Most College and University Fund Raisers Are Getting Salary Increases

By Heather Joslyn

The median salary for chief fund raisers at colleges and universities grew by 5.4 percent last year,

according to the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, in Knoxville, Tenn.

The jump outpaced inflation in 2006, which stood at 3.2 percent for urban consumers for the 12-month period ending in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The median salary for all chief fund raisers in the 2006-7 academic year was $125,000, meaning that half of those surveyed earned more than that figure, and half earned less. Their salaries grew faster than in the 2005-6 survey, when the overall median salary for that position rose by 3.6 percent over the previous year.

The survey, which included both public and private institutions and those offering doctoral, master’s, baccalaureate, and two-year degrees, found that chief fund raisers at all types of colleges and universities received raises in pay.

Salaries of head fund raisers at baccalaureate institutions showed the biggest increase: nearly 10 percent over the previous year. Their counterparts at master’s institutions saw the smallest increase, with their median pay jumping 5 percent over the median figure reported for the 2005-6 academic year.

The report included data on 272 positions — 61 more than last year’s report — at 1,329 institutions around the country. The median salary for all senior-level administrative jobs in the survey increased by 4 percent, the largest jump in the previous three years of the survey.

Public and Private

The pool of respondents was split evenly between public and private institutions. Salary increases at public institutions were reported to be greater than those at private colleges and universities, a reverse of the findings in the previous year’s survey.

Executive positions showed the most marked difference:Those at public institutions earned a median increase of 4.9 percent, compared with a median increase of 4.4 percent for executives at private colleges and universities.

Among the fund-raising positions surveyed, the largest pay boost was reported for directors of major gifts at both public and private doctoral institutions: Median salaries in that category increased by 25 percent, from $83,736 in 2005-6 to $105,000 in 2006-7.

The second-biggest increase occurred among directors of development and alumni affairs at two-year institutions, whose median pay rose more than 12 percent, from $65,716 to $73,760.

Two-year institutions also reported the largest drop in median pay for a fund-raising job.

Median salaries of directors of planned giving at those colleges decreased by nearly 29 percent, from $73,372 in the previous academic year to $52,313 in the current one.

The second largest drop occurred among directors of development and alumni affairs at baccalaureate institutions: more than 15 percent, from $68,958 in the previous survey to $58,213 in the current one.

The survey can be ordered through the organization’s Web site.

The cost is $160 for College and University Professional Assocation members who participated in the survey, $240 for members who did not participate and for nonmembers who did, and $320 for nonmembers who did not participate in the report. Go to: http://www.cupa.org.