Development team

A Development Director Needs More Than “a Smile and a Shoeshine,” But It’s a Good Start

by Tony Poderis · 9 Comments
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This is the era of high-tech delivery of information in an instant. The Internet is accessible from any telephone line, and lap-top computers let us take the facts and figures—all the facts and figures—to wherever they’re needed. Development professionals must master this technology which lets us massage estate planning scenarios, target solicitation mailings, and develop [...]

Development Director Job Interview Questionnaire

by Tony Poderis · 4 Comments
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Introduction The interview form presented below is designed to elicit as much pertinent information as possible and as desired or required in the most advanced of interviews. However, for the vast majority of non-profit organizations, it is meant to be a guide to the conducting of a wide range of interview situations when seeking to [...]

When Should a Non-Profit Organization Hire its First Development Director?

by Tony Poderis · Leave a Comment
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The short answer is sooner rather than later! If a non-profit organization is beginning to ask whether it needs a professional development director, it probably should have hired one months, even years ago. The biggest mistake non-profits make in hiring their first development director is waiting until the board, executive director, and other key personnel [...]

What’s a Good Director of Development Worth?

by Tony Poderis · 19 Comments
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Non-profits with resources sufficient to engage professionals in key staff positions seem to find it relatively easy to determine salaries for heads of marketing, finance, and human resources, among others. Development directors however are another story. Why is that? I believe there are several reasons. But perhaps most important is the fact that what is [...]

When the Development Officer Is Obliged to Raise Her or His Own Salary

by Tony Poderis · 2 Comments
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Paying For Your Own Keep Too often, especially in smaller non-profit organizations, staff development officers are forced into a deplorable position that belittles them and damages the organization. They are charged with personally raising their own salaries. These salaries sit outside the normal budgeting process. They are not treated as a regular operating expense. Instead, [...]

Who Should Raise the Money from within Your Organization?

by Tony Poderis · Leave a Comment
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The board of trustees must be the lifeblood of a non-profit organization’s fund-raising and development activities. They are the leaders who approve program initiatives developed from the organization’s long-range strategic plan. They authorize the expenditure of funds to carry out those initiatives. Those board-authorized expenses determine the organization’s operating budget. When that operating budget is [...]

The Executive Director and Development Director It Can Be a Relationship Made in Heaven or Hell

by Tony Poderis · Leave a Comment
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In a nonprofit organization, no single internal relationship is more important than that between the executive director and development director. One carries the responsibility of leading the organization to the efficient execution of its mission, and the other shoulders the burden of finding the money that makes it all possible. In many ways, these two [...]

The Argument Against Paying Development Professionals Based on Amount of Funds Raised

by Tony Poderis · 5 Comments
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Few topics generate more heated discussion in non-profit organizations than whether development professionals (staff or consultants) should be paid a percentage of the money raised, receive commission-based compensation, or be paid a performance bonus. Perhaps because it is a practice of giving financial rewards to development professionals contingent upon the achievement of fixed money goals, [...]

Asking for the Money Is the Job of the Leadership and Friends of a Non-Profit Organization

by Tony Poderis · 4 Comments
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Never Hire Someone To Do What Is Their Responsibility Fund-Raising Consultants Can Be A Godsend. They Can Also Be An Ethical, Financial And Donor Relations Disaster For organizations with an inexperienced, small, or nonexistent development staff, consultants can do everything from mentoring a budding development director to designing a campaign. Larger, more experienced organizations, even [...]

Wearing Those Development and Marketing “Hats” at the Same Time: A Bad Fit and a Headache

by Joyce Braun Poderis · 2 Comments
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Wearing Those Development and Marketing “Hats” at the Same Time: A Bad Fit and a Headache Introduction For decades, I have heard about, observed, and have had personal relationships with scores of individuals who attempted to wear the Development and Marketing/Communications/PR “hats” at the same time and who for many years—mostly in vain—struggled to perform [...]

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