Clare Bamberger recently wrote an interesting piece titled "What if you don't have a budget for training" and it got me thinking. Unaccustomed as I am to generalising, it made me think that we're pretty poor, as a sector, when it comes to thinking outside the proverbial box particularly when it comes to learning new things.

250 years ago (you get my drift), the only way to become a real fundraiser was to study for an IOF qualification and, if you dig around on their awful website (I'm a paid-up member, I'll say what I like!) you'll find inane courses like this one: 'Managing High Performance Teams'. Sounds good from the title but read the content and it's dry as the pot pourri on Mavis's desk with incredible learning 'outcomes' such as "What is a team?" and "What is the managers role?". Now, I've been Trustee of a secondary academy until recently and I'm pretty sure this is fine for 12 year-olds, not so great if you're 44.

(In case you're inspired by the whiff of success, you'll find their course here and it's only £49...for a reason: http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/events-and-training/training/online-courses/managing-high-performance-teams/)

So, if you're not the age of Mother Theresa, how do you learn all the skills that the cool kids in the highly-paid, for-profit world are learning? Well, here's a tip - you don't have to go back to some musty old university, nor do you have to buy a fake diploma from an unregistered school. No. You can study courses created by some of the world's top universities and educational establishments ABSOLUTELY FREE OF CHARGE! 

Don't tell Donald Trump but MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are taking over the world quicker than any 'alien' can jump a wall and even the FT thinks they're worth talking about (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/039fb95a-161c-11e3-a57d-00144feabdc0.html?ft_site=falcon&desktop=true#axzz4ZLihSVjM) and has a search function to help you find one to suit.

If you've never heard of MOOCs don't be scared. They may stretch your brain but they won't hurt you. The list of courses grows every day and there are thousands, literally thousands of courses available to study online right now. What's more, you get to mix, online, with students from all over the world who are studying the same course, at the same time, for many different reasons. It's like Facebook for clever people!

So, here's my challenge to the sector - what's stopping charities large and small pulling together a range of courses from these providers (list below) and offering them to their employees to boost their self-development? Some providers allow you to purchase certificates and awards and employers could pay for those but, essentially, most of the stuff is free of charge providing you don't need another piece of paper to show granny that you're smart.

And here's my challenge to everyone working in the sector - if your employer doesn't do this, do it yourself. You can. Easily. Prove everyone wrong. Learn to code. Learn a language. Learn about 'Leadership in 21st Century Organisations' (University of Copenhagen), learn 'Dynamic Public Speaking' (University of Washington), screw it, learn 'Game Theory' from Stanford, yes Stanford University where America's brightest stars study. 

They're not just from American universities though - University of Oxford (don't worry, no one will know the difference, it's just words) will inspire you with 'From Poverty to Prosperity: Understanding Economic Development'. Hell, if you speak French you can study Oscar Wilde with a course from the Sorbonne! Learn about 'Economic Democracy: The Cooperative Alternative' with University of Edinburgh and, if you can tear yourself away from all this and get back to how we started, 'More Effective Leadership and Governance for Nonprofit Organizations' from State University of New York may float your boat - this is not free, but it's not expensive either and looks fantastic - I'm about to start studying it.

What I'm saying is, no matter what you want to learn, when or why you want to learn it, it's out there with just a few taps on the keyboard.

If you're worried that your next interviewer won't know what the hell a MOOC is and won't accept your learning unless you have a hand-tied scroll and a photo showing HM Queen Elizabeth II herself handing it to you then you're overthinking it.

As a senior manager in a medium-sized charity I know that I want to recruit people who show they can learn, not just people who can show they have learnt, especially if they have a degree in veterinary science and now want to specialise in individual giving. It's an old fashioned approach. Get with it.

Get on, learn, prove you can pick up new stuff and prove that you don't need to be able to answer "What is a team?" (thanks again IOF) to manage one, to lead one, to inspire one and to make everyone in it successful.

Even if your boss says there's no budget for training. Even if your parents say you should have stuck with hairdressing or building walls rather than trying to better yourself. Even if the IOF tells you that you need to learn their way to be successful, tell them all to do one and prove them wrong. Be the first person in your family to understand ancient Chinese history. Be the first person in your charity to learn how to 'Speak to people so they listen' (University of California). Be the first of your mates to learn to code Python for free and the use those skills to help another charity.

Don't accept that training has to be budgeted for by your HR dept. and that you, as a mere fundraiser, come somewhere near the bottom of the list. Life's too short and so is your career. The needy, the poor, the sick and the elderly all need you to learn stuff so you can do a better job for your charity. No pressure. What are you waiting for?

If you've been inspired to empower yourself to take control of your own destiny, here are some suggestions of where to start:

Nonprofitready.org   http://www.nonprofitready.org/

FutureLearn   http://www.futurelearn.com/

edX   http://www.edx.org/

Coursera   http://www.coursera.org/

OpenLearn from the Open University  http://www.open.edu/openlearn/

Alison   http://alison.com/course/

Udacity  http://www.udacity.com/

iversity   http://iversity.org/

The Digital Garage (Google)   http://digitalgarage.withgoogle.com/

FreeCodeCamp - learn to code and then practice by building projects for nonprofits
http://www.freecodecamp.com/challenges/learn-how-free-code-camp-works