A reality check: If your fundraisers are any good — and maybe even if they’re not — they’re getting emails and calls from recruiters perhaps weekly, even daily. It’s a matter of supply and demand: There are far more development jobs than there are qualified people to fill them.
Sooner or later, one of your organization’s high-performing fundraisers will enter your office, close the door, and reveal that he or she has been offered a job elsewhere.
Should you make a counteroffer?
Probably not, say many fundraisers and recruiters. Not only is it too late to have the money talk, but money might not be the reason your fundraiser is leaving.
Lauren Yamaoka, a development officer at Children’s Health, a medical center in Dallas, started her career in talent management, working with fundraisers at Northwestern University. She believes that a bidding war for development professionals has contributed to the epidemic of job hopping in the field. “I am inclined to say I wouldn’t counter,” she says, “because it builds the wrong culture.”
Better, she argues, to build a culture of regular and frank communication, making sure that fundraisers and all employees know they are valued.
“You should never let it get to that moment” when a fundraiser presents you with a competing bid, Yamaoka says. “If you truly value an employee and want to retain them, you should make sure they know that.”
Think fundraisers leave just to chase bigger salaries? A new survey commissioned by the Chronicle of Philanthropy and the Association of Fundraising Professionals says you’re wrong.
The ‘Stay’ Interview
By contrast, Isaac Schild, a recruiter for nonprofit clients, favors making a counteroffer, though he offers a few caveats.
Often the reason for leaving is not really about money, says Schild, managing partner at Scion Executive Search.
Instead, it’s an indicator that you needed to do a “stay” interview and that you should do them regularly with your high performers.
“You should ask them: How are we doing? How can we keep you? What are your struggles? How are you doing financially? How can we challenge you?” Schild says.
It’s vital to find out why a prized fundraiser is interested in another job, says Jennifer Dunlap, a veteran fundraiser and co-founder of DRi, a consulting group. “Why is it exciting to them? Can you do that inside the organization or not?”
In some circumstances, it might be worth including a bigger paycheck as part of a more holistic retention plan, she says: “I have seen fundraisers accept the counteroffer. But it has to be real and sincere.”
But “usually by the time someone comes in and says, ‘I’ve got another offer,’ they’ve made up their mind to go,” Dunlap says. “And the time to have kept them was six months prior to this. You should have been paying attention.”
