In the nonprofit sector there’s always talk about the “18-month” turnover cycle for fundraisers.
But is it true?
We wanted to know with certainty whether that was an accurate narrative or just a story we’ve all been telling ourselves.
What we found is that the actual tenure of the average fundraiser is much longer than 18 months.
However, there is a small cohort of people who hop jobs at a significantly higher frequency, and that cohort tends to throw the curve.
What we discovered that was even more interesting, however, is WHY the fundraisers with longer tenure stick around for the length of time that they do (and what prompts them to leave).
It turns out that having a CEO or Executive Director who is fully invested in philanthropy is a major indicator of the likelihood of a fundraiser to remain in her or his job. In this respect, the organizational leader, whether he realizes it or not, can actually be the thing that makes or breaks a fundraiser’s tenure with an organization.
I’m grateful to my partners at DickersonBakker for sponsoring this important content.
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