Fundraising is a profession that lacks the structured career ladder typical of other fields. “If you’re in teaching, you know your path,” says Rob Henry, vice president for education at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. “If you’re in nursing, you know your path. But in fundraising, people don’t know their path.”
For a package on “The Making of a Fundraiser,” dozens of professionals and experts shared with The Chronicle their stories and advice about the best way to find success and happiness. Here is what they had to say about the early years in fundraising.
Case Study
Fundraisers share their strategies for career advancement and happiness in a field where the rules aren’t always clear.
Looking for a job while a student at University of Texas at San Antonio, Patrick Reyes got only one call back — from the university’s development office. Reyes remembers, “I was like, Oh cool. What’s ‘development?’ "
At the time, he wanted a career in health care. But a subsequent internship with the UT Health System’s Center for Enhancing Philanthropy deepened his exposure to fundraising and suggested alternative ways to work in that arena. “I felt it was a turning point,” he says.
Now 22, Reyes is the youngest person in the development office at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. He oversees a portfolio of up to 150 annual-giving donors and handles communications. Currently he’s helping freshen direct-mail and email appeals. “We’re trying to set ourselves apart,” he says. “That’s what I love about my job right now: That whole strategic positioning.”
He’s considering two next career steps: either more advanced annual-giving work or a role focused on development communications. Regardless, he says, he’ll need to build public-speaking skills.
At this point, Reyes is not interested in major gifts. “Oftentimes, that’s like the holy grail,” he says. “But I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m just younger, but I see fundraising as a holistic kind of thing. I think the idea that you just ask people for big bucks isn’t really sustainable.”
Tips for Early-Career Fundraisers
Explore beyond your office.
“When starting out, you get the job that you can get,” acknowledges Alice Ferris, a fundraising consultant. But don’t make that your entire world, she cautions. “Whether you’re in a small shop or a large shop, that’s all you’re going to know.”
Her advice to early-career fundraisers: “Volunteer for another organization. A good employer won’t mind.”
Learn from those around you.
Michelle Turchan, 24, a gift officer at Riley Children’s Foundation, which supports a pediatric hospital in Indianapolis, was hired by her organization after an internship there two years ago. She keeps her ears and eyes open at work.
“When I can, I go on some kind of shadowing opportunity” with colleagues, Turchan says. “I’m really trying to notice the ways in which they are going about their roles and what I can learn from them.”
She feels that now is the time to soak up the various facets of fundraising. “I need to get out there and see and learn and make mistakes — and learn from them.”
Find mentors.
Patrick Reyes says fledgling fundraisers are hungry for mentoring, but many are “not getting it anywhere.”
Mentors are often found on the job. At Carleton College, where Nick Traxler, 27, works as assistant director of the alumni annual fund, new employees are assigned a veteran member of the faculty or staff to help get acclimated. Previously, Traxler worked for the Boy Scouts, which also assigns staff members to offer guidance and a friendly ear.
Join a group of peers to make connections.
These can include the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, or groups tailored to a cause or development specialty. “There are so many more professional and trade associations than there were 20 years ago, and they’re really set up for exactly that purpose,” says Susan Tomlinson Schmidt, president of the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, which prepares college undergraduates for social-sector careers.
Take advantage of professional development.
Sometimes the millennials who seem like they’re job hopping are chasing not only higher pay, but opportunities to learn. In a 2016 PNP Staffing Group survey of nonprofit employers in Washington and New York, nearly 60 percent said job candidates requested training and professional development. However, nearly 70 percent said they seldom or never provide those opportunities.
Stick with it even when things get tough.
During his first few years in fundraising, Traxler worked as a district executive for Boy Scout districts in Missouri and Minnesota. The jack-of-all-trades nature of the job — “You’re like a miniature CEO,” he says — sometimes left him stretched thin.
He feels those challenges taught him perseverance and resilience. “When you’re facing difficult circumstances, it’s important to push through rather than running away from it,” Traxler says.
Establish strategies for dealing with stress.
Now in his job at Carleton College, Traxler says he’s taking care of himself better. “The more you achieve in development, the more you’re expected to achieve,” he says. “We set the bar high.”
To help stay in balance, he runs and practices yoga and meditation. He’s learned something people on the next rung of the career ladder know all too well: “It’s just as stressful to be successful as to be a failure.”
