# Where have all the good fundraisers gone?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/10/16/where-have-all-good-fundraisers-gone/
- Published: 2012-10-16T17:32:18+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Last week, I came across a very interesting discussion on the [Guardian’s Voluntary Sector Network, Fundraising Hub.](http://www.guardian.co.uk/voluntary-sector-network/2012/oct/10/attract-more-talent-fundraising)
The question posed to the panel was ‘How can we attract more talent into fundraising?’
The discussion was centred around recruiting mid/senior level fundraisers and the
panel were questioning where have all the good people gone?

 

The main reasons the panel cited as to why organisations struggle to recruit or 
retain good mid/senior fundraisers were as you might expect – lack of competitive
salary, lack of development, lack of training. The good news is, from my own experience
of recruiting fundraisers over the last year, there are plenty of great charities
bucking that trend.

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The current economic climate we are working in means that if a charity is going 
to entice an experienced fundraiser away from their current role, they are going
to have to make the move very attractive. I work mainly with regional charities 
and you might think it is even harder to attract quality fundraising candidates 
outside the Capital. Thankfully this is not so and I believe successful recruitment
campaigns all share some common ground – they start with a very clear job description
and have well defined expectations. They also acknowledge that candidates want career
progression and training. Salary can play a part and those charities that offer 
a fair/reasonable salary may well attract a better quality of candidate, especially
when candidates can search job boards and see other organisations are offering sometimes
significantly more for a similar job description. A good salary tells a candidate
that their skills and expertise are important and have a value within your organisation.

 

The panel also mentioned that they’ve been seeing candidate longlists that weren’t
very long at all. The knock on from this means you have less to work with when it
comes to interview shortlisting. If your job description is well defined, then it
might be you get fewer applicants as you are asking for someone quite specific, 
in which case is this a negative? I work on the basis that I would rather put two
shining stars forward rather than six ‘could be ok’ candidates. It only takes one
person to be the right person, and if that candidate has all the relevant experience
including that wow factor then I’d see it as a plus that you didn’t have to interview
twenty average candidates to find them.

 

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