Pathways to Leadership - Get Involved

The Association of Fundraising Professionals Chicago Chapter is the largest chapter in the United States and the second largest in the world. We have 900 members who represent a broad spectrum of professional experience, diverse organizations, and personal and cultural backgrounds. As an individual, if you’re looking to expand your network, enhance your not-for-profit skills or just meet fellow fundraisers, this is the organization for you. If you’re a company looking to reach a diverse and highly educated audience then you should be doing business with the AFP Chicago Chapter. There are numerous opportunities to get involved, so please take a few minutes to explore your possibilities. AFP Chicago offers numerous opportunities to get involved.

Interested in Service on the AFP Chicago Board of Directors?

The AFP Chicago Committee on Directorship invites the development community to consider future service on the Board of Directors.  Strong leadership is a hallmark of AFP Chicago and we encourage highly motivated and committed members to consider volunteering for board service.  

Who are we looking for?
AFP Chicago seeks directors who are committed to the non-profit sector and to advancing philanthropy in the organizations and communities they represent.  Directors are committed to ethical practice, donor rights, and other tenets of AFP International.  AFP Chicago is strongly committed to embracing the diversity that makes up our greater Chicagoland community. We seek nominees who:

• Have been active AFP members (Chicago or other chapters) during each of the past two years;
• Have strong leadership and service orientation, interests and experiences;
• Serve a cross-section of Chicago’s diverse communities; and
• Represent diversity of professional focus, age, race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and geography.

The application for the 2020 Board of Directors is available here, and also contains information on eligibility criteria and the responsibilities of service.  New applicants should submit complete and applications, including a copy of their resume or corporate bio, by August 26, 2019.  For more information, please contact Melissa Berliner, Chair, Committee on Directorship, at [email protected] or Pamela Williams, CAE, Executive Director, at [email protected]

Community Links

Prepare for the CFRE Exam with the CFRE Refresher Course
August 1st | 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
The Village of St. Edward - 3125 Smith Road, Fairlawn
Reservation/Cancellation Deadline: Thursday, July 18, 4:00 pm

The AFP Northeast Ohio Chapter (AFPNEO) is hosting the CFRE Refresher Course on August 1^st. Ken Frisch, ACFRE, FAFP, and Vern Snyder, ACFRE, FAFP, will facilitate the course. Both have earned ACFRE accreditation (Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive), have been honored by AFP as Fellows (FAFP), and have extensive experience in preparing fundraisers for the exam and will be able to answer your questions so you can feel prepared and ready. Be sure to register before July 18^th to ensure you get your seat!

CFRE certification serves as an impartial, third-party endorsement of your knowledge and experience of international standards in philanthropy. It adds to your credibility as a fundraiser and sets you apart from other professionals as a veritable steward of the public trust.

The CFRE certification process consists of three parts: a written application, a written examination, and an agreement to uphold a code of ethics and Accountability Standards. Individuals who wish to maintain their CFRE certification must re-certify every three years.

To help you prepare for the exam, AFPNEO will host the AFP CFRE Refresher Course on August 1. The course will start promptly at 8:00 am and end at 5:00 pm. The purpose of this one-day, intensive program is to provide a “refresher” of the six fundraising knowledge domains and the core principles and concepts that all experienced fundraising professionals should know. It is not designed specifically as a prep course for the exam but as a review of concepts one should know at the five-year experience level.

Click here for more info and to register: http://www.afpneo.org/2019/m2019-08.htm.

Questions? Email [email protected].

Nonprofit Management Essentials is Live!
Nonprofit Management Essentials is live,  thanks to the generous funding of The Allstate Foundation. Powered by the Kellogg School Center for Nonprofit Management, this set of free online resources was developed for emerging nonprofit leaders. Will you please help us spread the word?

What is it? Free online content, delivered by Kellogg School Center for Nonprofit Management faculty and practitioners, to provide emerging nonprofit leaders with essential, fundamental information across a broad range of nonprofit management topics.

Who is it for? Emerging leaders in the nonprofit sector, professionals who are new to the sector, as well as board members looking to deepen their knowledge of the sector.

Free? Really? Yes, generous funding from The Allstate Foundation makes this valuable content available at no cost for nonprofit professionals.

How can I help? Please help us get the news out by forwarding this email to your staff, putting a notice in your next newsletter and/or sharing through social media. We can provide information to share in any format — just let us know what you need!

You can learn more and view a complete list of topics here!

Transplant Hope.  Join Be The Match.  Every three minutes someone is diagnosed with a life-threatening blood cancer. More than 14,000 patients don’t have a matching marrow donor within their family. They depend on Be The Match to help find someone to give them hope for a cure.

Be A Cure for someone with a life-threatening blood illness.

Patients need you!  For thousands with blood cancers like leukemia or other diseases like sickle cell anemia, a marrow transplant is their only hope for life.  If you are of diverse ancestry, patients especially need you because they are likely to match someone who shares their heritage.

If you are interested in hosting a bone marrow drive at your organization or with your employer contact Sheena McNeal at 312-2720-4582 or email [email protected].  You can also share this link via your networks and social media to join online, here. 

For more information about Be The Match visit us at www.bethematch.org | Be the Match Registry Filer

Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Chicago (YNPN Chicago)
About YNPN Chicago: YNPN Chicago serves local nonprofit professionals (generally in their 20s and 30s) who make up a substantial segment of the Chicago area’s nonprofit workforce. Interested in learning more about YNPN? Click here for information and a list of their upcoming activities.

North Park University Offers AFP Members 40% Tuition Scholarship
To learn more about this great opportunity, click here.

Axelson Center Professional Development Programs
North Park University’s Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management offers educational workshops for nonprofit professionals September – April and an annual conference in June. Topics include fundraising, marketing, human resources, board governance, volunteer management and many more. Learn more about upcoming programs at www.northpark.edu/axelson.