Recently, my good friend Betsy Rigby — a longtime philanthropy leader with deep experience in fundraising talent development — recommended a book to me. Making the Case for Leadership: Profiles of Chief Advancement Officers in Higher Education has become my bedside table reading. In it, Jon Derek Croteau and Zachary A. Smith clearly and persuasively depict a crisis of leadership in higher education advancement. They outline several worrying trends:
To me, this rings equally true for healthcare development executives. In my conversations with chief development officers (CDOs), development staff, consultants, and headhunters in the field, I often hear concern about a pending wave of retirements and the pervasive challenge of finding skilled major gifts officers — let alone experienced and inspiring CDOs. Crouteau and Smith provide an analysis of how this transpired in higher education.
Again, the parallels for hospital development are clear. Because higher education's hiring boom came years prior to healthcare's, we can learn from the experience of this similarly complex field. And, there are no signs of this trend reversing. In 2022, the Chronicle of Philanthropy surveyed 685 fundraisers across multiple industries. They uncovered widespread concerns about high pressure to succeed (94%), vacancies causing unsustainable workloads (92%), feelings of underappreciation (82%) and the sense that it takes longer to fill fundraising jobs than it did two years ago (81%).
Dissatisfaction and burnout among fundraisers isn't new; seemingly every year, another survey finds that a significant percent of development talent intend to quit their current jobs within the next 1-2 years — or leave the field altogether. Yet, even if this threatened exodus never fully materializes, the presence of so many disengaged team members can have a hugely dampening effect on organizational morale.
Clearly, there could not be a more critical time for inspiring leadership. It's also vital to understand what makes a best-in-class development leader. If we better understand the hallmarks of great leadership in our field, as Crouteau and Smith argue, then we can more easily identify individuals who might be terrific current or future leaders.
Crouteau and Smith interview 10 highly respected chief advancement officers about their professional background and career path; the competencies they believe to be important for success in the position; and leadership development and training programs, as well as thoughts on how to prepare the next generation of leaders.
While each chief advancement officer's story is unique, the researchers draw out 14 key competencies that they believe are universally required to be an effective chief fundraiser in higher education. Presented in no particular order, these competencies are:
As the authors recognize, many of these competencies relate to social skills. However, great development executives must also possess intellectual curiosity and strong critical thinking skills. In our current research, my colleagues and I are exploring this model as it applies to chief development officers in healthcare, both current and aspiring.
It's time to pressure-test this framework for healthcare philanthropy. I'm linking to a very short, six-question survey on leadership competencies for CDOs. Two questions ask you to rate or rank these fourteen leadership competencies. Then, we ask four multiple-choice questions about your fundraising background, to better understand your perspective when answering. The survey should take no more than 5-7 minutes to complete, and we'll be delighted to share the results.
Kindly complete this short survey by Friday, March 17th.
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