August 17, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
After a period of hiring freezes and layoffs, the job market for fund raisers at colleges and universities is undergoing a “significant thaw,” The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
Numerous institutions are trying to fill multiple openings, and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education says it has witnessed a 66-per-cent increase in job postings in the past three months. At least 80 percent of those new openings are for fund raisers.
Rather than simply filling jobs that were unfilled or vacated since the recession started, the article notes, colleges are reassessing the fund-raising landscape to figure out what skills they need.
More and more, institutions are seeking people who can raise money abroad, especially as colleges recruit growing numbers of overseas students. The University of Michigan plans to hire a new fund raiser to seek donations internationally, while Boston University expects to add to its staff of four fulltime development officers who raise money overseas. (Read The Chronicle of Philanthropy‘s story about the growing demand for North American fund raisers in other countries.)
In addition, many colleges are seeking people who know how to solicit six-figure gifts and annual gifts, executive recruiters say. That is a sign that colleges realize those gifts will become more important in coming years, as donations of $1-million or more continue to be sluggish in the economy’s slow recovery.
