Transferable Skills Compendium

Use the Transferable Skills Compendium to identify candidates that may be qualified for a role in advancement but that come from outside of the profession.

With campaign goals at all-time highs, advancement shops need to grow production to meet expectations.  EAB research shows that staffing up drives fundraising production, yet many times finding and hiring new fundraisers is difficult. The demand for fundraisers outpaces the supply and the continuously increasing fundraiser salaries only exacerbates the problem.

While raising salaries to attract talent is an option for some institutions, for many it simply isn’t feasible with existing budget constraints. To navigate the talent crunch, advancement leaders should instead look to transferable skills candidates. These transferable skill candidates have the relevant skills, abilities, and characteristics to be a successful fundraiser but lack direct fundraising experience.

Hiring transferable skills candidates has benefits for both the candidates and the advancement shop. The ability to do mission-driven work and benefits like tuition reimbursement make higher education opportunities attractive to candidates from other industries.

Shops that look outside of just advancement for candidates can diversify their applicant pool and create teams with new skills and experiences from out of industry, like marketing and communications.

A compendium of transferable skills

To help schools find qualified transferable skills candidates, expand the lists of skills, characteristics, and professions for five different advancement roles below.

You can also print the list for your talent management partners to include specific qualified professions when a new job description is posted.

Alumni Relations Director

Annual Gift Officer (external)

Corporate Foundation Relation Officer

Major or Principal Gift Officer

Planned Gift Officer