Staffing for Fundraising Success: A Guide to Align Human Resources with Your Important Work

On a Tuesday afternoon I asked a room of small-to-mid-sized nonprofit leaders what topic they would like coaching on. We had just spent the morning workshopping fundraising strategies for their organizations. Within a few minutes the clear choice was “how to staff for fundraising.”

Most nonprofits have small teams and smaller budgets, which means hiring a high-level director of development is out of the question or the job of three people falls into the lap of one person. If finances are set aside to hire a development director, m nonprofits find that their new hire isn’t capable of performing the most important work that needs to be done with donors. And finally, finding and keeping qualified staff for more than 16 months is a novelty in the fundraising world. 

The important work your organization does can’t continue for long without fundraising. So the question is: “Is it possible to staff fundraising successfully with a limited budget when it’s too much work for one person, directors of development aren’t qualified for the most important work, and turnover is so frequent?”

Yes, it’s possible. Throughout this article you will learn the role executive directors and board of directors have in fundraising, three myths about hiring a director of development, and to build an effective fundraising team without hiring a full time employee. 

Why Boards and Executive Directors Should Prioritize Fundraising

“Our team and our budget are so small, I can’t afford a Director of Development. It’s all up to me, and I don’t have enough time to dedicate to all that we should be doing in fundraising. Plus, I don’t have the expertise and don’t know where to start.” This is a common and valid concern for nonprofits.

Small teams and smaller budgets are the reality of funding for most nonprofits. More Than Giving Co. confirmed this in their whitepaper How to Staff for Nonprofit Fundraising Success. “According to data reported by the National Council of Nonprofits, ‘97% have budgets of less than $5 million annually, 92% operate with less than $1 million a year, and 88% spend less than $500,000 annually for their work.’ As many as 20% have operating budgets of $100,000 or less.”

An operating budget of $100,000 even $500,000 doesn’t get any organization very far. Depending on the region, the salary of a quality development director will start at $80k, but more realistically it could exceed $100k. This leads many nonprofits to leave fundraising responsibilities to volunteers. While volunteers are necessary and can be incredible assets to fundraising initiatives, allowing it to be their responsibility rarely accomplishes fundraising goals. Volunteers work on fundraising tasks in their spare time and often have experience/qualification gaps for the highest ROI functions. They may be comfortable coordinating a fundraising event, but not inviting gifts from major donors.

Creating and implementing a fundraising plan is imperative for nonprofits whether or not they have a director of development. For fundraising to be successful with or without a director of development it’s important that board members and executive directors understand their role in fundraising. 

Fundraising Is a Responsibility of Nonprofits

Fundraising is the responsibility of a nonprofit organization and it should be a high priority. The people you serve can’t thrive if charitable gift income doesn’t grow. You need money to fund a mission. Across the board nonprofits are leaving significant funds on the table. Doing good work, doesn’t mean the rest of the world realizes you need charitable gifts to continue doing that good work. In the next 20-25 years Cerulli Associates estimates that $10-$12 trillion will go to charity as a result of the Great Wealth Transfer. 

Board of Directors Have a Fiduciary Duty

Quality fundraising requires resources. Your Board of Directors has the fiduciary duty to ensure that resources are available to advance the mission, and needs to allocate resources that the executive director can invest in fundraising. 

When someone becomes a board member they accept three legal duties. One of these is the “duty of care” which encompasses the financial feasibility, stability, and longevity of the nonprofit. Board members are expected to make a gift to the organization, support the executive director in creating and implementing an effective fundraising strategy, and assist in fundraising efforts. 

An Executive Director’s Role Includes Fundraising

The Executive Director is charged by the Board to lead day-to-day operations that include fundraising, but few have the background to do so. A strategic fundraising plan can remedy this challenge. 

Most nonprofits work with a fundraising plan that lacks data, clear goals, and specific action steps. This makes it overwhelming for an executive director to prioritize fundraising in the midst of many competing responsibilities. A strategic fundraising plan has clear data-informed goals with deadlines and clear action steps to reach goals on time. This allows executive directors to review the strategic fundraising plan, take specific action toward fundraising goals, and get back to the rest of their responsibilities.

3 Myths About Hiring Directors of Development 

Hiring a director of development can feel like a powerful move toward productivity and financial stability. But all too often I’ve heard executive directors report, “I hired my first full time Director of Development. We’re  six months in and it’s clear that she’s only comfortable with the communication and event piece of the job description. She doesn’t have the expertise or even the desire to do the most important work that needs to be done with donors.”

After you interviewed several candidates, hired within budget, and spent time catching your new development director up to speed with your organization this realization feels gut wrenching. Questioning whether you hired the right person when they seem to flop six months in is reasonable. However, with the right support and guidance your new development director may become the exact right person for the job. 

Sometimes the wrong director of development was hired, but more often than not many executive directors have accepted three myths about directors of development. 

Myth #1: If I hire a director of development they will know how to handle all aspects of fundraising. 

The work of fundraising is multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary. CFRE certified fundraisers are recognized as the most qualified and well-rounded fundraisers. The required understanding and experience to qualify for CFRE certification includes case writing, volunteer management, boards, appeals, relationship building, donor visits, grant writing — and that’s just a quick highlight of required knowledge to certify. These directors of development usually command salaries of $100k+. Most directors of development won’t come with nearly this breadth of knowledge and experience. When they do, they may still need support. 

Myth #2: Hiring one director of development will ensure fundraising success. 

One person rarely comes qualified to do all that a successful fundraising program requires. As covered in the previous section, only the highest level fundraisers will be qualified in all areas of fundraising. 

Most directors of development will bring select strengths and experiences for a portion of the role, but they will need coaching, support and perhaps additional teammates. Megan Amundson, CFRE, said that as an Executive Director hiring coaches for her fundraising staff was a high ROI choice. Three years after investing in coaching for her team, their return on investment was 10Xs what they had invested in coaching. 

Just because your fundraising staff hasn’t achieved your fundraising goal, doesn’t mean they aren’t capable. With the right coaching and support they may be the perfect hire. Our last three coaching clients not only hit their fundraising goals, but surpassed them and were able to lead their organizations in new fundraising initiatives that allowed their organizations to grow their impact and reach.  

Myth #3: Hiring a qualified director of development should fit into our budget. 

If an executive director is lucky enough to find a high-level well-rounded director of development, they will need to be prepared to pay for it. Depending on the region, a CFRE-certified fundraiser of this level earns an average yearly salary of $122,580. While this salary can feel like a staggering investment the results are worth it when the return can be 5X or even 10X. While the results are worth it, adding a team member of this level isn’t financially feasible for most nonprofits. 

The good news is, nonprofits that can’t employ a director of development with a salary of $100k+ can still build a qualified team of fundraising professionals. Keep reading to find out how!

Creative Options for a Winning Staffing Strategy

The average fundraiser stays on the job for 16 months; many of those individuals never return to work in fundraising.  So if you’ve ever thought, “My small fundraising shop is a continuous revolving door. It’s impossible to find and keep good people,” you’re not wrong and you’re not alone.

Staffing fundraising is hard, not just in your experience, but across the board. The good news is with strategic planning and intentional team building you can have a successful and cost-effective fundraising team.

Piece-Together A Fundraising Team 

In today’s gig economy, there are multiple ways to build the team you need. Instead of hiring more fundraising staff, nonprofits are seeing success by contracting professionals for individual responsibilities. Most nonprofits are seeing increased results for less than the cost of one salary. 

More Than Giving shared about a one-person staffed nonprofit. After working with a few consultants the nonprofit suddenly lost their only employee. Instead of finding a replacement they contracted multiple fundraising professionals who were excellent in their unique skill set. For less than one person’s salary and benefits they were able to secure everything they needed to be operational, including communications, program development, finances, and fundraising. 

More Than Giving wrote, “In just a year, the organization revised its website, created an email outreach campaign, added six new board members, launched a webinar series, created several new fundraising programs, organized all working documents on a Google drive, and created its first online newsletter.”

Hiring one high-level fundraiser might be cost prohibitive, but building a team of part-time experts may get you the results you’ve been hoping for all while being budget-friendly. 

Best Fundraising Tasks to Outsource or Keep In-House

The beauty of piecing-together a team is that you can outsource tasks to experts. The question is, “Which pieces of the development operation do you sub-contract and which pieces do you keep in-house?” This section is a list of tasks that nonprofits benefit most from subcontracting to professionals. But first, let’s cover the one task you should keep-in house at all costs!

Major gifts fundraising. 10-20% of your donors who will provide 80-90% of your revenue through major gifts. The success of this major gifts fundraising depends upon the relationships of trust that are built between donors and the organization’s leaders. In my opinion, this critical relational work should never be farmed out. Executive directors and Board members can be successfully trained and coached to do this work. 

Even with other development staff members on the team, the critical relationships between the chief executive and leading donors should always be one of the leaders highest priorities for their time and attention.

• Grant Writing. Many nonprofits lean heavily on grant support in order to get their start or establish new programs. Grant writing is a science all onto itself. Nonprofits can spend exorbitant amounts of time writing proposals that will never get considered. A seasoned professional grant writer already knows the funders that will support your priorities and has likely written multiple winning proposals for these funders in the past. The right grant writer could be a low cost sub-contracted member of your team for years to come, and will also help you manage the all-important accountability and reporting standards grant makers require.

• Fundraising events have a reputation for being every nonprofit leader’s black hole of time. Though events can produce new donors for the organization, it’s hard to justify spending so much time and money for such a low net return — usually less than 50 cents on the dollar.  Volunteers are often more comfortable doing this work so let them!  Subcontracting the event management role to an experienced professional keeps your volunteers organized, accountable and focused on the strategies that will make the event a success.

• Communications and marketing. Effective fundraising is built on a foundation of excellent communications and marketing. With endless possibilities for reaching your targeted audiences, purchasing the part-time support of a qualified professional helps you better target the investment of your limited resources. Some of these nonprofit experts also have the expertise for writing and managing your annual fund strategies and appeals, and will work with you to leverage all of your communications channels for fundraising success.

• Development services functions. Things like receipting, acknowledging and recording gifts and managing your donor database, can often be managed by a multi-purpose support staff position with the proper training. There are a growing number of service providers available for this work as well that could also support your need to have a proper system of checks and balances in place for your financial management.

Now that you know the best tasks to outsource it’s time to take a look at your fundraising plan to see which tasks would most benefit your financial goals. 

Your Fundraising Plan Determines Your Team Players

How you build your team depends on your plan. So before you begin building a team of contracted professionals you need a strategic fundraising plan. 

A strategic fundraising plan will help you identify goals, challenges, and spots for the highest ROI. We recommend the following five-steps to create a strategic fundraising plan that works:

1. Clarify your organization’s strategic priorities and gift revenue goals
2. Assess needs and opportunities; establish goals for unrestricted, restricted and planned gifts
3. Establish targets for dollars, types of gifts, and number of gifts to meet annual goals
4. Identify gift sources, constituency segments and prospects to achieve annual goals 
5. Establish strategies, tactics, timelines and assignments for each source and segment 

A strategic fundraising plan with this detail will give you clarity about your target appeal audience, sources of gift income, and number of major donors you need to be in relationship with. From here you will be able to hire uniquely qualified individuals and create a specialized team to reach your fundraising goals.   

Your Next Right Step

Fundraising is hard, but staffing for fundraising doesn’t have to be. By supporting your fundraising team with the proper consultant or hiring contract professionals to fulfill fundraising tasks you can successfully and cost-effectively improve your fundraising. 

If you’re ready to improve your fundraising strategy or staffing we would love to help you identify your next right steps. Brenda Moore & Associates specializes in solving fundraising problems for churches, ministries, and faith-based nonprofits. Hop on a call with us to explore creating a strategic fundraising plan or how to best staff for fundraising success!

This article was co-authored by Brenda Moore, CFRE and Samantha Roose.