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Professional Fundraising Certificate

Online training to build fundraising skills.

Learn from successful nonprofit and university fundraisers who share proven best practices to raise money for your organization. Complete six online, self-paced courses in approximately seven hours to earn the certificate.

Program Highlights:

Designed for public and nonprofit fundraising professionals.

Discover tips, techniques, and tools used by successful nonprofit and university fundraisers
Learn about annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, and corporate and foundation relations
Earn six Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE)-accredited course credits

  • Tuition: $685
  • Duration: Students have six months from the date of registration to complete the program.
  • Modality: Online, self-paced.
  • Certification: This course is offered in partnership with Elective Learning LLC and is accredited through CFRE.

  • Individuals interested in starting a career at a nonprofit organization or university.
  • Social entrepreneurs, founders, and leaders of nonprofit organizations.
  • Current nonprofit staff and volunteers looking to improve their fundraising knowledge.
  • Higher education leadership, faculty, and staff.

Certificate Introduction: Gain an understanding of professional fundraising with an introductory overview of the program.

Foundations of Philanthropy: Explore the history and evolution of philanthropy in the United States, the psychology of philanthropy and donor motivation.

Board of Directors: Understand the role of a nonprofit board of directors, board members’ roles and responsibilities and board governance.

Annual Giving: This course delves into annual giving strategy and tactics, who should be making annual gifts, finding new donors, donor segmentation and donor stewardship.  

Major Gifts: Develop your ability to craft major gift fundraising strategy, while mastering the major gift development cycle, communication, stewardship, and relationship management. Making the ask, campaign strategy and event fundraising round out the rest of this course.

Planned Giving: Learn best practices of planned giving, including relevant audiences, effective marketing, gift plans, stewardship and strategy.

Foundation Relations: Expand your understanding of institutional giving as we cover the principles of foundation relations and foundation giving. 

Grant Writing:  This course will cover the principles of grant writing, detailing the process of crafting a successful proposal. 

Corporate Relations: Gain an understanding of corporate relations principles, corporate social responsibility, and corporate giving.