Share these talks and lectures with your colleagues
Invite colleaguesPractice paper
The fundraising turnover epidemic: An evaluative holistic model
Journal of Education Advancement & Marketing,
9
(3),
222-236
(2024)
Abstract
Demand for fundraising professionals across the advancement sector globally is increasing, leading to a war for talent. This is fuelled by the great resignation, where people are reassessing their priorities (work—life balance), and post-pandemic reflection (current job alignment with long-term goals and values). In addition, opportunities for career development, remote working and location flexibility are increasing. Burnout, stress and cultural and generational influences also impact the need to reassess the attraction and retention of fundraising professionals. It is widely known that the turnover rate in the sector is high, with the average tenure of a fundraiser being between 18 and 24 months. Other research suggests even less at 16 months, citing that ‘fundraising turnover is an epidemic’.1 This paper shares research findings from a survey conducted globally with 52 fundraising/advancement professionals, seeking to answer two questions:• What are the key motivational factors that both attract and retain fundraisers?• Do these motivational factors change through the career life cycle?The paper was inspired following a session at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, European Annual Conference in August 2023, where the co-authors presented on the topic ‘Unleashing the power of your people: attracting, retaining and maximising the potential of your diverse talent pool’. This paper also shares reflections from two of the other panellists from the conference, both fundraising professionals, on their experiences in retaining fundraisers in their teams: Liz Reilly, former Director of Philanthropy & Donor Relations, University of Edinburgh, and Juan-Pablo Garrido, Director of Development, UIC Barcelona. The paper includes supporting insights from research undertaken by the co-authors on motivational theories and their application to the survey results. The paper provides insights on taking a different approach to retention, presenting a framework model that can be applied and one that seeks to be more transformational for the individual and organisation. Although this research is specifically focused on one of the advancement professions — fundraising — it could be applied to talent management within broader advancement and further tested to see if the hypothesis in the model has a broader application.
Keywords: turnover; motivation; retention; fundraiser; careers
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Karen Cairney is CEO, Cairney & Company. An experienced and established professional in the higher education, not-for-profit and fundraising sectors, Karen has worked as a senior-level professional in the charitable and educational sectors for over 30 years in Canada, the USA, Asia and the UK. She has experience working in a variety of different sectors including health, education, arts, environment and social services. Karen has led and implemented multi-million-figure campaigns and strategic and fundraising planning for the organisations and clients she has managed. She has also led significant programmes of change with a focus on staff and individual development initiatives. Karen holds an MBA from Edinburgh Napier University and is an accredited executive coach through the Academy of Executive Coaching, working with individuals and teams to maximise their performance. Over her career, Karen has personally raised over £200m for the organisations and clients she has served. She has extensive expertise in campaign and major gift solicitations, managing volunteers, working with senior management teams and boards, coaching and leadership and strategy. Karen established Cairney & Company eight years ago, and their clients span across the globe from the UK to Australia as well as Hong Kong, China and North America. Karen is a regular industry speaker at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and other industry forums and is a recent recipient of the prestigious CASE Crystal Apple Award for excellence in teaching.
Bukky Gray is a coach, trainer, talent management and HR professional and an equity, diversity, social mobility and inclusion advocate. Bukky is the Director of Talent Management and Human Resources at the University of Cambridge Development and Alumni Relations office. At Cambridge, she is responsible for delivering strategic human resources and talent management programmes tailored to the organisation's current and long-term business needs. Bukky also plays a key role in the Ross Equity, Diversity and Inclusion working group (a sub-group of the senior leaders of the top 25 fundraising universities in the UK and Ireland). Before working in development, she worked mainly in the public sector in the UK, leading innovative HR practices to recruit and retain hard-to-recruit roles, researching equality and diversity initiatives to support black and ethnic minority staff and leading significant change programmes. Bukky is a barrister and solicitor, holds a master's degree in international business and is a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She has a coaching qualification from Cambridge University and practices as a coach. She recently commenced a master's degree in industrial/organisational psychology at Harvard University. Bukky's passion lies in talent management, organisation development and coaching. She strongly advocates equity, diversity, social mobility and inclusion.
