From 1 October 2023, important changes in the relationship between the IET and Foothold have taken effect. These changes impact how the IET collects donations for Foothold when its members renew their annual membership.

As an independent charity, we receive no funding from the IET or the government. All our life-changing work is funded through support and donations from our global community, including IET members.

Up until 1 October 2023, IET members have had the option to make an annual donation to Foothold via the IET when they join or renew their membership. Around 38,000 members have raised an average of over £400k each year by donating in this way. This is a significant source of income for us, to enable us to support engineers and their families through some of life’s most difficult challenges.

However, as of 1 October 2023, the IET is now no longer able to collect donations for Foothold with annual membership renewals, due to a change in their internal systems.

Knowing how many donations our community are regularly gifting is vitally important in helping us to plan our resources, so we can support as many engineers and their families as possible. Any loss in this substantial income may impact the level of support we can provide for the engineering community.

Whether you’re an IET member or non-member, you can help us navigate this critical change by making a regular donation direct to Foothold. By donating direct instead of through your IET membership, you’ll help us maximise the amount we can reinvest into our community – including in support you and your family can benefit from.

Fliss Rook, Fundraising and Communications Manager, said:

“At Foothold, we’ve supported current and former IET members to live well and thrive for over 130 years. Many of these members have kindly supported us in turn with an annual donation when they’ve renewed their IET membership. In 2021-22, these donations helped ensure we were able to support 565 people in our community, across 32 countries.

We are naturally concerned about the effect this change will have on our ability to support engineers and their families in the future. That’s why we’re asking community members to #DonateDirect and set up an annual Direct Debit donation to Foothold. By engaging our community in this way, we will be able to minimise the impact of this change and ensure we can continue to deliver our life-changing support for the next 130 years and beyond.”

You can find out more (including answers to some frequently asked questions) and #DonateDirect here.