and our first ever virtual conference. With this conference we are really focused on securing high quality, engaging speakers who will deliver insightful and practical sessions on a range of topics relevant to prospect research and to the broader philanthropy sector.

What partnerships have been formed through the group’s work?

As a group we’ve been very lucky to have three great learning partners come on board for the Handbook; Xapien, TPP Recruitment and Factary. Their support has been invaluable in enabling us to continue to push forward with the Handbook project. With the Handbook project we’ve worked with volunteer groups across the world, including several chapters of APRA. We also have a strong relationship with Pyrotalks who are doing really great things around training and skills development across the philanthropy sector.

Group achievements to be celebrated

The Handbook is clearly a huge achievement for us, and is still very much an active project – for which we need volunteers! Since the start of the pandemic we have run monthly networking events called ‘RiF Live’, which have been very popular and a really great resource for our community, which we will continue to run even as ‘face to face’ events return. Next year it will be thirty years since RiF was originally founded by Chris Carnie, Carrie Cocke, and Alison Montgomery, and twenty-five years since we joined the Chartered Institute of Fundraising. Such longevity is a big achievement in and of itself!

What’s next for the group?

As we go move in to 2023 we will be looking to reshape and relaunch our bursaries and mentoring programmes, ensuring they are fit for the needs of our community.  We are also hoping to develop and roll out a series of training sessions derived from the Handbook and delivered by experienced trainers, so watch this space!