Fundraising Talent

As was discussed at length in our founder’s first book, The War for Fundraising Talent, ours’ is an emerging profession that is currently working its way through its messy adolescence. The search for a fundraising professional can be one of the most exhausting and sometimes intimidating tasks facing today’s nonprofit leader. Fundraising professionals who entered the profession two and three decades ago are now finding their practices under siege by technology and evolving expectations from a new generation of major donors. Rather than relying on the disciplines of advertising, marketing, and public relations, fundraising is coming of age and developing its own standards of practice and performance. 

This evolution of the profession makes identifying, hiring and retaining a high-capacity fundraising professional especially difficult for many organizations. Generally speaking, only those organizations with the most sophisticated fundraising operations have mastered this unique category of employment. At Responsive Fundraising, our recruitment of talent focuses on those individuals and partnering organizations who share a mutual commitment to meaningful engagement and direct solicitation. 

In many organizations, fundraising has a long history of only being a priority when times get tough; otherwise it gets overlooked and ignored. Such an environment where fundraising has never become an essential part of an organization’s identity can be an especially problematic experience for a fundraising hire. Nonprofit leaders have to ensure that they have created an environment where fundraising talent can thrive.

The road ahead is going to be messy, so let’s be sure you hire the right person who shares your understanding of how fundraising really works. In addition to the big picture and cultural considerations, let us assist you in negotiating a compensation package that ensures your new hire is motivated to meet performance expectations and become a valuable, long-term member of your team.

To request a detailed proposal of what this engagement looks like, or to request a customized proposal, please request a proposal.