Bridging the Gap: A Smarter Approach to Fundraising Staff Transitions

It’s your first day back to the office after a long weekend, feeling refreshed and reenergized, you start going through your inbox. Suddenly, you see an email title that captures your attention, “Resignation”, it’s from your Development Officer. YIKES!

You open the email, and start to read, “Please accept this letter as my formal resignation from my position as…”. Panic sets in. How did we get here? (Let’s save that topic for another day) It’s too late. Your Development Officer has already made her decision, and you know it. She is not the type of person to threaten to leave and not follow through. Luckily, you have been given the gift of a two-month notice. A very rare gift indeed. In most cases, a typical two weeks’ notice is expected. Let’s take some time to carefully think this through.

The average tenure of a professional fundraiser is 18-24 months. Burnout is a thing. However, there are many reasons why fundraising professionals decide to walk away and it’s not just because of the immense amount of stress and pressure to raise millions of dollars, year after year.

Now here we are, the past two months have flown by. Did you make the best use of your former Development Director’s time? Did they leave you positioned for success? The chances of you saying “Yes” to both of those questions is highly unlikely. Actually, if you can say “Yes” to even one of those questions, that would be a rare win for sure. Hopefully, you posted the position several weeks ago and already have a few strong candidates. That would be your best-case scenario.

Back to reality, it might take several months, if not, (hopefully not) almost a year, to find the perfect candidate to fill that position. What happens in the meantime? One of the most important responsibilities that any development staff focus on is building relationships, not just with donors, but also with community partners, other nonprofits, board members, colleagues, etc. Pretty much anyone and everyone. From the very moment a fundraiser hits the ground, they are quietly and steadily planting seeds. EVERYWHERE. It is every fundraiser’s hope that these “seeds” will eventually grow. Sometimes that growth may happen weeks, months, and even years later. Persistence and patience are always in their toolbox. But what else do seeds need to grow? Consistency. Constant watering, attention, and nurturing.

Before your Development Officer left, the office was running like a well-oiled machine.

Ask is made.

Donor makes a gift.

Donor is thanked within 24-48 hours.

All pertinent information is recorded and captured in donor’s record in the CRM.

Donor receives acknowledgement letter.

Strategic stewardship and cultivation continue and the process repeats.

If any of these steps are missing or forgotten along the way, you’ve just thrown a wrench in the machine, and we all know what happens next. Everything stops. The lasting effects of not having a professional fundraiser on staff, for even just a few months, could lead to major setbacks and potentially take years to rebuild. The intentional system, the strategic flow, does not happen by chance, it is thoughtfully developed and lovingly maintained.

If you have just found yourself and your organization in a situation similar to this scenario, don’t panic, Purposeful Outcomes Philanthropy, LLC can help!

We offer interim and fractional lead fundraiser support services during staff transitions. Please contact us to find out more today!