September 2, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
The nonprofit world is full of organizations that repeatedly hire fund raisers who don’t have the skills to do their jobs and then let them go because they do a poor job, writes Mark J. Drozdowski in his latest column for The Chronicle of Higher Education.
While some turnover can be attributed to high demand for fund raisers and the temptation of development officers to switch jobs for higher pay, Mr. Drozdowski writes, “how many of them aren’t so much seeking new opportunities as they are escaping certain failure? As long as the profession allows it, we’ll continue to reshuffle incompetence.”
Mr. Drozdowski, executive director of the Fitchburg State College Foundation, calls on nonprofit leaders to ask tough questions to determine what a fund raiser has actually achieved in his or her career. He says that many would-be fund raisers with high potential and limited experience are being passed over for those who have had several development jobs but achieved little of distinction.
“Probe for results,” he advises. “And don’t hire carelessly because a campaign deadline looms. It can wait.”
Have you seen this situation — in which bad fund raisers get hired again and again? How can it be avoided?
