Fundraiser Turnover Gets New Attention as Economy Improves

As 3,200 fundraisers gathered here this month to discuss challenges in attracting donations, many sessions demonstrated how the economic recovery is reshaping fundraising.

One clear sign of change is how quickly fundraisers are switching jobs.

The average amount of time a fundraiser stays at his or her job is now about 16 months, said Penelope Burk, president of Cygnus Applied Research. The direct and indirect costs of finding a replacement are $127,650.

She said findings from a survey she conducted of 1,700 fundraisers and 8,000 chief executives of nonprofits suggest that it would cost $46,650 to keep a good fundraiser happy by providing better salaries and other benefits, such as additional vacation time.

When fundraisers leave their jobs after a short time, it’s often because they want a higher salary. More than one-third of respondents cited that reason, Ms. Burk said, while the next most likely motivation was to secure a more senior position.

Ms. Burk offered the following advice for keeping fundraisers on the job:

Promote the most-talented fundraisers on the staff. Adopt a succession plan and train employees to rise to the next level in the organization. “Your best hire already works for you,” Ms. Burk said.

Set aside training opportunities. Cutting money for professional development, as many organizations did during the economic downturn, will probably affect fundraisers’ performance. “The training budget is the one thing you should never allow to be cut,” she said.

Help ease workers’ schedules. Ms. Burk said her study found that fundraisers most want help balancing the pressures of career and family responsibilities. Half of fundraisers said they wanted the option of working from home and flexible hours, while 42 percent wanted extra vacation time.

Social networks are often associated with young people, while planned giving is associated with older donors—but it is possible to mix the two and produce results.

“The people most willing to give you a planned gift are the people who have been giving to you for years,” said Kristen Schultz Jaarda, senior vice president at Crescendo Interactive.

Because social media are built on relationships, they can offer a great way to appeal to those dedicated donors, she said.

Ms. Jaarda and Carole Touchinski, executive director of the Marquette County Community Foundation, shared how they have been using Facebook, Twitter, and blogs to promote planned gifts.

Some of the lessons they offered fundraisers:

Test the waters. Organizations that aren’t sure whether their Facebook fans will respond to posts about planned gifts should just try it, said Ms. Jaarda. If it brings several responses or questions, that’s a sign that such messages could be posted more often.

Continue the conversation privately. Social media may be a good place to spark interest in planned giving, but that approach isn’t usually how people want to talk about making large or complex gifts, Ms. Touchinski said. She always points people to additional online resources and includes her foundation’s phone number so people can speak privately about prospective gifts.

Provide solutions. Ms. Touchinski said she has been successful in posting messages about the reasons why people need solid estate plans, and providing links to tools like online calculators or articles on the community foundation’s Web site. One offer for a free estate-planning book posted on the Marquette County Community Foundation’s page prompted 20 calls. Ms. Touchinski’s approach includes following up with those donors once they’ve had time to read the book.

Laura Fredricks, a fundraising consultant, said she has noticed a disturbing trend: Too often fundraisers use the same formula to seek a gift, whether they are asking for $10,000 or $50,000, instead of tailoring each interaction with a potential donor to the person’s interests and values.

That practice wastes time and brings poor results, she said in a presentation here. Instead, she urged fundraisers to:

Prepare the conversation. Fundraisers should write out what they plan to say and craft as many open-ended questions as possible. These questions can help put a donor at ease and spur conversation, Ms. Fredricks said. One of her favorite questions is: “When was the first time you remember that it was important to give back?”

Listen. Does a prospective donor frequently mention family or a hobby, for example? That can be a tip-off to the values that are important to that person and help shape the conversation. Fundraisers should mirror a donor’s language and keep a request for donations short and to the point.

Clarify the results. At the end of a conversation, repeat the conclusions back to the donor to make sure there’s mutual understanding, Ms. Fredricks said. Begin a sentence with “I heard you say today that …” and allow the donor to respond and make corrections. If a prospective donor responds with an adamant “no” about making a donation, a good response, says Ms. Fredricks, is, “Can I ask why it is you don’t want to give?”