The Professional Development Playbook for Advancement Teams

Advancement shops work hard to train their fundraisers when they’re first hired—and then stop. 79% of the MGOs we interviewed for our Gifted and Talented research project rated professional development as an important or very important factor in their decision to join their current institution, but most professional development opportunities stop at the end of onboarding.

To prevent their MGOs from leaving, advancement shops need to provide continuous and ongoing opportunities for professional development. This toolkit and the related resources have been designed to help chief advancement officers and directors of strategic talent management develop and refine existing professional development programs to ensure that they include three imperatives: