Association for Christian Fundraising

What Association for Christian Fundraising does

The Association for Christian Fundraising (ACF) is a 501(c)(3) professional association headquartered in Plano, Texas, founded in 1979 (originally as the Association of Lutheran Development Executives, or ALDE, and rebranded to ACF in 2022 to serve all Christian traditions). It supports fundraising practitioners working in Christian nonprofit organizations across the United States — including churches, schools, ministries, hospitals, and faith-based NGOs — through a combination of membership services, professional development programming, recognition programs, and peer networking.

ACF's core offerings comprise an individual membership program (priced at $260/year or $470/two years), the annual Faith & Fundraising Conference, a Virtual Master Class Series covering specialized topics such as AI in fundraising, planned giving, and capital campaigns, a paid job board ($459 per posting), regular webinars (free to members, $75 for non-members), awards and recognition programs, regional affiliates, and sub-brands such as YAP (Young Acers in Philanthropy) for early-career professionals. The association maintains a formal partnership with the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving at Indiana University and offers discounts toward CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive) certification.

ACF is a membership-funded nonprofit association operating with a lean 3-person staff (Executive Director Shasta Foy, CAE; Associate Director Jon Nelson; Accountant Tom McGinness). Revenue is generated primarily through individual membership dues, conference registrations and sponsorships, job board fees, master class and webinar registrations, and an Annual Fund plus an Endowment from charitable donations. The 2025–2028 strategic plan, "From Vision to Action," is organized around five pillars and sets explicit targets including growth to 700 paying members and revenue diversification.

Name

Association for Christian Fundraising

Legal name

Association for Christian Fundraising

Website

https://acfundraising.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Association for Christian Fundraising (ACF) is a Plano, TX-based 501(c)(3) professional association serving 500+ Christian fundraising practitioners across the U.S. through membership, an annual conference, master classes, awards, and a peer network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Association Services

NAICS

Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Fundraising & Annual Giving (EDALAOAB)

Keywords

• Nonprofit professional association
• Christian fundraising education
• Member-based networking
• Fundraising certification support
• Professional development conferences

Headquarters

HQ city

Plano

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership dues provide core revenue; Full Members pay $260/year or $470 for two years; Student Members free; Retired Members exempt after 4+ years of paid membership
2. Conference Revenue: Faith & Fundraising Conference generates revenue through registration fees, sponsorships, and exhibitor fees; members receive conference discounts
3. Job Posting Services: Executive Search service charges $459 for job postings including 30-day listing, email blast to members, and social media promotion across Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram
4. Master Classes: Virtual Master Class Series priced at $149 for members and $179 for non-members, providing 4.0 CFRE CE points per course
5. Webinars: Webinars provided free to members; $75 for non-members; recordings available free for members and non-members who share information
6. Donations: Annual Fund and Endowment Fund donations from members and supporters; ACF Sustainers program offers recurring gift options
7. Organizational Memberships: Organizational memberships offer extra discounts for organizations with multiple ACF members

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Association for Christian Fundraising (ACF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional membership association that provides education, networking, mentoring, and professional development resources for fundraising, communications, and marketing professionals serving Christian and faith-based organizations. Its portfolio includes annual conferences, webinars, virtual master classes, affinity groups, mentoring, CFRE certification support, job postings, and awards for excellence in philanthropy.

Product overview

ACF (Association for Christian Fundraising) is a professional membership association offering a comprehensive portfolio of educational programs, networking opportunities, and professional development services for Christian fundraising professionals. The core offerings include the annual Faith & Fundraising Conference, ACF Webinars (live and on-demand), and the ACF Virtual Master Class Series. Additional services include Affinity Groups for peer connection, a Mentoring Program, CFRE Certification Support, the ACF Executive Search job placement service, ACF Awards for Excellence in Philanthropy recognition program, Conference Archives, and the MyACF Community membership platform. The organization also operates fundraising programs including the ACF Annual Fund, ACF Endowment Fund, and Young Advancement Professionals (YAP) scholarship program. ACF was formerly known as ALDE (Association of Lutheran Development Executives) but elevated its identity in 2022 to welcome professionals from all expressions of Christianity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Faith & Fundraising Conference: The premier annual conference for nonprofit fundraising, marketing, and leadership professionals guided by faith, providing theological fundraising principles based in biblical generosity.
• ACF Pilot Virtual Master Class Series
• Young Advancement Professionals (YAP)
• ACF Awards for Excellence in Philanthropy

Products and services

• Faith & Fundraising Conference
• ACF Webinars
• ACF Virtual Master Class Series
• Affinity Groups
• ACF Mentoring Program
• ACF Executive Search
• CFRE Certification Support
• ACF Awards for Excellence in Philanthropy
• Conference Archives
• MyACF Community
• ACF Annual Fund
• ACF Endowment Fund

Quantifiable outcome

• CFRE certification discount of 20%
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Lake Institute on Faith and Giving at Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University-Purdue University IndianapoliscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partnership for 'Fundraising as Profession and Vocation' study exploring how ACF (formerly ALDE) members understand their work as fundraisers both as professionals and people of faith. Partnership conducted through dynamic collaboration to create composite portrait of ACF membership useful for self-assessment and planning.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP): The largest professional association for fundraising professionals globally. AFP is the dominant secular peer against which ACF competes for the same fundraising professional persona, but AFP is far larger, secular, and offers a much broader certification and education portfolio.
• Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE): The major international professional association serving advancement (fundraising, alumni relations, communications, marketing) professionals in education. Overlaps with ACF in the higher-education and faith-based college segments of ACF's membership.

Direct peers

• Christian Leadership Alliance: A faith-based professional association serving Christian nonprofit and ministry leaders with conferences, peer networks, and resources. Directly comparable mission, audience, and product mix to ACF, including annual conferences and learning communities for Christian executives.
• National Association of Catholic Development Executives (NACDE): Professional association specifically serving Catholic fundraising and development executives. Highly comparable as a faith-segment-specific fundraising membership association with similar conference, education, and networking offerings for a Catholic nonprofit audience.
• Ecumenical Stewardship Center: Stewardship education and resourcing organization serving multiple Christian denominations, with overlapping audience of pastors, church leaders, and stewardship/fundraising staff. A direct functional peer in faith-based fundraising education and resourcing.

Others

• Lake Institute on Faith and Giving: Research center on faith and philanthropy at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Currently a research partner of ACF (Fundraising as Profession and Vocation study) rather than a competitor, but operates in the adjacent faith-and-giving thought-leadership space.
• ADRP (Association of Donor Relations Professionals): International professional association for donor relations and stewardship professionals. Serves a closely adjacent fundraising sub-discipline with overlapping continuing-education and certification offerings for the same development-office audience ACF targets.
• Apra (Association of Prospect Research & Analysis): Professional association for prospect research and analytics professionals supporting fundraising teams. Comparable in structure — small-staff professional association offering education, conferences, and credentialing — to a sub-segment of ACF's fundraising professional audience.
• The Giving Institute: Membership organization of fundraising consulting firms and partner companies. Shares ACF's fundraising professional audience at the consulting and organizational leadership tier and offers comparable conferences and networking.

Regional players

• National Christian Foundation: Major Christian-focused donor-advised fund and giving platform. Not a direct competitor to ACF (it is a grantmaking vehicle, not a membership association) but shares the Christian fundraising ecosystem and could be a natural partnership or sponsorship counterpart.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@ACFundraising
• Facebookfacebook.com/AssociationforChristianFundraising
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/acfundraising
• Instagraminstagram.com/acf_fundraising

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Association for Christian Fundraising