Course Review: Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising

 I decided to take a moment and share with you my experience in earning the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving's Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising.  I'll hyperlink to pages that will provide you with more information.

Lake Institute on Faith and Giving is part of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.  It's mission is to foster a deeper understanding of the dynamic relationship between faith and giving.

One of the ways they accomplish this mission is to offer an educational opportunity called the Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising. Before the pandemic, it was offered in various locations, lasting a week at a time. Since the pandemic, they have switched to an 8-week online course.

It has been my intention for several years to complete the course; in fact, I set it as one of two training goals in 2019.  The first was to earn the Certificate in Nonprofit Executive Leadership (CNEL); the second was the ECRF.  I signed up for the first course in the CNEL as an in-person course, and then the pandemic hit.  The Paul O'Neil School of Public and Environmental Affairs had already been offering the courses as both online and in-person; they pivoted my course to online.  I completed the course, as well as the next three necessary for that certification, doing only one of them online.

Anyway, my plan was to start the ECRF after finishing the first certificate, but I was hesitate to do an 8 week online course that required two 1 1/2 hour classes a week plus an additional small group zoom meeting.  It seemed like a large commitment of time in my work week.  As I was looking at it again, I noticed they were offering an in-person class in Greenville, South Carolina.  This option was two and a half days with a follow-up Zoom call.  It seemed much more manageable, so I jumped at it. I completed that part of the course in May of this year. 

Completion of the in-person course grants access to their online resources in a system called PathWright, so I worked through those offerings as well.

The last part of the Certificate is a practical project.  It requires a proposal submission, the project completion, and a reflection paper.  My project was our in-person Academy of Faith and Generosity, held this past September.  I turned in my reflection paper on November 1, and learned the 3rd that I've completed the Certificate, so yay!

I would recommend it to those who are interested.  It is well planned and executed.