August 26, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
In recent years, nonprofit groups have increasingly recognized for the need for succession plans to help replace the chief executive, but few have planned how to replace people in other key jobs such as the chief fund raiser, says Polly Aris Stamatopoulos, a Washington fund-raising consultant.
“One thing that never gets talked about is a succession plan for the development director,” Ms. Stamatopoulos. “Who is going to fill in? Does the board jump in or other managers?”
The rocky economy is putting a damper on the job market for fund raisers in some parts of the country, but turnover remains stubbornly high, according to membership surveys by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
That’s one reason why charities would be wise to create a plan of action in the event their director of development gives notice, according to Nancy Racette, an executive recruiter with Development Resources Inc., in Arlington, Va.
Ms. Racette says she recently met with officials at a Baltimore charity that had recently lost most of the six people in its fund-raising department.
“They only have two kids left,” she says. “One is right out of college and the other is doing data entry work” on the organization’s donor database. The drain in the development department, she adds, could lead to a shortfall in the organization’s $7-million annual budget this year.
What about your organization? Does it or any other organization you know have a fund-raising succession plan?
