Great development directors are precious.
It seems there is a great demand for development directors. Turnover is a tremendous problem. People wonder why they can’t find a great one. In their study, Underdeveloped, CompassPoint and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund found “high levels of turnover and lengthy vacancies in development director positions throughout the sector”. I know in my community it seems like a game of musical chairs as the same pool of candidates move from job to job.
I had the pleasure years ago to spend an afternoon with Simone Joyaux and a group of local nonprofit consultants, thanks to the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. Only a few of us were fundraising consultants. One of the biggest frustrations reported by our clients is the difficulty finding someone good to lead fundraising.
As one of the people in the room who’d been there and done that, I shared my thoughts about why organizations couldn’t find a good person.
1. You won’t spend what you need to spend
Let’s start with the salary you’re offering. Too often, organizations hope to get a great person cheap. That’s just not going to happen. Or at least, it won’t happen for long.
Are you serious about building a good fundraising program? Then you need a great development director. So plan to spend. This person will lead the organization as it develops the resources you need. Don’t skimp here.
Other resources are also important. Don’t ask a professional to do the job without what she needs. A good donor management system. The budget for a direct response program. Staff. Even access to the organization’s resources, like mailing or email lists. (Do not make fundraising and marketing fight over those things. It’s your job to make sure they work together!)
You are making an investment. If you want a long-term return, this isn’t the time to bargain hunt.
2. You won’t give your new director the authority she needs
If you want a real professional to join your team, you will have to be sure she has all the authority she needs. Fundraising doesn’t just live in the development office. Philanthropy needs to be an organization-wide effort.
Your development director needs to be in the very top tier of management. Great development directors require great trust. Do not send the fundraising people off to Siberia! Your development director will need to know everything going on in the organization – because it all affects her work.
I had a run-in once with a general manager (in this case, the chief finance officer) who would not share budgets with me. Right? How do you put together a grant proposal without budgets? How do you know what resources are needed? It was purely a power play. And our leadership should have stopped that nonsense, stat.
3. You’re not willing to trust this person
Maybe you’ve been burned before and you’re feeling skittish. You need to get past that if you want a new development director to succeed.
Make sure she’s part of the most inner circle. Listen to her take on areas that seem outside her department. It’s important to understand how interconnected the entire organization is. Fundraisers understand that and can see the organization from the inside as well as the outside – as the public and donors see it.
Fundraising is both art and science. Innovation is necessary – because we’re learning more every day about why people give. Innovation doesn’t happen out of the blue. It should be carefully planned. But it’s never without risk.
Find someone who stays on top of the latest studies and information. Then give them room to test. If you refuse to try anything new unless it’s guaranteed, your program will rot.
And your development director will leave you.
4. You don’t really like or respect fundraising
That culture of philanthropy you hear about all the time begins here. Make sure you communicate to the rest of the organization – staff, board, and volunteers – that the development director has your respect.
How well do you understand fundraising yourself? You don’t need to be an expert, but you do need to understand it. Take Tom Ahern’s quiz here. How did you do?
You need to respect her decisions: focus more on major gifts or direct response? Begin a major campaign this year or build up a bigger base? Strategic decisions are what you have a real professional for. You hired a great development director. Respect her responsibility and authority. This is her area of expertise. Back her up. Disagree in private.
And respect her time. Because she took on the chief fundraising role does not mean you own her life. Don’t expect her to drop everything at 8 pm because you’ve had a great idea. And don’t complain when she’s out of the office. She should know what she needs to get done – and share that with you. But she’s entitled to carve out time for a life outside the organization.
I know of one dynamic relationship between a chief executive and a development director. She had young children. So she made a rule: she would be home every evening to read to her children before bed. If needed, she’d return to the office. But she was not available for that time every day. Her boss not only accepted that rule, but he also enforced it.
5. You’re looking for a savior
There are no magic fundraisers.
Your new development director should not be expected to raise her salary in the first year. She should not be expected to save the organization from near disaster by raising miraculous amounts of money.
She won’t rebuild the board in six months, either.
If there are structural problems in your organization, you need to address them. You can’t just hand them over to someone new and expect great things.
A new set of eyes – particularly experienced eyes – can be tremendously helpful. She can probably see things everyone else has missed.
But no one person can turn an entire organization around.
And please don’t assume that you’ll be able to hand off all your money worries to this new person. Every single person in your organization is responsible for resource development. Not everyone will ask for money. But everyone should be responsible for how your organization is presented to the public: by offering great customer service, being eager to talk about their work, treating volunteers well, and sharing stories that illuminate your mission.
Be sure the board doesn’t expect to wash their hands of fundraising, either. They will probably need to work even harder – first to help introduce your new director to the community, and then to support her efforts. A new development director can only succeed when she has the necessary time and support. You’re hiring a partner, not a Fairy Godmother.
Finding a great development director is a bit like developing donor relationships.
If you’re interested only in churn and burn hiring, go ahead and look for someone who’ll take the job and not ask for much. Shuffle her off to a corner of the office and ignore her until you need money. You’ll pay less upfront. But you’ll pay more in the long run.
This position is important both internally and externally. Those donor relationships take time to build. When you oversee a revolving door, they start to wonder. And believe me, other development people know what’s going on, too. You’ll soon have a problem attracting anyone!
But if you’re interested in the long-term, you’ll see this hire as a smart investment in your organization’s future. You’ll do all you must to help her succeed. You’ll treat her like a leader of the organization and give her the time to lay a strong foundation. Then you might be able to buck the trend and keep a great person for years.
Which way do you think is smarter?
Photo thanks to Ryan McGuire at Gratisography
Thank you Mary for another spot on essay. I love your comment –
“Fundraising doesn’t just live in the development office. Philanthropy needs to be an organization-wide effort.”
Creating a culture of philanthropy is one of the hardest tasks around and must be led from the top.
Thank you for supporting those of us in the trenches.
Kittie
Thank you, Kittie. And thank you for all the really hard work you do down in those trenches!
This was the first piece I’ve read of yours and you knocked my socks off. I try to explain these concepts to my clients and they don’t believe me. You’ve managed to articulate what I’ve only been able to stammer over when trying to explain how to hire a development director (or even a development consultant like myself). Thank you – I’m very excited to follow you now!
Thank You, Carrie! That’s very nice of you.
I do think as consultants, we’re in a position to try and help organization leaders see the value in investment rather than economizing. And for how important it is to make philanthropy something everyone in the organization does. Since Simone inspired the piece, I’d encourage you to see what she has to say about that culture of philanthropy. (https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2015/03/27/building-culture-of-philanthropy/)
This is a fabulous article. I held two development positions before giving up on non profit fundraising and encountered every issue mentioned above. At my first position, they brought me in at the manager level – as the sole development person. During my first week I asked the ED (who was rather new) if I should begin courtesy calls with the Board. The ED’s response: “No. I haven’t done any courtesy calls myself and if you go before I do it will make me look bad. Besides, Board members only want to deal with Directors not a manager.” I had lots of great and fun ideas, only to encounter “No, no, no.” for each one. After three years of beating my head against the wall in two organizations for long hours and crappy pay, I went into real estate where I make a lot more money, have a lot more fun and use the identical skill sets.
Thanks, Maureen. It seems too common! But I’m sorry the sector has lost you.
Maybe the great fundraisers who would make perfect DOD candidates are smart enough to realize that they can make more money (and save their sanity) by becoming consultants.
That’s sometimes true. (Not always.) But yes, consultants are given more respect sometimes than staff. Sometimes that’s good – sometimes it’s ignoring the smarts you already have. Also though, bringing on a consultant might be funded externally, when increasing the investment in staff is not. Lots of variables!
Fantastic article, Mary!
Thanks very much, Billy!
Wonderful article. I encourage my clients to think about these issues. Sadly many don’t and we are called in to find the “replacement”. It all ends up being quite expensive for the organization.
Thanks, Martin. You’re absolutely right, it’s much wiser to find the right person, and offer the right support and patience then it is to keep dealing with the revolving door. Thanks for commenting.
“Fundraising doesn’t just live in the development office. Philanthropy needs to be an organization-wide effort.”
This is so true. You should lock the executive director, CFO, Chief Investment Officer and Head of Development in the same room, to figure this out. If one fails, you all fail! If one leaves, you should all leave. Be a team and stop just collecting a pay check. Your organization has a mission you are passionate about, and people are relying on you to carry out and achieve your goals. Caritas Partners is the first Wall Street firm who help nonprofits raise additional revenue, through outsourced trading, while making charitable donations right back to your nonprofit. Look them up! http://www.caritaspartnersllc.com
Wow. Spot on and powerfully said. These are oft-unspoken truths that those who hire chief fundraisers need to read, understand and have drummed into their brains. I’ve observed them, and I’ve lived them. Organizations won’t raise serious money until they get serious about what it takes to be successful in fundraising, make appropriate investments and allow a relationship-based endeavor to take root and grow.
Thanks, Mark. You’re absolutely right!
Great insights! I believed you missed one…so make this 5.5, since I’m a firm believer in the completeness of a system with 5 elements. That last one is, The Development Director is Not the X-Factor. That’s a nice way if saying the Development Director is not the trash can. Some organizations use the Development person to take care of everything that doesn’t fit into other job descriptions, to the point that the “other duties as assigned” script precludes this person from doing what they were hired to do. Other entities confuse “Professional Development” and “Institutional Development,” and charge the Development professuonal with creating internal recognition programs. While the marketing component of such a program may certainly fall into the realm of Development, the work that may have to go into it may certainly detract from cultivating donor relationships and generating sustainable revenue for the organization.
Terrific, practical, spot-on article. Too true.
Thanks, Don!
Excellent article Mary. You’ve nailed it. I hope every board and executive director reads this.
Totally agree. Hiring is not easy. Even the best hiring managers only get about 1 out of 3 good hires. You’re right: often nonprofits want a great dev director but just simply don’t have the resources to fund one.
Smaller nonprofits generally don’t have the resources to go after the creme of the drop fundraisers.
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I just cane across this and it’s spot on. Great advice on this important topic.
I just came across this and it’s spot on. Great advice on this important topic.
I wrote this article a few years back and its still trending over 25,000 reads because the message, just like what your saying is resounding in our profession. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/crisis-development-officer-short-tenures-common-mistakes-zumaya/
I am looking for a job myself right now. People have trouble hiring because as you say they force people out of our profession. the other reason is they don’t understand the nature of small and medium nonprofits. So when people see short tenures on a resume they overwhelmingly assume incompetence, not organizational dysfunction. We as a profession need to start speaking out more often.
Thanks to Jim Langley, another great thought leader in the industry, I got to read this frank and honest presentation of what I (and many others, clearly) are the realities of hiring for the top fundraising job.
I personally resonate with the advice to invest in/provide your hire with the operational tools they need. I would add that they need an operational partner who works together with the new CDO to leverage information and technology strategically — everything from the donor management system, to progress reports, to prospect research. It takes a village!
It does, indeed, Jennifer!
Information is so key. In smaller shops, it often falls to the DOD to manage that, as well. Or at least make sure it’s cared for properly. Either way, it’s a treasure of the organization’s and it should be treated with that kind of respect.
The funny thing with all of this is that giving your DOD (or CDO… whatever the title) the respect, access and tools needed means everyone on the organization benefits, most especially the people the organization serves.
So short-sighted to ignore that!
Just saw this now because it was tweeted — it’s so “right on”!
And I love the Tom Ahern 20 questions about fundraising that you encouraged people to go to. So much great inquiry and work going on.
Thanks!!
Thanks, Jill!
Excellent post Mary – I’ve long thought that without a true culture of philanthropy (one where everyone is invited to and can play a role in the success of the fund development program) organizations will continue to have a revolving door on their Director, Philanthropy position. Statistics show that it takes 18-24 months to take a donor from interested to invested – the average life-span of a fundraiser used to be the same and is now around 16 months. If we overlay either time-frame it is a constant re-invention of the development wheel here and organizations are stuck spinning their philanthropic tires. By fostering a culture designed for all to play a role can help to mitigate this challenge.
Andy, that puts it perfectly! Thank you so much!
Thank you, Mary! This is so true, and as you have done, it is up to us as professional fundraisers to let others know what we need. People inside the organization not liking fundraising is the toughest to deal with. Supporting fundraisers to be more integrated into operations and finances to better understand the role of philanthropy within the organization is very important. It adds value for fundraisers to bring reality and understanding of fundraising into the conversation.
Hi Penny! And thank you. More integration makes a huge difference… not just to the fundraisers, either. Everything works better!
Mary,
You should re-post every week of every year. This is timeless and great advice.
Thank you, Harvey! Coming from you, that means so much to me!