By Holly Hall

Fund raisers across the country earned a median of $66,000 last year, a 4-percent increase from last year and the first rise in pay since 2007, according to a survey released on Wednesday by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. (Editor’s note: An earlier version off this article noted that average pay rose more than 7 percent; this article has been adjusted to give the median figure, which statistical experts say is the most reliable way to measure change. The median figure means that half of fund raisers received bigger increases and half received smaller increases or no raises at all.)

While the 3.9-percent overall salary increase among fund raisers appears to reflect signs of recovery in the economy, pay is still not rising as fast as it was before the recession officially started in December 2007. Median salaries for fund raisers rose by 5 percent in 2007 in the months before the economic downturn and jumped by as much as 15 percent in 2004.

• Those in the top 25 percent of earners made $89,000 or more, while those in the bottom quartile earned $50,000 or less. Those results are based on data from 3,057 fund raisers.
• The recession also continued to depress high turnover among fund raisers in 2009. Only 20 percent of fund raisers in the survey said they had been in their current position for a year or less, down from 28 percent in 2008 and 45 percent in 2007.
• Fund raisers who work for consulting firms reported the highest salaries, a median of $80,000. Among charities, the next highest median was for fund raisers at educational institutions ($71,200), hospitals and medical centers ($71,000), and other health organizations ($67,000).
• Fund raisers who hold professional certification have higher salaries. The 654 fund raisers in the survey who are qualified as Certified Fund Raising Executives, or CFRE's, reported an average of $95,798. Meanwhile, the salary of 20 others who have the Advanced Certified Fund Raising Executive credential, the ACFRE, or another equivalent for hospital fund raisers, was even higher, at $121,183 on average. By contrast, the 540 fund raisers with no certification earned an average of $70,463.
• Although nearly three-fourths of the 30,000 fund raisers who belong to the Association of Fundraising Professionals are female, the gender gap in pay persists, as it has in each of the 10 years the survey has been conducted. In 2009 male fund raisers earned a median of $79,000, while their female counterparts made $63,000.

Free copies of the full survey, “2010 Compensation and Benefits Study,” is available to members of the Association of Fundraising Professionals on its Web site. Members may purchase copies for $85; to order, send an e-mail message to profadv@afpnet.org.