Michael Downes was until June 2007, the founding Chairman of DVA NAVION the world’s foremost international fundraising company with offices throughout Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S.A. and South Africa. DVA NAVION has an outstanding reputation in directing successful campaigns for community and charitable organization the world over.Since he began in 1977, Downes has established himself as an international expert on fundraising. In New York in 1988, he was unanimously elected to be the founding Chairman of the World Fundraising Council, which then represented over 30,000 fundraising professionals internationally. He has actually worked in most major markets where fundraising exists and has held high office and been a member of many professional associations around the world.He was elected as a Fellow of the Fundraising Institute of Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Advertising Institute of Australia with a Diploma of Marketing Studies from R.M.I.T. in Melbourne. He was a founding member of the Southern Africa Fundraising Institute.Downes is a much sought after speaker at most major international fundraising conferences. He has given plenary sessions at NSFRE conferences in the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico, Association of Health Professionals in the USA and Canada, the ICFM conference in Birmingham, England, African Conferences, South East Asian workshops in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok and on several occasions, he was the featured speaker at the blockbuster Amsterdam International Fundraising Workshop and the Australian Fundraising Institute conferences.His book "Downes on Fundraising" sold out three print runs worldwide over ten years. It is now out of print and has become a collector's item in fundraising circles.He is now retired but continues to provide strategic service as a part time consultant.