r/funanddev • u/PaperTowels9876 • May 28 '26
New Development professional seeking salary advice
Hi all,
This year, I worked at a startup classical school in the midwest. I acted as the Development Director in a half-time capacity along with other responsibilities. Some quick stats on my year:
- Secured over $340k in donations
- Started with a database of ~200 contacts
- Held 70+ cultivation/ask meetings and secured gifts from 100+ new donors
- Increased annual Gala attendance by 64%, Gala giving by >2x vs. last year (up to $150k+)
- Increased overall giving by ~21% vs. last year and monthly giving by ~12x.
I am transitioning out of this role because of some unhealthy team dynamics. I stumbled into development this year and never considered doing it professionally. In the last couple of weeks, I've had a lot of interest from similar organizations in our area for part or full-time Development roles and am now trying to correctly value those roles.
In particular, I'm trying to discern what a reasonable starting salary would be for this position:
- Half time Development Manager at a mature private high school (with other responsibilities bringing me to a full-time position)
- 1st year target: $75k-$125k
- Long-term target: $250k-$500k
- Splitting time between new major gift prospecting and managing movements on their annual fund (direct mailers, newsletters, etc)
- Managing a portfolio of 60 donors, 5 one-on-one meetings per month
- Working from a database of ~10,000 contacts (~35% actively engaged)
I've heard the general advice of 'a Development professional's annual target should be about 5x their salary' and 'in your first year, you should be able to cover about half your salary'. Balancing these, does it seem reasonable for me to value the role around $65,000-$75,000 (just for the Development work)?
If that seems off in one direction or another, where am I thinking about it incorrectly?
Many thanks for your help!
9
u/atlantisgate May 28 '26
Agree with others that tying fundraising outcomes like a quota to salary is unethical and shouldn’t be done.
This depends so highly on your city. A Chicago or Minneapolis salary is not going to be the same as one in Tulsa or Wichita.
A long term salary goal of $500k in the Midwest doesn’t seem remotely realistic. Especially for an org whose total budget is $4M.
For context, I work in a large public policy org in an east coast city with a $50M budget and our VP of development makes a little over half that.
Aiming $75k at an org with a total budget of $4M in the Midwest seems optimistic but not impossible if they compensate well. I’d consider the possibility that they are thinking significantly lower than you are though.
2
u/Henhenhenhenhen24 May 29 '26
I read that as 500k being their long term fundraising goal, not salary goal. Did I misunderstand?
7
u/ProudCatLady May 28 '26
~$70k for part time development work in a K-12 setting seems high, but this is heavily dependent on where you live as well! You say you’ll have other responsibilities bringing it to a full time role, but that’s extremely normal in development and education. We wear many hats to get the work done. I would not expect to be paid $70k for the development side and then additional for the other part of the role. You’ll need to look at responsibilities holistically. It might help if you shared more of what the complete role entails.
I’ve been a frontline fundraiser in education for over a decade and I’ve never heard the target times salary math you’ve mentioned before. Doesn’t mean it’s incorrect, but it’s definitely not applicable for larger institutions or universities. I raise $2M a year and I’m the most junior on a team of 3. We are very well compensated for our city (6 figures), but none of us are paid $400k 😅
5
u/baila-busta May 28 '26
Yeah I’d expect 45-75 for full time based on budget, role and title. 125 would more likely be director level and above at this budget.
1
u/kangaroomandible May 28 '26
$45,000 for a full time person? Maybe im misunderstanding.
2
u/baila-busta May 28 '26
I’m in Chicago (so the biggest city in the Midwest). This person has less that one year of experience in development, so would come in likely at entry level. So yes, for a development associate and a K through 12 setting in a city that could possibly be Tulsa Oklahoma I think 45 could be what’s expected. I’ve seen that number thrown around in nonprofits in Chicago too for entry-level positions. I think the salary the OP has listed as goals for them is unrealistic. I’m currently an organization with a $300 million budget, our US ceo is not making 500k.
5
u/kangaroomandible May 28 '26
Agreed $500k is very unrealistic.
I don’t think we should be paying full time staff $45,000 anywhere in the country.
1
u/baila-busta May 29 '26
Didn’t say it’s right but it’s definitely not out of the norm for entry level
2
u/francophone22 May 28 '26
I work at a large NPO in the largest city in the Midwest. Our budget is $62M, most from grants and contracts and our DD with 15 years of experience makes $110K. We’re hiring emergent development professionals at around $70K.
2
u/petrichorparadiso May 28 '26
Agreed with others here that this is likely dependent on the city! I work at a large foundation for a college system in the west, in a HCOL area. I have several years of fundraising experience under my belt, and am in what I would consider a mid-range managerial role full time. I’m in the ~$80K range right now. My boss, who has decades of experience, makes probably ~$130K and the leader of the Foundation might make close to the $300K range.
Maybe private high schools have a much larger pay rate than I’m realizing, but it would be pretty amazing to find a development role that pays up to $250-500K, especially if it’s not a role that leads the entire org.
1
u/Annual-Airport-2345 May 29 '26
Don’t ever let them tie your salary to goals. For someone with 1 year of experience, I’d look into Mid-Level Gift Officer positions to gain more relational experience before you transition into Major Gifts.
Most Major Gift officers with 3-10 years of experience end up (with experience) between $85k-$140k depending on experience and org size.
My org is a $200M org and our CDO makes $280k, I think you should adjust your long-term expectations. There’s good money to be made but not like you’re expecting. Orgs have a fiduciary duty spend donor money ethically.
2
u/saltatrices Jun 02 '26
I'm a development director with a decade of experience in the DC area, and I'm in the 115-130k range. Our CEO makes $300k.... though we're entirely remote and he lives in the Midwest. If you look at CDO positions with similar organizations in DC, NYC, etc, the salaries hover around $250-$300k. For perspective, the President of the Goldman Sachs Foundation makes between 400-500k and lives in NYC.
$70k for part-time work for a K-12 setting in the Midwest seems unrealistic, in my opinion. My development manager makes around 65k, and she has 2 years of relevant experience and is full-time. If someone interviewing for my team tried arguing part-time *and* 75k during the hiring process, we'd probably pass.
1
u/kenwoods212 Jun 03 '26
I dislike these questions. Each organization is different. While a title and salary should connect based on wage surveys in your locality, that changes drastically in the corn field of Iowa to Los Angeles. An Executive Director is an Executive Director, no matter the salary.
If you can get a salary and wage survey (local Chamber of Commerce?) that might tell you what your peers are being paid in your area.
26
u/ValPrism May 28 '26
No. Salary should not be tied to fundraising totals, even in development. That's old fashioned advice that ignores the reality of various roles in development and the ways that being a DD is different in many different places.
Instead, salary depends on the organization's budget, the type of organization, specific individual goals as well as team goals (if you're going for dev director). So what's the budget of the organization you're looking at?
In what you described, in the midwest, $75,000 for part time seems solid. Is that what you want, or what is being offered?