When I first started covering the fundraising profession – after I had been to a couple of events, interviewed a few sector bigwigs and so on – I remember thinking: “Wow, people really love being fundraisers!” I held on to this belief for several weeks... Until I did a piece on employee turnover.
I don’t need to tell seasoned professionals that turnover in the fundraising sector is notoriously high. Surveys show that a substantial number of fundraisers intend to leave their current positions within two years, with some planning to exit the fundraising field entirely – as high as 30% according to some findings.
There are demographic reasons which contribute to overall turnover figures, such as that many fundraisers are young, and raising money for charity in their gap year or on a part-time basis. But the underlying factors that affect professional fundraisers – those who have chosen fundraising as a career and have invested in it – are more worrying, because they are in the sector’s control.
Anyone who has worked as a fundraiser for any amount of time will be way too familiar with the list of reasons why people want to quit: unrealistic targets, long hours, poor management, few career development opportunities, pushy trustees, lack of buy-in from senior management, poor pay. The list goes on. Inevitable result: burnout.
So, if we know what the issues are, why is nothing being done about it? At last, there are some pieces of research providing guidance on how to retain fundraisers. It also appears to be on the radar of umbrella organisations, and is a regular discussion point on forum agendas. But is that enough?
Ultimately, change is in the hands of the organisations that employ fundraisers, ie charities. Until they start to recognise the value of fundraising, and as our contributor writes, that “a good fundraiser is worth their weight in unrestricted funding” then turnover will remain as it always has been – eye-wateringly high.
Leaders need to lobby their CEOs and board of trustees about investment in fundraising. They need to get fundraising into every conversation regarding their charity’s strategy and culture. They need to underscore its impact on every aspect of the charity’s work; most importantly, on the lives of its beneficiaries.
The truth is, fundraisers do love being fundraisers, they just don’t love everything that comes with it.
Stephen Cotterill is editor of Fundraising Magazine.
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