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November 06, 2009

CNN Calls Fund Raising One of the Most Stressful Jobs

With today’s news that the unemployment rate has breached 10 percent, most Americans, including nonprofit workers, are probably thankful they have a job.

But CNN is calling one charity position — fund raiser — one of the worst jobs in the country.

On a list of 15 jobs that pay poorly and are stressful, fund raiser is No. 7, not too far from parole officer and high-school teacher. “No matter the cause, asking people to part with their money is not easy. And it doesn’t just happen at cocktail parties,” says the cable news channel on its Web site.

Using a survey of 36,000 people by Payscale.com, CNN says the median pay for a fund raiser is $42,700 and 67 percent of fund raisers polled said their work is stressful.

Fund raiser isn’t the only nonprofit job listed. In fact, it seems CNN went out of its way to mention work that is often performed by charities. They include: assisted living director, minister, curator, substance-abuse counselor, music director at a church, membership manager, and social worker.

Of course, news reporter is No. 4 on the stressful-job list so maybe CNN thought misery loves company.

— Ian Wilhelm

Friday November 6, 2009 | Permalink

Comments

1. And this is news how? It’s simply public recognition of something that we in the nonprofit world have recognized for a long, long time. “How much money did you raise for (X) yesterday?” Every day is a zero-sum game. Yet those of us who love what we do endeavor to persevere for decades. Love to know who was surveyed!

   — Rebecca E. Hunter, CFRE    Nov 6, 03:00 PM    #

2. I want to know who the other 43% were that said they didn’t think their work was stressful! I’d like to know their secret.

   — jenelle    Nov 6, 05:48 PM    #

3. LOL…what does this tell us about the profession? Split personality perhaps? USA Today regularly lists it as one of the “Best Professions” and now this from CNN. This probably summarizes the past year in fundraising. However, coupling stress with low pay doesn’t necessarily equate to job dissatisfaction. Demanding… Yes. Stressful…You Bet. Low Pay…does that amount actually qualify as “pay” (you get lunch occasionally)? Seeing a plan come together with happy donors, grateful clients and smiling CEO’s…PRICELESS.

   — Robert Croft, CFRE, Consultant, Crandall, Croft & Associates    Nov 6, 09:46 PM    #

4. One word: DUH!

   — Cathy    Nov 6, 10:36 PM    #

5. The ranking by CNN reflects their lack of knowledge of the profession of Fundraiser. They cite “galas, meeting with donors, writing grant proposals, and overseeing outreach campaigns and running events” as the fundraiser’s activity. What about major gifts and planned giving? These are very different Fundraiser jobs.

   A salary survey by the NonProfit Times in 2008 revealed that the average salary for a Major Gift Officer was $72,000+ and the average salary for a Planned Giving Officer was $79,000+. Upper salaries for these positions were $90-$100,000!! This is significantly more than the salaries reported by CNN Money.

   Further, research by the Canadian Policy Research Networks in 2002 (a bit dated I admit) found that it is common for more than 50% of Fundraisers to report feeling stressed in their job. It is also common for greater than 60% of the general work force to report the same. This number exceeds 70% for Managers. Unfortunately, stress is a common part of most professions. An equally revealing statistic from the study was that 78% of Fundraisers reported job satisfaction as being very high.

   Is Fundraising stressful – Yes. Is Fundraising rewarding – Yes! Is Fundraiser a bad paying job – not if your the right kind of Fundraiser :)

   http://excelfundraising.ning.com/forum/topics/stressful-jobs-that-pay-badly
   http://www.excelconsultants.com

   — Darryl Swain, CFRE    Nov 10, 09:55 PM    #

6. The job is stressful largely due to unreasonable expectations set by leaders without any viable plan for achieving goals. The fundraiser has to get ahead of the leader using data driven strategies, in order to stand a chance.

   I have been stressed by the best and worst of them and my only saving grace was to stay ahead of them and offend (not defend) my choices with hard data. I got approval for my strategies, before they developed their own (and any self-respecting CEO is always thinking ahead), because a sure formula for failure is trying to execute someone’s plan that you don’t know or understand. Get ready to leave at that point!

   In our work, a focus on relationships is of utmost importance, but when your market is saturated, you are severely under-resourced or times are just hard you have to be very intentional about your choice. Too often data is not collected or used to build cases. Bad news!

   — Chandra Y. Anderson, CFRE    Nov 11, 07:49 AM    #

7. I don’t know if you’ve seen 501videos.com but they have great video clips of fundraisers talking about how they deal with stress.
   http://bit.ly/FRstress

   — Marc A Pitman, FundraisingCoach.com    Nov 11, 09:35 PM    #

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