Development Dollar Divide

By Holly Hall and Leah Kerkman

The gender gap in pay for fund raisers is a reality, according to the first comprehensive study of the salary differential

ALSO SEE: CHART: Donors' Top Expectations for Charities

between men and women.

Women who hold the top development jobs at their institutions earn 12 percent less than their male counterparts — even when they are the same age as the men, have the same education and experience, and work for organizations with similar missions and budgets, according to research presented here at the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

The salary differential affects fund raisers at all levels, not just those at the top of the profession. Over all, female fund raisers earned 13 to 14 percent less than men.

The research was based on data from 2,438 fund raisers and was conducted by Debra J. Mesch, a professor of nonprofit studies at Indiana University-Purdue University, in Indianapolis, and Patrick J. Rooney, director of research at the Center on Philanthropy there.

Women also earn far less in bonuses than men, the study found. Nineteen percent of all fund raisers in the survey received a bonus, but those the women received were half as large as the men's.

One reason for the discrepancy in salaries could be that some of the women in the study might have taken a break in their career to raise children, and therefore did not receive steady increases in annual pay, said Ms. Mesch.

"Women never seem to recoup that lost time of being out of the work force on a mommy track," said Ms. Mesch.

She suggested that another reason for the salary gap was that the profession now attracts a large number of women. "Usually as more women enter a particular field, crowding occurs and salaries become deflated," said Ms. Mesch.

A larger gender gap in salaries was found in the association's own annual survey, based on data from 826 fund raisers. Male fund raisers earned an average of $76,148 last year, compared with $62,980 for female fund raisers.

The association's study, which did not examine the effects of age and experience on pay, nevertheless found that location and fund raisers' credentials did influence how much they made. For example, fund raisers in the Northwest had the highest average salary, $72,111, compared with $61,062 for those in the Southwest. And those with a certified fund-raising executive credential earned, on average, about $22,000 more than their colleagues without the certification.

The association's survey found that the average salary for all fund raisers declined from $80,685 in 2004 to $67,181 in 2005, a 17-percent decrease.

The association says average salaries are dropping because a growing number of young people are becoming fund raisers, and many veteran fund raisers are retiring.

While only 4 percent of the respondents in 2004 were age 25 to 34, about 17 percent of the people in the 2005 survey were in that age range. The number of respondents who were 55 to 64 decreased from 32 percent in 2004 to 21 percent.

For a copy of Ms. Mesch's study, send an e-mail message to dmesch@iupui.edu. Final results of the association's compensation and benefits study are expected to be available online by the end of April at http://afpnet.org.

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Financial and other personal constraints are not the primary reason donors stop giving to charity, said Dirk Rinker, president of Campbell Rinker, a Valencia, Calif., marketing-research firm. Rather, he said, they are more likely to stop contributing because they are unhappy with a charity's actions and how the organization treats them.

Many charities lose up to two-thirds of donors within two years of receiving their first gift. To figure out why, Mr. Rinker's company gathered data from more than 3,000 donors to religious charities who gave in response to mass fund-raising appeals such as direct-mail or broadcast solicitations; the study included 1,221 donors who had stopped giving for at least 18 months.

No more than 20 percent of the active donors in the study, and a similar proportion of lapsed donors, said that a loss of income, health issues, increased expenses, or other personal constraints would cause them to decrease their charitable donations. But nearly 70 percent of both active and lapsed donors said that they would stop giving if the charity did not fulfill their main expectations; another nearly 15 percent of the donors said they would decrease their support in such circumstances.

Among donors' top expectations of any charity they support: It would be honest in its business practices and in its relationship with donors, use their gifts only as it said it would, and not treat them rudely. Donors also said they wanted a charity to manage its operations well and avoid budget shortfalls, and to refrain from using guilt or manipulative tactics to persuade them to give. Among lapsed donors, one in five said that not being adequately thanked or acknowledged would cause them to stop or decrease gifts, while 35 percent said that they would curtail their giving if the charity did not treat them as a partner.

Donors who gave the most, a cumulative total of $500 or more, were more likely than others to stop giving because their expectations were not met or because they were not treated as a partner by charities they support. Donors who gave less than $500 were more likely to be turned off by overly elaborate appeals and by charities that solicited them too frequently.

"Donors are sensitive to expensive-looking mailings," said Mr. Rinker. He said that many charities make the mistake of using emergency appeals, not realizing that such solicitations often suggest management or financial problems within the organization. Such appeals, he added, "must be carefully thought out."

More than 60 percent of both active and lapsed donors in the study said that they would consider reviving their giving to charities that had not met their expectations if those charities apologized or somehow made up for doing a bad job.

In trying to keep donors or persuade lapsed donors to resume their giving, fund raisers should keep in mind that "donors hate guilt-inducing appeals," Mr. Rinker said.

He advised charities to avoid coupling their thank-you messages with repeat solicitations and to develop a plan to ask donors who stop giving about their reasons for doing so. "Inquire but don't make it a past-due notice," he said. The message, he added, "should be 'We care about you,' not 'We need you.'"

A book based on the study, The Disappearing Donor, may be ordered online at http://www.servantheart.com/store/index.cfm. The cost of the book is $19.25.

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More than 60 percent of charities raised more funds last year than in 2004, despite reports of "donor fatigue" in the months following Hurricane Katrina, according to a new survey of fund raisers released at the conference.

Sixty-seven percent of fund raisers reported that the relief efforts had no effect on their organization's fund raising and 94 percent said that hurricane-related fund raising will not affect donations over the long term.

In 2004, 65 percent of fund raisers reported they had raised more money than in the previous year, the highest percentage in the survey's five-year history. In 2002, 49 percent of those polled said donations had risen; in 2003, 54 percent achieved increases.

Fund raisers also are optimistic about the future: Nearly 70 percent predicted that their organizations would raise more money this year than in 2005.

The survey, which polled 507 fund raisers in the United States and Canada, also asked about techniques charities use to raise money.

Success rates — meaning the percentage of organizations raising more money last year than in 2004 — from direct-mail, online, and special-event fund raising all decreased by 7 to 9 percent. The success rate of efforts to obtain large gifts from individuals dropped by 3 percent and that of appeals for money through telemarketing dropped by 2 percent. Planned giving was the only approach that did better in 2005, with a success rate that grew by 3 percent.

The final results of the association's "State of Fundraising Survey 2005" will be available in May online at http://afpnet.org.

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With fund raisers increasingly focused on getting big gifts from individuals, several speakers at the conference offered pointers to help improve their efforts.

Douglas M. Lawson, a New York fund-raising consultant, said that he likes to hold small dinner parties for donors and their friends, largely because he is an experienced cook. "Do what you do naturally," he said. "Cultivate from where you feel happy and comfortable."

Mariann Payne, director of major gifts at United Cerebral Palsy, in Washington, urged fund raisers to organize small, intimate events instead of "soul-sucking galas," which she said "sap your staff and sap your energy."

Gatherings such as movie premieres and art-gallery events can often be done inexpensively with big results, Ms. Payne said. She estimated that she spent about $5,000 on printing and other costs for "salon" gatherings that last year recruited 25 donors who gave $10,000 or more apiece.

In her previous job at the Whitman-Walker Clinic, an AIDS charity in Washington, Ms. Payne organized "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," three simultaneous events in the homes of donors, with themes to match people's interests in sports, politics, and theater.

While the gatherings were not fund-raising events per se, they did help identify potential donors who "weren't on our radar screen," said Ms. Payne.

About 120 people paid $200 each to attend the events, but Ms. Payne estimated that they helped recruit 15 donors who gave at least $10,000 apiece.

Fund raisers should take their time and hold several meetings with a potential donor before asking for a large donation, Mr. Lawson said.

A good rule of thumb is to budget five in-person meetings with donors who will be asked for a six-figure gift and at least six meetings for any gift of $1-million or more, he said. "Fund raising is like dating. Don't propose right away. Cultivation takes time; solicitation is very short."

Solicitations should be very simple, said Mr. Lawson.

Would-be donors, he said, should not be surprised by the request, and fund raisers should wait for donors to signal their readiness to be asked. Often, he said, a donor will ask him, "How can I help?" after hearing about the project in multiple meetings.

In response to that question, Mr. Lawson said, he always presents the donor with one amount, such as $1-million, preceded by the word "only." He added: "Never give them a range. They just go for the lower amount."

He also advised fund raisers never to read or look down at materials during a solicitation.

"Never take your eyes off the donor's," he said. "It has to be eye-to-eye."

DONORS' TOP EXPECTATIONS FOR CHARITIES Lapsed donors Active donors Being honest in their business practices 88% 88% Being honest in their relationship with donors 80% 80% Not being rude 72% 71% Using gifts only for what they say they will 71% 72% Not using guilt and manipulation to motivate donors to give 69% 66% Good management of money to prevent budget shortfalls 65% 64% Not putting donors on the spot with telephone calls 55% 54% Keeping administrative costs low 55% 56% Not assuming how much money donors should give them 54% 53% Not treating donors like just a source of money 52% 52% Not using tape-recorded fund-raising requests over the telephone 51% 50% Not using gifts for more fund-raising activities 50% 50% SOURCE: Campbell Rinker