April 17, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
Universities, hospitals, and other big charities have the resources to hire full-time workers to provide training to fund raisers. But smaller organizations can offer professional development opportunities, too, says Jon Derek Croteau, an executive recruiter in Rochester, N.Y., and author of The People First Approach: A Guide to Recruiting, Developing, and Retaining the Right People.
“If you only have five fund raisers, maybe it is one portion of someone’s job,” he says. “Not every organization will be as lucky as the big ones, but someone should be thinking of it and managing it.”
Amy Rueda, director of strategic talent management at the University of California at Los Angeles, says, “Small organizations can look internally to senior staff and pull together a training. That costs nothing, really.”
She adds: “Get creative, and pace yourself. You do not have to train on every topic the first year. Pick one or two and do them well. If you have neighboring universities, you could ask them for an expert fund raiser to come in and do some training.”
Million-Dollar Appeals
United Way Worldwide has used that approach to help its local affiliates.
A few months ago, the charity invited Jeff Comfort, who oversees efforts to seek big gifts at Georgetown University, to help teach fund raisers from local United Ways how to persuade donors to blend cash contributions with bequests and other large donations such as charitable gift annuities and trusts.
“Jeff said that planned-giving techniques can help you add a zero to your gift proposal,” says Ann Fox, United Way’s vice president for individual giving. “That was a great way to get people to think about how to turn a $100,000 ask into a million-dollar ask. He really challenged us to think differently.”
