3 Tips To Find Your First Fundraising Professional - Part 2

In Part 1 we went over the first tip for setting yourself up for success in finding your first fundraising professional.

Tip #2-Set Realistic and Achievable Goals

After you have created a vision for your new fundraising position, the next step is to clarify your - the leadership's and the professional leader's - expectations of the future team member. This is especially important for jobs that are directly tasked with soliciting gifts and raising funds.

Discuss and decide together what goals are realistic and achievable. These conversations and goals will impact how you will position the new fundraising role during your search. It will affect your written job description. It will define how you will introduce the position to job candidates and conduct the interviews. And looking ahead, these goals will help you decide if the new hire will meet his/her goals and how his/her performance will be evaluated.

When you discuss the goals and expectations for the incoming #fundraiser, review your fundraising program to date, volunteer and professional staff's fundraising roles, and what fundraising philosophies and approaches you share. These conversations will help you define the expectations and help everyone on your team become equally invested in the success of the fundraising professional.

Example for expectations to define during this critical pre-search stage include:

• What dollars the new #fundraiser is expected to bring in in Year 1 in renewed and new gifts.

• How many new prospects the new fundraiser should have engaged by the end of his/her first year.

• The expected fundraising growth rate is in Year 1 (an annual growth rate of 10% is a conservative number).

  
  

Tanja Sarett, MA, CFRE, CVF, is an international fundraising consultant, facilitator, and executive coach based in the US and Israel, and the founder of Synergies in Philanthropy Consulting.

Synergies in Philanthropy Consulting provides strategic and customized solutions to help nonprofits grow their fundraising capacity, deepen donor engagement, and drive sustainable revenue. With a global perspective and deep understanding of the local landscape, Synergies empowers organizations in Israel, the US, and Europe to excel with clarity, creativity, and confidence.