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January 28, 2009

Job Market for Fund Raisers Continues to Contract

In what may be the latest sign that the job market for fund raisers is shrinking, a Bethesda, Md., executive recruiting firm is opening a new service that will place experienced development officers in temporary positions.

“Because of the economy, we see this as the wave of the future,” said Diane Charness, president of the firm, Higher Talent Executive Search. She said that her company started working on the idea of temporary placements for fund raisers about two years ago. The economy is one motivating factor, Ms. Charness said, but the company has also seen an increase in interest among both fund raisers and organizations in short-term assignments.

As a rule, the temporary fund-raising jobs, she said, will offer no health insurance or other benefits. However, she added, the company is looking into whether benefits might be offered, depending on the length of the assignment and other factors.

Ms. Charness said the temporary openings will appeal to many fund raisers, including those who have recently moved to a new city because their spouse got a new job, others who no longer wish to work full time, and still others who have tired of the heavy travel required in some fund-raising jobs.

Ms. Charness said that she has spoken with several organizations interested in hiring fund raisers for short-term assignments, often because their charities have imposed a hiring freeze. She said that she spoke with a museum official who wanted someone to raise money for a special exhibit and a university dean who needed to seek money for a special project but had no fund raisers on his staff.

Read The Chronicle’s story on how the economy is affecting the job market for fund raisers, and use the comment space below to share how it is affecting your organization and career.

— Holly Hall

Wednesday January 28, 2009 | Permalink

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