Competing for Talent
9 strategies for improving major gift officer recruitment
Lesson 1: Systematize vacancy planning
The market for major gift officer talent is more competitive than ever before. Colleges and universities must improve their recruiting efforts if they are going to successfully attract high-quality fundraisers.
Demand for fundraisers has exceeded pre-recession levels. Higher education institutions are relying on major gifts to replace other sources of revenue that have been cut or reduced. Simultaneously, other nonprofits are expanding into the major gifts fundraising space and competing with universities for fundraisers. This environment has created a seller’s market in which highly qualified gift officers can choose between an abundance of employment opportunities.
Colleges and universities typically prefer experienced fundraisers, but these individuals are the most difficult and expensive to recruit. Institutions can side-step the “salary arms race” by proactively identifying strong candidates, customizing their approach based on institutional need, and accelerating gift officers’ transitions into the organization.
Consistently high demand
68%
of fundraisers have never experienced any lag between jobs1
Average number of months between jobs for fundraisers who experienced any lag14%
of fundraisers have sought work longer than three months at least once in their careerSalaries for experienced major gift officers have risen exponentially alongside demand, creating significant salary inflation that has posed challenges for many institutions. Fortunately, non-monetary factors like office culture and professional development opportunities play as big a role in career decisions as financial compensation. Innovative institutions proactively seek out strong candidates, build long-term candidate pipelines, design a hiring and interview process that puts the candidate’s needs first, and provide a holistic onboarding program to accelerate full productivity.
“How important were the following factors in your decision to join your current institution?”
EAB 2014 MGO Survey. n = 1,217
| Ranking | Tuition reimbursement | Financial compensation | Professional development | Office culture |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very important | 7% | 34% | 36% | 36% |
| Important | 11% | 43% | 43% | 37% |
| Somewhat important | 19% | 18% | 14% | 18% |
Lesson 2: Move to proactive pursuit
Internal staff can be an excellent source of future major gift officers. However, they often encounter challenges to moving into development roles. Common difficulties include a lack of opportunities to express interest and few pathways for exploring the profession.
Internal staff bring a range of strengths to fundraising positions, including knowledge of and contacts from other areas of the university. However, recruiting practices often cater to external candidates and unwittingly create a variety of barriers to internal candidates. To build a strong internal pipeline, advancement leaders should both encourage interested staff to apply and proactively identify potential candidates.
Common challenges for internal talent
-
Lack of structured opportunities
- Managers rarely discuss professional development in a structured format
- Managers typically combine performance review appraisals and professional development conversations
-
Hesitant to reach out
- Employees worry that an informational interview may signal to their managers that they are unsatisfied in their current role
- Employees fear that professional development opportunities might hamper their current career trajectory
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Unaware of internal opportunities
- Programs are not advertised in a systemic manner
- Staff members lack visibility into training offered by other departments and campus-wide opportunities
Some institutions look out of industry for fresh fundraiser talent, but it can be difficult to establish networks and pipelines for connecting with the right individuals.
A wide variety of professions cultivate skill sets that can transfer to major gift officer roles. This means that the population of potential nontraditional candidates is overwhelmingly large. Many advancement leaders would like to diversify their talent pools by dipping into the out of industry market, but they do not know where to start. From the general population, colleges and universities should identify and focus on those individuals who will be the best fit for the role. Some institutions have found success by leveraging their alumni networks and hosting networking events.
Key concerns for out-of-industry hires
-
Where do I start?
– Wide range of industries teach transferrable skills
– Availability and type of candidates varies by region
– One-off hires from unlikely backgrounds (e.g., hotel manager, clergyman) -
How do I approach them?
– Unclear level of affinity or interest in career
– Difficult to generalize across broad populations -
What is the ROI?
– Difficult to scale or adapt traditional recruiting strategies
– Considerable upfront training and support costs
– Overall returns uncertain
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