Ways to Recruit Nontraditional Major Gift Officers

Finding Nonprofit Leaders May Provide a Model for Fundraising

Businessweek noted a trend by several corporations in nurturing nonprofit leaders to meet a critical need now and in the future for new talent. A study by the Meyer Foundation and CompassPoint Nonprofit Service found that 3/4 of nonprofit executive directors plan to leave their jobs by 2011.

As a consultant to many organizations, I can certainly feel this acute need for talent for major gift fundraisers right now. Every conference has organization's seeking new staff.

American Express, Bank of America, and IBM have launched programs. The Gap Foundation has one in the works. IBM is working with the Bridgespan Group to help develop their program. The goal, according to Amex CEO Kenneth L. Chenault is to: "leverage our existing tools to make a major impact in the nonprofit world."

Talk to your local corporations and foundations to see if they could help implement similar programs for major gift officers. While new leadership development programs for nonprofit executives are wonderful, one of the major stress points for them is fundraising. If we can build a more robust program to attract, train, and retain major gift officers the entire nonprofit sector can be helped.

TomWilsonMajorGiftsGuru@gmail.com

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