Which academic courses are available to fundraisers around the world? Here are those we have come across.
Academic courses have helped many fundraisers deepen and expand their understanding of fundraising. A qualification can help boost one’s career prospects and development. They can also refresh your commitment as a fundraiser, introduce you to new contacts, and help you grow as a current or future fundraising leader. They can also be enjoyable and rewarding.
MA Fundraising
University of Chichester
The distance-learning MA Fundraising course “is the only dedicated fundraising master’s in the UK and has been built for professionals and senior leaders with a fundraising responsibility”.
Running again in February 2025, the course is designed “to help everyone involved in fundraising to be better thinkers and smarter people, and to help them build the knowledge base that will lead to greater expertise, more effective practice and wiser strategy”.
Depending on the modules completed, qualifications from the course are:
- a postgraduate certificate (PGCert)
- a postgraduate diploma (PGDip)
- a master’s
Topics covered include:
- Branding (voluntary sector)
- Capital campaigns
- Case for support
- Donor motivation
- Governance and diversity
- Individual giving
- Major donors
- Management and leadership
- Organisation giving (including corporate and foundation fundraising)
- Regulation and ethics
- Understanding organisations and change
- Volunteering
The course takes one year full-time or two years part-time.
Fees for 2023/24 were:
- MA: £8,460
- PGDip: £5,640
- PGCert: £2,820
MA Philanthropic Studies
University of Kent
The MA in Philanthropic Studies at the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent in the UK is the UK’s first Master’s in Philanthropic Studies.
It’s an online course that builds on the Centre’s expertise and teaching in civil society, fundraising, philanthropy, the third sector and volunteering (and is also available as a PCert or PDip).
The course is available in distance learning format and is part-time only, over two years. It starts in September. It is designed to fit alongside your professional and personal commitments.
Compulsory modules include:
- Fundamentals of philanthropy
- Art and science of fundraising
- Advising donors
Optional modules cover:
- Global philanthropy
- Research methods for philanthropic studies
The 2024/25 tuition fees for this course, which are the same for Home, EU and International students, are:
- MA – £8,800* (payable in two instalments of £4,400per year*)
- PDip – £5,866* (payable in two instalments of £2,933 per year*)
- PCert – £2,933 (payable in one instalment in year 1, though you may take up to two years to complete)
*Year 2 fees may be “very slightly higher” due to inflationary increases.
All students on the Philanthropic Studies course pay two years of fees, regardless of whether they pursue the full MA, PG Diploma or PG certificate.
Watch an introduction to the MA in Philanthropic Studies from Dr Beth Breeze:
The Philanthropy at Kent blog is a free resource featuring research and insight from the Centre of Philanthropy team.
Another cohort of students have recently celebrated graduating from their MA in Philanthropic Studies:
Charity Marketing and Fundraising MSc | PGDip
Bayes Business School
The Charity Marketing and Fundraising MSc is designed to support and enhance your core fundraising and marketing management skills. You might already be a fundraiser or you might be moving in to fundraising from a related commercial field.
The course is provided by the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at the Bayes Business School in London, UK.
Accredited by the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC), the course is designed to “support and enhance your core fundraising and marketing management skills. It will equip you to design and deliver efficient, effective and appropriate fundraising and marketing practice in the voluntary sector”.
It is a part-time course lasting two years. Students initially enrol on the Postgraduate Diploma with the specialist area of their choice, and then confirm their intention to complete the MSc at the end of the first year.
The course modules are:
- Learning and Understanding the Voluntary Sector
- Strategy, Diversity and Governance
- Marketing and Fundraising
- People Management in the Voluntary Sector
- Charity Accounting and Finance
- Fieldwork Exercise
- Fundraising
- Strategic Charity Marketing
The fee for the Postgraduate Diploma is £7,250 for 2024/25 entry. The fee for those converting the Diploma to MSc is a further £4,200 for 2024/25 entry.
Related courses
The Charity Fundraising and Marketing MSc/PGDip is one of five related courses available from the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Bayes Business School.
- PgDip/MSc Charity Accounting and Financial Management
- PgCert/PgDip/MSc Philanthropy, Grantmaking and Social Investment
- PgDip/MSc Charity Marketing and Fundraising
- PgDip/MSc NGO Management
- PgDip/MSc Voluntary Sector Management
International Advanced Diploma in Fundraising
The Chartered Institute of Fundraising
This online course and qualification “contains significant elements of strategic development, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation and change management”.
It is aimed at those with around five years of experience in a managerial or leadership role and with “an in-depth knowledge and experience” of at least two and preferably three different areas of fundraising.
It is is equivalent to a Level 7 programme and “is similar in level and assessment to a Master’s qualification degree”.
The International Advanced Diploma in Fundraising will run over a number of dates from September 2024 until February 2026.
Tutors Mark Carrigan, Claire Routley and Haseeb Shabbir have supported a combined total of 1500+ fundraisers to achieve their qualifications and co-tutor on the programme.
The application deadline has been extended to 2 September 2024.
The fees are £4,148 for individual members of the Institute and £4,457 for non-members.
Other academic courses for fundraisers?
Let us know about other academic courses for fundraisers and we’ll add them here. In other words, those courses for fundraisers provided by a recognised academic institution.
We’ll also publish a separate list of courses and qualifications from professional and business organisations.
