Hiring and retaining talented fundraisers are chronic problems for nonprofits, but offering hybrid or remote work can help with both, my colleague Rasheeda Childress reports in a new article. In a poll of more than 1,700 development professionals last year, 70 percent said the ability to work from home some or all of the time was in their top three criteria for choosing a position. Only 6 percent said that option didn’t matter to them.
Rasheeda spoke with several fundraisers at organizations that have successfully gone remote or hybrid and shares key takeaways from those conversations, including simple ways to foster connections among remote employees so they’ll feel closer to each other and the work.
The nonprofit iMentor, which pairs mentors with high school students to help them complete college, works on a hybrid schedule that includes two days a week in the office. Leaders encourage “coffee chats,” where staff ping a colleague for an informal catch-up during the day. These can happen online or in person if both employees are at the office.
Allowing staff to work remotely can also benefit fundraising, Rasheeda reports. At the University of Virginia, which has 275,000 alumni around the world, having remote advancement staff makes it possible to organize small gatherings of interested alumni where they live. Says Cindy Fredrick, senior associate vice president in UVA’s office of engagement: “Our best work is when we go and meet the constituents where they are instead of forcing them to come where we are.”
Get all the experts’ tips in Remote, Hybrid Fundraising Teams Help Nonprofits Hire, Retain Top Talent.
For more insights and lessons from groups that have been operating remotely for years with excellent results, read How to Run a Virtual Office, From Leaders Who Have Done It for Years.
Have a great week,
Lisa Schohl
Senior Editor, Advice
