How to become a Fundraising Manager

The job of a fundraising manager is to generate revenue for an organization or an event through strategically developing, establishing and evaluating the on-going fundraising programs. A Fundraising Manager works in tandem with other well-equipped members of the team. The fundraising manager's job has many categories like fundraising for an event, some charity, a trust or some welfare issues, as fundraising is a common feature for all of these. The fundraising manager's post is directly under the Director of the Organization.

A fundraising manager has to handle a lot of responsibilities. Some of them are listed below:

• Framing the long term fiscal plans like fundraising plans over next two or four years and implementing them
• Maintaining concrete relationship with the existing donors and working to gain new donors
• Informing the donors about the activities that are performed in the organization and arranging seasonal meetings to improve the fundraising ventures
• Controlling team members, assigning them jobs and briefing them about all particularities
• Developing and maintaining the fundraising database by collecting all the reports of previous terms and current events
• Recruiting new team members and providing them innovative training about the fundraising endeavor
• Acting as a bridge between the management and the donors and maintaining a strong relationship between them
• Handling multiple fundraising projects simultaneously and taking necessary measures to improve the organization
• Leading and overseeing the fundraising efforts by the team members and guiding them at required situations
• Displaying strong inspiration to work for human rights and adherence to organization's vision and mission

The minimum qualification for a fundraising manager job is a bachelor's degree in fundraising, marketing, business management or relevant fields from a reputed university. Some certification in leadership programs is also preferable. A fundraising manager's job at an esteemed organization requires a minimum experience of 4-6 years at similar agencies, in charge of administration or fundraising. The aspirant should possess demonstrated experience in program implementation, volunteer management, developing and maintaining partnerships, community organization and grant writing.



Some skills you should have are:

• Excellent leadership and convincing qualities
• Knowledge of human resource management
• Ability to manage multiple priorities like community outreach programs, processing of accounts receivable and accounts payable
• Ability to work in tandem with team members
• Ability to set goals and achieve the objective
• Ability of acquiring sponsors through previous experiences and new endeavors
• Excellent presentation skills both on-stage and in face-to-face meetings
• Excellent communication skills with other staff, management officials and the fund donors
• Ability to work under pressure and for short term events
• Capability of taking risky decisions and come up with fruitful results
• Effective correspondence skills with the general public regarding the fundraising information
• Knowledge of surrounding communities
• Ease at speaking to people of different levels

The average expected salary for a typical fundraising manager's job is $78,400. Apart from the salary, organizations provide a lot of allowances for the family, children's education and vacation trips.

The successful Fundraising Manager displays essential qualities in relationship building. They ought to have an established track record of achievement in fundraising for non-profit organizations. They display a wide spectrum of knowledge and abilities to drive the organization in a better way and fulfill its humanitarian goals.