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August 13, 2008

Fund Raisers In Higher Education Get Big Raises

In recent years, experienced fund raisers who work for colleges and universities have benefited from generous annual salary increases that far outpace inflation.

That’s one conclusion to emerge from a compensation survey conducted every few years by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

This year’s survey with 9,314 fund raisers found that, since 2005 when the data was last collected, fund raisers with more than five years of experience reported annual pay increases of 8 to 9 percent.

Their average salaries ranged from $64,369 among fund raisers with six to 10 years of experience to $103,499 among those who had worked in the field for 20 or more years.

Do these figures make you want to work for a college or university? By what percentage has your salary increased this year?

— Holly Hall

Wednesday August 13, 2008 | Permalink

Comments

1. I’m not a fundraiser, nor do I work in higher education, but a $103k average for 20+ years of experience sounds very low, IMHO. Fundraisers help colleges and universities pay the bills, and they should be compensated well for this.

   — Jono Smith    Aug 14, 01:05 PM    #

2. No, these salary figures are not impressive or enticing. That we are underpaid is common knowledge. For many of us, the tuition benefits for our children are priceless.

   — College Fundraiser    Aug 14, 02:06 PM    #

3. Median HOUSEHOLD income in this country is only around $46,000 per year. I don’t think a salary of over $100k is something to complain about, especially in the nonprofit sector!

   — klm    Aug 14, 02:49 PM    #

4. “…especially in the nonprofit sector…”

   I think that’s part of the problem. Nonprofit employees are brainwashed to think inadequate compesation “isn’t that bad.”

   — anonymous    Aug 14, 06:35 PM    #

5. Because we are nonprofits who rely on donations to run, I believe we have an obligation not to provide egregious compensation to staff. That is what I meant by “especially in the nonprofit sector.” Why do twenty years of experience entitle someone to earn more than twice the national median household income? $100,000 only seems low if we compare ourselves to the egregious pay scales of many corporations, who, in my opinion, are making their executives and shareholders rich at the expense of millions of poor Americans. Nonprofits more than any other group have a moral responsibility to use their funds wisely and for the public good. This wise use of funds should include paying their staff fair — but not extravagant — salaries.

   — klm    Aug 15, 03:56 PM    #

6. All too often “fair – but not extravagant – salaries” constitute compensation that discourages the best and brightest from serving the public good. It is too bad that those that so often serve the poor are expected to live like the poor.

   — Tom    Aug 17, 11:36 AM    #

7. I just started in the NP-sector, and boy!! what a wrong choice if this is what is in store!!!!

   — boobles    Aug 20, 02:42 PM    #

8. Well Boobles, I have been in the sector for 8 years, and my salary is now just breaking the salary that friends who are accountants made their first year out of school, now there is generally a 20,000 gap between me and friends…. if you can leave go make a living and come back to the sector. I think it’s ashamed that a job that I saw posted at 24,000 when I first started 8 years ago, the starting starting is still 24,000. I agree that we should not have huge salaries but we should be able to make a decent living

   — chicagoan    Sep 4, 03:53 PM    #

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