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Article: University Strives to Retain Fund Raisers by Grooming Its Own

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The sour economy has slowed contributions to many nonprofit groups — but it is also slowing the revolving door among fund raisers, a trend experts say could help charities better weather the recession.

Fund raisers who stay with the same institution for many years are more successful at raising money than those who change jobs frequently, according to one recent study. And the slowdown in turnover could also help institutions save money on salaries: Rising demand in recent years for fund raisers, many of whom job hop after five years or less, have driven salaries up more rapidly than the pay among people who stay on the job longer.

"People are happy to be employed and not in the mode to take a risk," says Ed Rogan, a Seattle executive recruiter who fills senior fund-raising and other nonprofit jobs. "People staying in fund raising is a good thing."

It is not such a good thing, however, for charities that are seeking new fund raisers.

"Individuals we've reached out to are much more hesitant to consider moving — there is hesitancy around the real-estate market," says Chrissi Rawak, executive director of development recruitment at the University of Michigan. "Michigan has a challenging economy: Can my significant other find work? These are the questions we are having to field."

Veteran fund raisers have been concerned about high turnover among their colleagues for years. The trend has shown some sign of slowing a bit recently: In 2008, fund raisers reported that they had spent an average of four years in their current job, compared with just two and half years in surveys conducted previously by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

"Turnover is way too frequent among fund raisers," says Bruce Flessner, a Minneapolis consultant who regularly conducts interviews with wealthy donors to help organizations set attainable fund-raising goals. "I ask about the organization's development operation and their fund raisers, and the donors tell me, 'I don't even bother to learn their names anymore.'"

The cost of turnover can be measured in lost gifts. A 2007 study of more than 1,000 fund raisers who seek big donations for colleges and universities, conducted by Eduventures, a Boston consulting company, found that fund raisers who had been in their positions for less than five years obtained about half of the contributions they sought. Those with more than five years on the job obtained closer to two-thirds of the gifts they pursued.

Fund raisers who have spent a decade or more with the same organization cite numerous other benefits of longevity — both for themselves and their institutions. Chief among them are the close personal relationships they develop over many years that eventually lead to the largest gifts.

"We are all fighting for this cause together," says Lisa Thomson about donors she has known for decades in her job at the Nature Conservancy. "It's like having war buddies."

Ms. Thomson, who works at the charity's Florida chapter, has been with the organization for 27 years, first as a conservationist and then, starting 12 years ago, as a fund raiser who has helped the conservancy raise millions of dollars from individuals and families.

"It takes a long time to get the really transformational gifts," she says. "Learning donors' value systems is a long and personal journey, a very intimate thing, to go to their home and learn what their lifetime giving goals are and what they want to pass on to their children."

Working with the same fund raiser for years makes donors feel like they do when they work with a trusted financial adviser on their investment portfolio, says Phil Schumacher, who has been the chief fund raiser at the Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation, in La Crosse, Wis., for 16 years. That is why high turnover among fund raisers can jeopardize even a loyal donor's relationship to an organization, he says.

"I have seen this among benefactors I have worked with who give to other organizations," Mr. Schumacher says. "They are looking forward to visiting with Mary from the development office, and all of a sudden, Mary is not there. They are concerned, did she get fired? This person is the heart of the organization for that donor."

In his own position, Mr. Schumacher says, he is able to help strengthen donors' relationships to the institution in ways a new fund raiser could not.

"We have 475 doctors who are employees of Gundersen Lutheran, and I can call them and ask them to call a patient who has called me as a donor," Mr. Schumacher says. "This is because I have been here so long. I could not do this if I was moving around every three or four years, absolutely not."

Other fund raisers say that, because they have stayed with their organizations for the long haul, they can get donors to do things that others cannot.

"I can just e-mail them and ask them to do pretty significant things like hosting a dinner for us, or will they meet with the president when she is in [their] town," says Lin Cargo, a senior fund raiser at the University of Michigan's engineering school since 1992. "I don't have to go sit down with them like I would if I were new."

Another advantage of staying with the same organization for many fund raisers is that it provides credibility: They are able to become fund-raising leaders in their communities.

Ann Campbell, who has been a fund raiser at the San Diego Opera for 26 years, started a group for development directors of other local arts organizations. She also helped start a program for 13 seasoned fund raisers from large San Diego charities to discuss "ways of managing our problems and propelling philanthropy forward."

"The intensity of walking into a new position would not have allowed me to take a leadership role in the community," Ms. Campbell says. "I just worked 24/7 for the first three years."

In addition to taking a visible position, fund raisers who stick around often become role models, advancing their profession by helping colleagues develop their skills.

"As a young fund raiser, I learned more from people who had done it a while at the same place," says Mr. Flessner, the consultant. "When you are stuck, they can tell you what you did right or wrong."

Mr. Flessner recalls traveling for three days with a seasoned planned-giving director at the University of Minnesota, who then invited the younger fund raiser to dinner at his home. Mr. Flessner says he was struck by the number of photographs of donors the fund raiser had in his house.

"When you see a photo of his daughter's wedding, you see pictures of donors," Mr. Flessner says.

Those pictures, he adds, gave him an early inkling of how fund raising really works.

Jerry May, who has spent nearly 20 years raising money for the University of Michigan, is responsible for building the skills of new development officers by creating the position now held by Ms. Rawak, the university's executive director of development recruitment.

Ms. Rawak, who works full time on efforts to hire and retain qualified fund raisers, has started a coaching program for newly hired fund raisers, a six-month mentor program for more experienced development officers, and a summer internship program that trains and places undergraduates in paid fund-raising positions.

"I dreamed of having talent management inside, but it took years for this to evolve," Mr. May says. "This is an outcome of being a long-term fund raiser here."

Other fund raisers who know their institution inside and out after years of working on its behalf are also more likely than their newly hired colleagues to find ways to improve the organization internally, which often enhances its fund raising.

Kathy Cookerly, who has been raising money for the Indianapolis Zoo for 15 years, took action when she noticed "an us-them situation" between the zoo's fund-raising staff and its other employees. Fund raisers, she notes, rely on employees from other parts of the zoo for presentations or other information they share with donors.

Ms. Cookerly instituted a yearly effort to forge new relationships between fund raisers and staff from other departments, bringing them doughnuts or offering to help out with projects.

"We have cleaned out lemur ponds, we have dug out tulip bulbs," she says. "We help wash elephants and visit nutritionists. This helps us learn stories." For example, she notes, fund raisers recently learned that marine-mammal trainers are trying to get the zoo's dolphins to eat jello, because it is fortified with nutrients found in a fish that is part of the dolphin diet but very hard to obtain. "We love these kinds of stories, because donors become fascinated," Ms. Cookerly says.

For Rhea Turteltaub, a compelling aspect of being a fund raiser for the University of California at Los Angeles for nearly 15 years is the challenge of raising money after a big campaign ends.

"I have learned that 'what's next' is the most interesting part of things," she says, now that she has been at UCLA through three capital campaigns.

"People often leave after a campaign," she says. "They duck and run, they are starting and then starting over again."

Such fund raisers, Ms. Turteltaub says, may be able to orchestrate and manage a campaign, but they often have not faced the challenges that come afterward, such as a change in leaders or figuring out how to keep thousands of donors who supported a previous fund-raising project involved in the institution. "This is at the heart of real achievement," she says.

But while there are numerous benefits to be gained by staying with the same organization, there are also disadvantages, seasoned fund raisers admit. One issue is that the salaries of fund raisers with long tenures often rise at a slower pace than the pay of colleagues who cycle from one fund-raising job to the next.

"I have certainly been hurt to see new people come in and be started at my salary," says Kristi Edwards, a senior fund raiser in her 12th year at the Arizona Community Foundation. "But that is not bitterness I want to carry around," Ms. Edwards says, adding that she remains committed to her job because she has top-notch colleagues and the foundation has invested in her career by paying for her to get planned-giving training, among other things.

Some fund raisers cite the potential for complacency, or the fact that their longevity on the job could block advancement by junior development officers, as possible downsides to low turnover. Others say that their long experience and institutional knowledge have made them attractive candidates for organizational projects that interfere with fund-raising duties.

"I've served on a number of internal teams over the years and have gained a great deal of institutional knowledge," says Ms. Thomson, the Nature Conservancy fund raiser who initially worked at the charity as a conservationist. "It is tempting to be pulled into these teams or otherwise distracted if you are not keeping your eye on the ball: managing your donor portfolio and working hard to bring in resources."

Still, despite such difficulties, most fund raisers who remain with the same charity for a big chunk of their career say that the benefits — especially their close relations with donors — far outweigh any drawbacks.

"I cannot imagine being anywhere else," says Ms. Turtletaub of UCLA. "You work with donors for a long time, with levels of trust and respect that are shared, and that doesn't happen when you jump from place to place. When the institution is a shared passion, you are working in concert together, and it makes the relationship richer."

When that happens, she adds, "the prospect of leaving doesn't hold as much allure."