Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Fundraiser

🎯 Role Definition

As a Fundraiser, you will design and execute fundraising strategies that secure financial support to advance the organization's mission. This role focuses on donor cultivation and stewardship across individual, major, corporate, foundation, and planned giving channels; manages prospect research and donor pipelines using CRM systems; coordinates fundraising events and campaigns; and delivers measurable revenue and engagement outcomes. The ideal candidate combines relationship-building, strategic planning, and strong execution skills to grow sustainable philanthropic support.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Development Assistant / Development Coordinator
Events Coordinator or Community Outreach Coordinator
Volunteer Coordinator or Donor Services Associate

Advancement To:

Senior Fundraiser / Major Gifts Officer
Development Manager / Corporate Partnerships Manager
Director of Development / Head of Philanthropy

Lateral Moves:

Grant Writer / Grants Manager
Donor Communications Manager
Community Engagement / Marketing for Nonprofits

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop, implement and manage a comprehensive fundraising plan that includes annual fund appeals, major gifts, corporate sponsorships, foundation grants, planned giving, and special campaigns to meet or exceed revenue targets and key performance indicators.
Identify, research and qualify new prospects across individual, corporate and foundation pipelines by using prospect research tools, wealth screening, and data analytics to prioritize high-potential donors and maximize return on cultivation effort.
Build and maintain long-term relationships with donors, prospects and sponsors through regular personalized outreach, thoughtful stewardship, high-touch meetings, cultivation events, tailored proposals and timely follow-up to increase donor retention and upgrade rates.
Solicit major gifts and cultivate principal-level donors through strategic, face-to-face visits, tailored proposals, solicitation strategies and customized giving opportunities that align donor interests with organizational priorities.
Prepare compelling, donor-centric proposals, sponsorship packages and gift agreements that clearly articulate program impact, funding needs, deliverables and recognition opportunities; ensure proposals are data-driven and outcome-focused.
Manage grant-seeking activities including identifying foundation opportunities, writing persuasive grant applications, coordinating supporting materials, and ensuring timely submission and compliance with grant terms and reporting requirements.
Lead the planning and execution of fundraising events — including galas, benefit concerts, peer-to-peer campaigns and stewardship events — coordinating logistics, sponsorship sales, volunteer teams, budgets, vendor relationships and post-event donor follow-up to optimize net revenue and engagement.
Manage and maintain donor records and the fundraising pipeline in the CRM (e.g., Raiser’s Edge, Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud), ensuring data integrity, accurate gift processing, acknowledgment records, segmentation and actionable reports for leadership.
Create and deliver clear, persuasive donor communications across channels — email, direct mail, social media, proposals and in-person presentations — that tell the organization’s impact story and move donors through the cultivation-to-renewal lifecycle.
Collaborate closely with senior leadership, program staff and the board of directors to align fundraising priorities with programmatic goals, prepare briefing materials, coordinate donor visits and leverage board relationships for introductions and solicitations.
Design and implement stewardship plans that include timely acknowledgments, donor recognition programs, impact reports, site visits, and personalized engagement strategies to deepen donor loyalty and demonstrate outcomes.
Monitor and analyze fundraising performance using dashboards and KPIs (donor acquisition cost, donor lifetime value, retention, average gift size, conversion rates), recommend data-driven improvements and present results to leadership and trustees.
Oversee gift administration and processing workflows to ensure gifts are acknowledged accurately and in compliance with legal, tax and organizational policies; collaborate with finance for receipting, pledge tracking and restricted fund management.
Develop targeted annual giving and renewal campaigns with segmented appeals, A/B testing of messaging, multi-channel outreach, and performance monitoring to increase participation and average gift size.
Cultivate and secure corporate partnerships and sponsorships by building customized proposals, negotiating benefits packages, coordinating employee engagement opportunities and ensuring sponsor fulfillment and recognition.
Plan and grow major or capital campaigns by conducting feasibility studies, coordinating campaign leadership, preparing case statements, creating multi-year solicitation plans, and tracking campaign milestones and pledge fulfillment.
Implement and grow digital fundraising programs (crowdfunding, peer-to-peer, email fundraising, social donations, text-to-give) with best practices for acquisition, conversion optimization and donor nurturing across digital channels.
Lead or coordinate prospect research and wealth screening initiatives to uncover major gift potential, philanthropic interests and giving capacity; translate findings into meaningful cultivation strategies.
Train and support volunteers, board members and staff to participate effectively in fundraising activities, including one-on-one donor asks, solicitation training, event hosting and relationship-building.
Ensure fundraising activities comply with professional ethics, industry standards and legal requirements (charitable solicitation regulations, data privacy laws), and maintain transparent donor gift reporting and stewardship.
Prepare and present compelling fundraising briefings, proposals and performance summaries for board meetings, campaign committees and executive leadership to secure buy-in and alignment.
Negotiate and manage contracts with vendors, event venues, printers and consultants to deliver high-quality donor experiences within approved budgets and timelines.
Lead donor segmentation initiatives and lifecycle marketing efforts to personalize engagement strategies at scale and improve donor retention, upgrade rates and overall fundraising ROI.
Implement planned giving and legacy programs by building marketing campaigns, developing informational materials, cultivating prospective legacy donors and coordinating with legal/financial advisors.

Secondary Functions

Support cross-functional initiatives with marketing and communications to align fundraising messaging, campaign branding and storytelling across channels.
Produce accurate monthly and quarterly fundraising reports and forecasts to support budgeting and strategic decision-making by senior leadership and finance.
Assist with the development and maintenance of donor impact reports, annual reports and stewardship materials that highlight measurable program outcomes and donor contributions.
Maintain up-to-date knowledge of fundraising trends, philanthropic landscape changes and peer nonprofit activity to inform strategy, diversify revenue streams and identify new opportunities.
Provide administrative support for donor meetings, including logistics, briefing materials, thank-you correspondence and follow-up action items.
Participate in community outreach, public relations activities and partnership meetings to raise organizational visibility and identify new donor prospects.
Facilitate internal training and knowledge sharing on CRM best practices, donor policies and successful cultivation techniques to improve team capacity and consistency.
Coordinate volunteer-led fundraising activities and peer-to-peer campaigns, offering guidance on goal-setting, recruitment, and supporter recognition.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Donor relationship management using CRM platforms (Raiser’s Edge, Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud, Bloomerang) with proven ability to maintain pipeline hygiene and run segmented appeals.
Major gifts solicitation and stewardship techniques, including face-to-face asks, proposal development and cultivation plans.
Grant writing and grant management: prospect identification, proposal drafting, budget creation and post-award compliance/reporting.
Fundraising campaign planning and execution (annual fund, capital campaigns, peer-to-peer and digital fundraising).
Event fundraising and sponsorship sales with demonstrated experience producing revenue-positive donor events and corporate sponsorship packages.
Prospect research and wealth screening tools (e.g., WealthEngine, DonorSearch, iWave) and ability to translate research into solicitation strategies.
Data analysis and KPI reporting for fundraising (donor retention, LTV, average gift size, conversion rates) using Excel, Google Sheets or BI tools.
Gift processing, pledge tracking and donor receipting best practices and coordination with finance systems.
Digital fundraising tools and platforms (email marketing, crowdfunding portals, social fundraising, text-to-give) and experience optimizing online giving funnels.
Budget management and forecasting for fundraising programs, events and campaigns.
Knowledge of nonprofit compliance, charitable solicitation regulations and donor privacy/data protection standards.
Familiarity with planned giving vehicles (bequests, charitable trusts) and the ability to communicate legacy giving options.

Soft Skills

Relationship-building and interpersonal skills to cultivate, solicit and steward diverse donor constituencies with tact and authenticity.
Excellent written and verbal communication, able to craft persuasive proposals, impact narratives and donor-facing materials.
Strategic thinking and planning with the ability to translate organizational goals into actionable fundraising tactics and multi-year plans.
High emotional intelligence and empathy when engaging donors and handling sensitive conversations.
Project management and organizational skills to manage multiple campaigns, events and donor relationships simultaneously.
Negotiation and persuasion skills to secure gifts, sponsorships and partnerships.
Attention to detail and accuracy in gift recording, reporting and legal compliance.
Resilience, persistence and a results-oriented mindset to achieve revenue goals in a competitive fundraising environment.
Collaboration and team-oriented approach to work closely with program staff, communications, finance and the board.
Storytelling and messaging skills to connect donor interest to program impact and mission-driven outcomes.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Communications, Nonprofit Management, Business, Public Relations, Marketing, Philanthropy, Social Sciences, or related field — or equivalent professional experience in fundraising.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor's degree with coursework or certificate in nonprofit management, fundraising, or fundraising/major gifts training.
Professional certifications such as CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive) or completion of fundraising courses (CASE, AFP workshops) are highly desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Nonprofit Management / Philanthropy
Communications / Public Relations
Business Administration / Marketing
Social Sciences / Public Policy

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–7 years of progressive fundraising experience depending on role level (entry-level fundraiser to mid-level development officer).

Preferred:

3+ years managing donor portfolios and executing solicitation strategies.
Demonstrated success in major gift cultivation or leading multi-channel fundraising campaigns.
Proven experience with a fundraising CRM (Raiser’s Edge, Salesforce) and digital fundraising platforms.
Prior experience working with volunteer boards, campaign committees or managing fundraising events/sponsorships.