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Fundraising Managers

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Fundraising Managers: Career Overview

Plan, direct, or coordinate activities to solicit and maintain funds for special projects or nonprofit organizations.

The Daily Work of Fundraising Managers Do?

The day-to-day responsibilities of fundraising managers include:

  • Develop strategies to encourage new or increased contributions.
  • Manage fundraising budgets.
  • Develop fundraising activity plans that maximize participation or contributions and minimize costs.
  • Plan and direct special events for fundraising, such as silent auctions, dances, golf events, or walks.
  • Establish goals for soliciting funds, develop policies for collection and safeguarding of contributions, and coordinate disbursement of funds.
  • Establish and maintain effective working relationships with clients, government officials, and media representatives and use these relationships to develop new fundraising opportunities.
  • Compile or develop materials to submit to granting or other funding organizations.
  • Contact corporate representatives, government officials, or community leaders to increase awareness of organizational causes, activities, or needs.

What Fundraising Managers Need to Know

Top fundraising managers rely on a mix of skills and domain knowledge.

Most Important Skills

The abilities that matter most in this role, rated on an importance scale of 0 to 5:

Speaking  4.1 / 5
0
5
Critical Thinking  4.1 / 5
0
5
Persuasion  4.0 / 5
0
5
Social Perceptiveness  4.0 / 5
0
5
Active Listening  4.0 / 5
0
5
Writing  3.9 / 5
0
5

Core Knowledge

Administration and Management  4.3 / 5
0
5
Customer and Personal Service  4.2 / 5
0
5
Administrative  4.2 / 5
0
5
English Language  4.1 / 5
0
5
Sales and Marketing  3.8 / 5
0
5
Economics and Accounting  3.5 / 5
0
5

Common job titles for this role include:

  • Account Manager
  • Account Supervisor
  • Advancement Director
  • Annual Giving Director
  • Campaign Manager
  • Canvass Director
  • Community Manager
  • Development Director

How Many Fundraising Managers Are There?

The U.S. employs around 344,254 fundraising managers working in the United States today. Employment is projected to decline by -1.0% over the projection horizon.

Forecasted number of jobs for Fundraising Managers

Salary for Fundraising Managers

Statistic Value
Annual median $90,350
Hourly median $43.44
10th percentile $56,372
25th percentile $73,361
75th percentile $107,339
90th percentile $124,328

Pay can vary substantially based on experience, location, and industry.

Salary ranges for Fundraising Managers

Pay by State

State Annual median salary
New York $166,420
Massachusetts $145,380
Rhode Island $139,140
New Jersey $137,440
District of Columbia $136,150
Washington $135,730
California $131,950
Indiana $131,010
Virginia $130,210
Vermont $129,770
Wisconsin $129,020
New Hampshire $128,810
Delaware $126,710
Maryland $126,130
Colorado $124,330
Minnesota $123,460
Maine $121,930
Connecticut $121,020
Florida $119,600
North Dakota $118,420
North Carolina $116,950
Kansas $114,090
Georgia $111,640
Kentucky $106,810
Michigan $106,780
Pennsylvania $104,400
Arizona $103,650
Montana $103,040
Illinois $101,000
Ohio $100,140
Oklahoma $99,990
Nevada $98,690
New Mexico $97,750
Oregon $97,240
Texas $96,720
Tennessee $95,980
Iowa $94,950
Hawaii $94,420
Mississippi $92,990
Nebraska $90,920
Alaska $90,780
Idaho $87,010
Missouri $86,690
Alabama $85,600
South Carolina $82,700
Utah $78,050
West Virginia $75,780
Arkansas $65,840

Top-Paying U.S. Regions

Compensation for fundraising managers differ across the country. The following regions pay the most:

Region Median annual wage Share of U.S. jobs Location quotient
Middle Atlantic $143,781 24.9% 2.15
New England $136,741 10.2% 2.09
Far Western US $126,859 22.2% 1.34
Southeast $111,059 12.9% 0.65
Plains States $108,192 4.2% 0.77
Great Lakes $105,308 15.4% 1.36
Southwest $97,753 9.1% 0.74
Rocky Mountains $87,798 1.0% 0.66

Where the Jobs Cluster

Metro area State Median annual wage Employment
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ NY $168,020 3,950
Binghamton, NY NY $160,970 30
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH MA $160,100 1,510
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA CA $152,940 490
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI WI $149,310 90
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA CA $148,870 270
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA CA $148,480 1,230
North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL FL $147,450 30

Which Industries Hire Fundraising Managers

The bulk of fundraising managers are concentrated in the following sectors:

Industry Employment Median annual wage
Educational Services 12,190 $126,400
Other Services (except Public Administration) 11,310 $126,440
Health Care and Social Assistance 6,260 $106,480
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation 2,110 $112,770
Management of Companies and Enterprises 1,580 $134,180
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services 1,500 $132,870
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 670 $118,890
Information 480 $119,600
Fundraising Managers sectors

Fundraising Managers work in the following industries:

Fundraising Managers industries

Software Fundraising Managers Use

  • Document management software: Adobe Acrobat (hot technology)
  • Video creation and editing software: Adobe After Effects (hot technology)
  • Graphics or photo imaging software: Adobe Creative Cloud software (hot technology)
  • Graphics or photo imaging software: Adobe Illustrator (hot technology)
  • Desktop publishing software: Adobe InDesign (hot technology)
  • Graphics or photo imaging software: Adobe Photoshop (hot technology)
  • Web page creation and editing software: Facebook (hot technology)
  • Data mining software: Google Analytics (hot technology)
  • Word processing software: Google Docs (hot technology)
  • Sales and marketing software: HubSpot software (hot technology)
  • Web platform development software: Hypertext markup language HTML (hot technology)
  • Sales and marketing software: Marketo Marketing Automation (hot technology)

Work Environment

Daily working conditions for fundraising managers tends to involve the following characteristics:

  • E-Mail
  • Contact With Others
  • Spend Time Sitting
  • Indoors, Environmentally Controlled
  • Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams

How to Become Fundraising Managers

Typical fundraising managers positions require a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry-level education. The role falls in Considerable Preparation Needed (Job Zone 4), reflecting the level of preparation typically expected.

Other Careers to Consider

Similar Occupations

Where to Study

Students preparing for fundraising managers commonly pursue programs in:

4 programs across 3 majors

4 programs across 2 majors

Sources

Data on this page comes from the following authoritative sources:

  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
  • BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
  • O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.

SOC code: 11-2033.00 (Fundraising Managers).

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