Opportunities Were Never Better For Fund Raisers -- But Are They Qualified?
By Gary Kaplan, President, Gary Kaplan & Associates© Fund Raising Management. September 1995.
At a CASE development conference last year in Chicago, Brad Choate, associate vice president for development and university relations at Pennsylvania State University, remarked: "Fund development is the only profession from which you can be fired today and have a better job tomorrow."
And he's right. Opportunities for fund development executives have never been better.
During the recent recession (current recession is the operative phrase in Southern California where our firm is headquartered), the one executive function that was not downgraded was senior fund raiser. From where we sit as executive recruiters, we can tell you that no employment segment currently offers more income and job security right now than that of development.
Why? The competition for America's donor dollar has increased demand for development officers. It also has driven up high-end salaries. As society deals with more complex needs, we can expect this demand not only to continue but to accelerate. At the same time, available funds to meet society's critical needs continue to diminish.
Despite unemployment and low consumer confidence, Americans continue to be generous contributors to a variety of causes. In 1994, for example, philanthropic contributions totaled more than $130 billion -- 88 percent from individuals. The number of billionaires in this country has increased tenfold in the last decade. And -- more good news for fund raisers -- baby-boomers are coming into their prime giving years. The number of individuals who will be 45 or older during the 1990s is expected to increase by about 18 million; these are the people who will control a large proportion of the wealth in our nation.
However, the bad news is that the great fortunes of bygone eras that provided millions of dollars for worthy philanthropy are vanishing. Public funds continue to dry up at local, state and federal levels. Further, the number of fund-raising programs has multiplied, resulting in greater competition for the donor dollar among charitable and non-profit groups. Also, those soliciting contributions are using more sophisticated and innovative methods than ever before, a move largely responsible for increased operating costs.
In this environment, development professionals face greater challenges and have more expansive opportunities than ever before. But fund raisers need to change to compete in today's development marketplace.
We can report from first-hand experience that demand is very high, and regrettably, the supply of well-qualified executives is very low. It is not uncommon, for example, for our firm to make 300 to 400 telephone calls and conduct 14 to 20 interviews in recruiting a single hire in development, especially in the low- to mid-end of the compensation spectrum.
Only a short time ago, development was a much softer field. In higher education, for example, fund raising was a sort of poor cousin to alumni relations with a few clubby retirees sampling a second career and white-gloved ladies pouring tea at the chancellor's residence.
No more. Fund development is no longer a secondary calling; it's a full-fledged profession. The specifications our clients set forth for development management are basically the same as those we look for to fill a top-level position in corporate America: diversity, creativity and a strong bottom-line orientation.
Let me be more specific. Management seeking to hire qualified development talent these days is looking for:
- Aggressive business people who know how to build and implement a comprehensive plan addressed to all significant constituencies. They must have the ability to create a systematized approach that will make the whole process work efficiently and effectively. And, of course, they must be able to manage a professional development staff.
- Management wants professionals with broad-based experience in the sub-functional areas: annual campaigns, special events, corporate relations, capital campaigns, planned giving and research-based technologies like direct marketing.
- They want us to find development professionals with track records of achievement. In our firm's interviews, candidates often seem evasive on this subject. They either are unwilling -- or unable -- to "score" their efforts. Too many fall back on the collective "we" when we try to nail them down on their individual achievements. That makes evaluation pretty difficult, especially when fund raising experience really counts only when it is quantifiable with tangible results.
Further, employers are looking for:
- Professionals who are knowledgeable in estate and financial planning. Paul Netzel, chairman and chief executive officer of Netzel Associates, Inc. of Culver City, Calif., says this means being able to understand investment vehicles and taxation, the ins-and-outs of wills, trusts and all aspects of planned giving.
"Expertise in planned giving is the key to larger gifts," he states. "It requires sophisticated knowledge, and there's absolutely no way to fake it."
The fund development official who has a seasoned mentor in planned giving is lucky indeed, but ambitious fund raisers can -- and should -- enhance their skills through seminars, continuing education courses and formal training; for example, the certificate program for Certified Financial Planner, which RoMa Johnson, president of the Long Beach Community Hospital Foundation, found very useful in enhancing her skills in this area.
A few more words on planned giving. In the right hands, planned-giving expertise can help donors with charitable intent solve estate planning problems, reduce taxes and protect the interests of heirs -- and at the same time provide substantial gifts to favored charities. Diane E. Thomas, vice president of development for The Wellness Community-National based in Santa Monica, said that in addition to acquiring technical expertise on the legal and financial aspects of planned giving, solicitors of such gifts also must give more attention to creative marketing of the planned-gift concept plus careful cultivation and patient nurturing of potential givers.
- Employers also are looking for development professionals who have strong communications skills and the personal presence to represent their institutions at every level of interaction, both inside and outside the organization. They need to be self-assured individuals of high integrity, who are able to function and will be readily accepted by leaders in a variety of social, academic and business environments.
Gary E. Rounding, vice president for university relations at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas, emphasized that this means being able to handle sensitive contacts with foundation boards, corporate chief executives, investment professionals, bank trust officers, estate planning attorneys, volunteer agency boards, private investors and philanthropists.
- Management wants professionals with strong leadership skills and the ability to motivate and inspire others in the search for effective fund-raising sources and techniques. They want executives who are mature, bright, creative, dynamic and diplomatic... who are enthusiastic and unrelentingly dedicated to one of contemporary society's most demanding jobs: raising money for philanthropy.
- And finally, they are looking for professionals who will be accepted by senior management as their intellectual partners and who will be trusted and respected specialists on whom they can count to get things done.
Executive management is an exacting process, especially in today's highly charged, fast-paced competitive philanthropic environment. For executive search firms like ours to be able to fulfill our clients' expectations, we have to deliver first-rate candidates with qualifications like those set forth here. They are the new fund-development professionals, changing with the times and getting better every day at a job that is a noble calling with a proud tradition.
