Note: This post is adapted from an online conversation among Train Your Board partners Bob Osborne, Laurel McCombs, and Andy Robinson. Join the discussion!

Andy
I’m hearing from clients and colleagues that it’s difficult to hire professional fundraisers – and when you do hire them, they tend to move on to other organizations.

This is not a new problem. I remember old data from the Association of Fundraising Professionals demonstrating that the average tenure of a development director, within a specific organization, is 18 to 24 months. Given the current labor market, I can’t imagine things are easier right now.

Two questions: Why is there so much turnover among fundraising staff? And what do we do about it?

Supply and demand, lack of support

Bob
I think the heart of the problem is simple supply and demand: more demand for development people than supply.

As a result, fundraisers can often earn more money or get a better title by moving to a different organization. 

Anecdotally, it seems like the problem is getting worse. When I started my career, you could advertise in traditional outlets and get strong candidates. Now I advise my clients to use an executive recruiter if they want an experienced, proven development person because the supply is so short.

However, I do think there are other factors in play. I’ve had many conversations about people leaving the field, particularly BIPOC fundraisers, at a relatively early age. They’re not feeling well-cared for, seen, or supported. 

Laurel, we’ve discussed this many times. What’s your response?

What are these people thinking?

Laurel
My mind has been swirling because this is so complex. The supply and demand problem is real, but it only skims the surface of the difficulties in recruitment and even more so in retention.

To provide perspective, here are several situations I’ve recently encountered.

• Facing a significant budget gap, a fundraiser created a short-term campaign to raise more than double the originally projected revenue. During an all-staff meeting (the campaign was not on the agenda), she was bombarded with questions: How will they spend the campaign donations? Was she going to increase staff salaries?

• A board member – at a different organization – told me that staff shouldn’t expect pay increases because: a) satisfaction doing important mission work should be enough, and b) the only professional development they needed was understanding how to do that mission work more effectively.

• Instances of EDs being completely distanced from fundraising, providing limited support, or being overly directive and not allowing development staff to implement their own strategies.

• One job-seeking fundraiser asked me if it was possible to find a development role with reasonable expectations and a supportive culture. 

This list addresses internal culture challenges. We haven’t talked about donor and constituent expectations, or the myriad roadblocks related to systems and processes.

As a pretty positive person, I hate to be so negative, especially about a profession I love and want to thrive. However, we must do better.

If you know one fundraiser, you know one fundraiser

Andy
OK, we’ve outlined many of the problems: inadequate pay, poor support, disrespect, racism, and (extremely) unrealistic expectations. Plus supply and demand. I’ll add another: fundraisers often want more involvement from their volunteer boards than they are likely to get.

However, there’s a persistent myth that professional fundraisers are interchangeable. If you can raise money for a hospital, the theory goes, you can also raise money for a dance company or a conservation land trust or a social justice group.

While acknowledging that fundraising is basically fundraising – the principles remain the same, regardless of the context – the not-so-secret sauce is passion for the mission.

The fundraisers who stick around tend to be deeply committed to their organization’s work, despite the inadequacies of their workplaces. So let’s add this item to the why-all-the-turnover list: Development staff working for organizations whose missions they don’t really love.

How can you solve this problem?

How do you solve this? You’ve got options!

As discussed in a previous post, Three Ways to Hire a Fundraiser, Option One is what we’re discussing: seeking a professional, skilled, seasoned fundraiser. Which is increasingly difficult. Happily, that’s not the only option.

Option Two is to “grow your own fundraiser” by training committed employees, typically program staff, to become development staff. After all, anyone can learn to raise money.

Option Three is to hire a deputy or associate director, freeing up more time for the executive director to serve as the primary fundraiser. I know one executive director who has terrific program and admin directors and spends 70% of his time on major gifts fundraising. Notably, this group doesn’t have a development director.

The “stay interview”

Bob
At The Osborne Group, we suggest a regular series of “stay interviews.” 

Most of us understand exit interviews: conversations about why an employee is leaving and what their experience was like. Why wait until your personnel are already leaving? Conduct a stay interview and learn what it will take for them to stick around. 

What are their goals? What do they want to learn? What would inspire them to stay? If you understand what they need, you can take steps to create those conditions.

This process includes a planning dimension. What are your expectations as an employer? Have you created the conditions that allow your development personnel to be successful? Creating a written development plan can shed light on requirements for success.

Laurel
I think Bob nailed it. Better planning, more support, deeper listening, and appropriate expectations will help you retain your fundraising staff.