Nonprofit

Recruiting Tip: Your Next Nonprofit Fundraising Team Search

The way we used to find new talent may not be the best way.

Dan Hanley
2 min readMar 28, 2024

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I recently completed another search for a nonprofit looking for their next CEO. It was a wonderful experience and this search, along with two for fundraising leads at other nonprofits, reminded me that we in the nonprofit world are consistently challenged with finding new talent.

If you’re at a nonprofit and feeling this, you’re not alone.

Depending on the data you’re reading, up to half of those in nonprofit fundraising want to leave their job within the next year.

If you are looking to add to your nonprofit fundraising team, here are some suggestions based on the searches I have done for clients in the past six months. I hope they are helpful.

First, unless you have done this recently, re-write your job description. In too many cases the same job description from ten years ago is still being used. Bring it into the 21st century. Make sure everything you want in this position is clear in the job description. And of course, include the salary.

Keep all of your urgencies, concerns, and challenges in mind when writing about what you want this person to be accountable for. Clarity…

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Dan Hanley

I write about nonprofits, fundraising, recruiting, self-care. Human rights, domestic violence, borders, and refugee focused. Sober. Vegan. https://altrui.org/