Tips on Recruiting a Development Officer

Caroliso

Have any of you had experience recruiting a development officer for a nonprofit organization? Would you use a recruiter or go it alone? Any thoughts, tips, suggestions of where to go to read up on this?

Thanks.

Sally

We've gone through this several times over the past 20 years that I've been with the non-profit where I work. Each time we have "gone it alone." (We've used a recruiter for the executive director position and had mixed results with that.) When we've looked for a development officer we have advertised locally, since our city is large enough there are a fair number of non-profits that may have someone interested in making a change. Also, because I work for an orchestra, there is an umbrella organization for orchestras throughout the country, and we have posted the position through that organization. It seems we always have the debate among the board members closest to the fundraising responsibilities: do we hire someone who is local and knows the key players/big money in the community and its culture and idiosyncrasies, or do we hire someone from outside the area who can bring a different perspective but will needs doors opened for him/her. There really is no right answer to that question.
Let me know if you need more input.

Gillian

We have used a recruiter. We hired a new VP of University Advancement a couple of years ago and he has had a long term relationship with a recruiting firm. The firm specializes in this area of work but we are in a large metro area which probably can support such specialization. It has cost a bit of money but has been successfull.