Loading...

Association of Fundraising Professionals Picks Andrew Watt To Be CEO

Andrew Watt is expected to be appointed the new president and CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) in Alexandria, Va. Currently chief programs officer for AFP, he is also vice president of international development.

Watt has worked in the fundraising community since 1993, as director of policy and then deputy chief executive of the Institute of Fundraising in the United Kingdom (U.K.). He is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Fundraising (FInstF). He joined AFP in 2006.

Spokespeople for AFP did not return numerous calls and emails seeking comment over several days. Three separate sources confirmed the appointment to The NonProfit Times.

Watt’s international role was to identify needs in the international fundraising community that must be met to enable individuals and the organizations that they work for to practice ethical and effective fundraising. He authored a chapter on the subject in the 2008 book “Ethical Fundraising: A Guide for Nonprofit Boards and Fundraisers.”

The selection comes at a time when AFP also has its first board chair from outside the United States, Andrea McManus, CFRE, president of The Development Group, a full-service, strategic philanthropic consulting firm based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She is a former president of the Calgary Chapter, a founding chair of the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy-Canada, chair of the AFP Canadian Council and has served on numerous association committees. She has also served as vice chair of external relations and vice chair of professional advancement for AFP.AFP’s 2012 conference is slated for Vancouver, British Columbia, April 1 through 3.

AFP has been looking abroad for expansion for the past five or six years. The organization has 213 chapters and reports nearly 30,000 members, mostly in the United States. At its last international conference AFP sanctioned a chapter in Egypt, adding to its 15 chapters in Canada, six in Mexico as well as affiliates in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore. It also has alliances with organizations in Australia and Germany.

Watt has a master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh and also has degree from Winchester College and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.