Salaries of Fund Raisers Stagnate at Charities and Turnover Starts to Slow, Study Finds

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Tables: Salary and Benefits Paid to Fund Raisers

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By Holly Hall

Salaries of fund raisers in the United States stagnated last year as the recession deepened, according to the annual compensation survey of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

The median salary in 2008 was $63,500 among the 2,571 American fund raisers in the survey — meaning that half earned more and half less. That figure is virtually the same as in 2007.

The highest-paid fund raisers, those in the top 25 percent, earned at least $85,000 last year, the same as in 2007, and those in the bottom quarter earned $47,500, down slightly from $48,000 in 2007.

In Canada, salaries declined faster than in the United States. The median salary of the 395 Canadian fund raisers in the survey fell by 4.4 percent last year, to $53,192.

Economy's Impact

Association officials attributed the drop in pay to the turbulent economy.

They said that the recession has also prompted a sharp drop in the number of people changing jobs: 28 percent of American fund raisers in the survey said they had been in their current jobs for one year or less, down from 45 percent in the previous survey.

The average time that fund raisers had spent in a single position was four years.

Among other findings based on the survey of fund raisers in the United States:

• Credentials increase compensation levels. Among the 440 fund raisers who had earned the certified fund-raising executive, or CFRE, credential, the average salary was $84,360, compared with $69,535 for 491 fund raisers with no certification. And among 14 fund raisers who had earned an advanced version of the CFRE credential, the average pay was $106,029.

• People with more education also earn more. Fund raisers who held a law degree, for example, earned an average of $93,563 last year, compared with $65,001 among those with four years of college. Forty-one percent of fund raisers said that they had taken one or more continuing-education courses in fund raising at a college or university, with another 7 percent planning to soon.

• Men continue to outpace women in compensation. Women, who account for about 75 percent of all fund raisers, earned a median of $60,000 last year, about 27 percent less than the median $76,000 earned by men.

• Despite the poor economy, fund raisers continue to receive the same level of fringe benefits for the most part. Ninety-three percent of fund raisers reported that they had medical insurance provided by their employer last year, the same percentage as in 2007.

• Minorities continue to be underrepresented in the fund-raising profession. Among the 2,962 respondents who answered the question about their ethnicity, 92 percent said they were white. Less than 3 percent said they were black, and a similar percentage said they were Hispanic.

A full copy of the survey, "2009 Compensation and Benefits Study," is available free online to members of the Association of Fundraising Professionals on the organization's Web site. Nonmembers may purchase a copy of the survey for $85. To order a copy, send an e-mail message to profadv@afpnet.org.

Salary and Benefits Paid to Fund Raisers