I’m fretting about staff turnover in our field. As a consultant, I see client organizations feel the effects of fundraising staff that leave too soon. As a board member, I worry about how to keep good people. As a fundraising professional, I worry about our reputation as short-timers.
And my worry isn’t misplaced. The average tenure of development staff is two years. It costs organizations dearly when their development staff leaves. There are estimates that it costs as much as 80 percent of a staff’s salary to replace them, but I think it’s much more – we’re not just talking expenses here, we’re talking opportunity cost. How much money could someone have raised if they had stayed?
I mean, really, two years is nothing at all. It takes someone at least six months to feel at all comfortable with the job and then another six months to get comfortable with the donors, the cause, and the fundraising program. So, just one year after they are really in the saddle, they leave?
And why? A study by Penelope Burk of Cygnus Applied Research of 1,200 fundraising professionals in 2010 said it’s money. A full 37 percent of fundraisers said they left their last job for a higher salary and 48 percent said they would leave their current job for higher pay. According to the survey, the fund raisers surveyed don’t appear unhappy with how much they are currently paid; they leave because they can get more money somewhere else.
I could rant about these facts quite a bit. Didn’t we all get into this for the cause more than the money? What happened to a sense of integrity and devotion to the non-profit sector? Shouldn’t fundraisers stay with an organization long enough to make a real difference?
But, you know what? I stayed with one organization – Greenpeace – for 14 years and I didn’t stay with it because of my devotion to the non-profit sector. I stayed with it for my own financial, emotional and intellectual benefit. And my top three reasons for sticking with Greenpeace mirror those that the study suggests keep fundraisers in place:
More responsibility and opportunity. I was very lucky over the course of my time at Greenpeace to be offered several chances to expand. I was given the opportunity to start a planned giving program and I was eventually promoted to supervise a team of ten. Small organizations don’t have that kind of room for growth, but fundraisers can be encouraged to spread their wings to try new things across the organization and beyond. They can be assigned to work on new programs, to supervise other staff when necessary, and to fill in for other senior staff when appropriate. They can be asked to lead coalitions and partnerships external to the organization. Nearly 30% of those surveyed said they left a position for a new one with more responsibility according to Penelope Burk’s study. How many of these might have stayed if a new opportunity came along where they were?
A boss that wanted to me to succeed him. I was incredibly lucky to have a boss at Greenpeace who wanted me to take his place when he left. He really believed in me and groomed me to take his place. But this seemed to be the exception rather than the rule. According to Penelope Burk’s research only 22 percent of senior fundraisers who manage their organization’s fundraising efforts said they were grooming a replacement. Even worse, 57 percent said that there was no one on their staff who they felt was qualified to assume their roles. What does this say about staff development in our field?
Flexibility and benefits. I had three daughters at Greenpeace and got three months paid maternity leave for each of them. This benefit, along with a flexible schedule when they were very young, made me extremely devoted to Greenpeace. I was so very grateful for the opportunity to take care of my family AND have the ability to return to work that I came each time, ready to give more to my job. Penelope Burk’s survey found that flexible hours, job sharing, and other arrangements were among the top reasons cited by fundraisers who said they planned to stay in their current job indefinitely. That was me for sure!
And think of how much Greenpeace got out of me after 14 years. The planned giving program I founded raised over $100 million dollars in planned gifts over 10 years of my time there. I think that’s a pretty good return for my salary – about $150 to $1. And, indeed, I got regular salary increases, but the most benefits most valuable to me cost the organization next to nothing in monetary terms.
And even if money is the issue, wouldn’t it be cheaper to give fundraising staff a 10-15 percent pay increase every year than to incur the 80% cost of the salary in turnover?
If you’re a board member, executive director, or fundraising manager, consider your fundraising staff turnover. What can you do to improve your chances of keeping good fundraising staff to increase your bottom line?
If you’re a fundraising professional – speak up and tell your leadership what you’re looking for! Advocate for better pay, better benefits, and more growth opportunities rather than just jumping ship. Think about your own opportunity cost…
