Writing Your Way to Recertification While Reaping Additional Career Benefits

By Ryan Ginard, CFRE

Once you obtain the Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) credential, you must recertify every three years to maintain it. The recertification application requires candidates to document information in: Education, Professional Practice, and Professional Performance and works on a points system.

Individuals must document a minimum number of points in each of the three categories to be recertified.

Making a plan on how to achieve this in an intentional way is a sound approach and will take the pressure off that last-minute deadline push.

Much of that pressure can be relieved with a proactive approach to tackling the 45 points required in the Education category.

Qualifying Education includes:

• Continuing education on fundraising topics (including conference attendance)
• Academic degrees
• Teaching on fundraising topics
• Authoring on fundraising topics
• Service Learning through volunteer experiences

I’m going to show you a couple of trickle-down strategies that will not only set you up for recertification success but also establish yourself, your knowledge, and your experience as a leading voice in the field, one which is craving new content as we push for continued professionalism of our work and inspire a new generation of fundraisers.

First, let’s break down the points structure for authoring and reverse engineer those numbers:

• 5 Points per published article (500 words or more, blog posts are ineligible)
• 15 Points per book chapter
• 30 Points per book

You can earn up to 30 of the 45 Education points required for recertification from authoring. So that’s six articles total or two articles per year if we are doing simple math.

Lending Your Expertise

But what to write?

Being a CFRE is already an endorsement of your knowledge and experience against international standards in philanthropy. It adds to your credibility as a fundraiser and sets you apart from other professionals.

To that end, you are an authority on the subject matter whether it be annual giving, major gift fundraising, or stewardship. You don’t need to have a famous name, big title, or fancy degree—but you do need to be well positioned to speak on your topic and able to convey it.
Know what you are an expert in and why, then write about your experiences, thoughts, and results. Don’t forget thatcase studies are highly popular.

Pitching

You will need to pitch your articles (as self-published material is ineligible). Map out websites and publications that align with your work and might be looking for unique hooks.
Don’t restrict your outreach to sector-specific outlets. I often write about nonprofit technology which has opened doors into broader tech publications that have been looking for insight on how to engage with, and understand, the social sector better.

My favorite resource on how to write, pitch, and everything in-between is the Op-Ed Project website. It is run by a group with a mission to increase the range of voices and quality of ideas we hear in the world.

First Publication

After your pitch is accepted, get down to writing. Once your first article is published, continue exploring that topic by expanding its reach.

Many articles from top thought leaders in our field are simply the same themes but with multiple angles. After a while you will see which gain traction from your peers. You’ll gain a clearer understanding of what resonates with readers, making it easier to get new articles accepted for publication.

Here is a 5-step approach to building out your writing (which is also largely automated):

1. Write one article – Identify something you are interested in and pitch the topic to an editor. Once it is accepted, write a 500-word article on it. Write it for yourself, not for the clicks. Let your genuine expertise shine.
2. Expand that article – Cut the article up into conversational pieces. Share on social media channels to keep the conversation going.
3. Partner With Someone from Another Site – Write an article with a peer to enhance the viewpoint and gain exposure to new networks.
4. Subscribe to platforms like Lumen5 – Upload your article to this AI platform. Like magic, it will create a professional two-minute video you can upload to YouTube and share to your network.
5. Convert to a podcast – The Anchor plug-in on WordPress can turn your article into a podcast episode! Podcasts don’t qualify for CFRE Education credit, but they will help get more mileage out of the smart ideas you’ve presented in your articles.

Investing in your writing is a win-win. Not only do you earn points towards the recertification requirement, but it’s also a way to develop your voice in the field and is a true complement to your professional growth.

Over time, it could also lead to speaking and consulting gigs, if leveraged correctly. This could even trigger other points-earning opportunities in the Education category.

And who knows? If you write enough content, you might be looking at an award-winning fundraising book in the future!