Finding Fundraisers: Identifying, Hiring, and Retaining Successful Talent

The demand for fundraisers continues to increase and the market for nonprofit talent continues to constrict. The social service sector appears to report the highest level of difficulty in continuing to fill these roles while healthcare and higher education appear to be less challenged. Overall, searches to fill key fundraising positions are taking longer than they were, just two years ago, and frontline fundraising roles are the most difficult to complete.

Research indicates that the driving forces for this tight market continue to be salary competition, burnout, and limited resources to work with to accomplish goals. 

Vacant roles not only put a strain on the organization, they also have a direct financial impact. The true cost of losing a fundraiser must consider the replacement costs and overall costs due to lost productivity and donor engagement while the role is open. Those costs can range from 20% to 200% of a fundraiser’s annual salary.

Maximizing Your Potential for Success

Start with intentionality. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in searching for your next Director of Development or Major Gift Officer is to rush the search or the final decision. The temptation to close the gap as fast as possible can be overwhelming. But, rushing can result in a failed search or a bad hire which costs your organization even more in the long run.

In the same way that sharpening your saw before you cut down the tree will make the process smoother, more efficient, and get the tree down cleanly; giving the search process your time, attention and prioritization will give you a better outcome.

What is your vision for the role? Is it a replacement? Where will you want this next leader to focus compared to the last one? Ask yourself and other senior leadership what the expectations for the role are and agree to the expected outcomes. Create a list of non-negotiable characteristics and hold them to it in the screening process. There is an additional temptation to believe that, as a nonprofit, you cannot obtain the top talent for your role. That is a misconception, though often a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once you’ve captured the complete vision for the role, translate it into messaging points clearly laid out in the job description. 

Conducting this thorough preparation will give you a clear profile to help you identify potential candidates in your networks, among the direct applicants, and as you solicit conversations with others in your market who aren’t actively looking for a new role. 

Successful Fundraisers' Key Characteristics 

There’s no argument that excellent fundraisers are strategic, have strong relationship building and communication skills, have the utmost integrity, and possess the professional acumen for their roles. There are a few additional characteristics to prioritize in identifying the best talent for your organization.

• A Passion and Alignment for Your Mission. This is a surprisingly overlooked point in many organizations. It isn’t a fundamental requirement that a candidate have a personal connection to your mission, but it is critical that they be passionate about the change that you are making in the world. When you screen a candidate and ask, “why would you want to work here in this role”, the best fundraisers will respond with some deal of excitement about the impact you make as an organization.
• Cultural Fit. Cultural fit is distinctly different from a passion for your mission. Your mission is what you do, but your culture is how you do it. Are you a collegial group? Does your leadership collaborate frequently on decisions? Does your decision-making lean towards hierarchical? Perhaps you value performance and metrics more than innovation at this stage in your journey. It is important to understand yourself and then evaluate the candidates that you screen based on their alignment with your culture.
• Emotional Intelligence. Emotional intelligence isn’t just ‘understanding people’, it encompasses characteristics like empathy, a strong relationship building skill, which is especially applicable when talking about the difficult issues donors are solving with your organization. Self-awareness and self-regulation are also a part of emotional intelligence. Many of the issues encountered or cited with “toxic employees” are related to a lack of either self-awareness or the inability to self-regulate one’s emotions and behaviors, especially under stress. The best fundraisers excel in understanding themselves and others as well as conducting themselves in a respectful manner.
• Attracting and Hiring Top Talent. Are you an organization where people want to work? Do you have a culture that draws talent in? Are you showcasing your unique opportunities and impact that you make as you partner with donors? These are all questions to consider as you think about what a candidate sees and experiences about your organization as they look at your website and social networks or as they talk to their friends and colleagues who may know you well. 

If there are challenges and changes underway in your organization, be up front about them. There is no reason to hide something that will eventually come out and harm a candidate’s ability to be successful. If you are up front and appropriately transparent about a challenge, you can own the narrative and position the situation. For example, if you’ve had two different development directors in the last two years and are now hiring a third, you can explain what you learned from the previous searches and subsequent terms of employment and how clear your vision is now for the role. 

As you move into the search and begin evaluating candidates, make sure that you’ve translated your non-negotiables and experience requirements into interview questions that will get at the heart of what you are looking for. Each candidate should be treated with fairness, respect, and diligence throughout the process with clear updates on timelines and next steps. 

Once you have narrowed your selection to a finalist or two, consider whether their final interview should be in person, especially if your prior conversations were completely virtual. If you reach this stage with only a mediocre option to move forward with, do not be afraid to start over. The wrong candidate can cost you far more in the long run than waiting for the right one.

Before you make a final offer, be sure to complete thorough reference checks. Reference checks should be conducted in a live conversation if possible unless your company has a policy against this. A candidate doesn’t need to inform their current organization they are leaving at this point, you can simply request references from a prior place of employment if possible. The most thorough check would be to request specific references such as: “a professional reference from someone who you reported to, someone who reported to you (for roles managing others), and an additional collegial reference such as a board committee member with whom you have worked.”

When these references are conducted in a live conversation you are more apt to gain honest and nuanced feedback about the candidate, their alignment with your role, and sometimes even insight into the best way to work with the candidate.

Retaining Successful Fundraisers

Compensating top leaders fairly and generously is key to setting off on the right foot but it is not the only factor in retaining talent. Additionally, base salary is not the only form of compensation. Though it's unethical to pay a percentage bonus on dollars raised, you can pay incentive bonuses for hitting revenue targets and other goals in a development program. You can also utilize signing bonuses, relocation costs, enhanced health and wellness benefits, PTO policies, and many other offerings to create a robust offer that shows candidates that you value them. 

Employees also cite a lack of good leadership, a lack of professional development and a tolerance for bad behavior in the workplace as top reasons to leave. Some of this can be addressed in a thorough and proper onboarding process and a continuing professional development plan with key milestones.

The increasing rate of total burnout among fundraising professionals is alarming. As leaders, you can play a role in shifting your internal culture to support and promote healthy work life balance among your staff. You can also train staff to implement appropriate planning and execution goals despite the financial pressures on the institution. You can create policies and set expectations that acknowledge healthy philanthropic growth is a long term investment. Fundraising growth is much more like training for and running a marathon than it is like winning a single sprint. 

Unlock the secrets to elevating your career by exploring our in-depth guide on C-suite positions and discovering the strategies that set top executives apart.

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