How to turn your first job in fundraising into a career

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Most people have given money to charity and will have seen fundraising adverts and posters, as well as fundraisers at shopping centres, on the street, or going door to door. But not many will know what a job in fundraising is like, or the kind of career it can give you.

While being a fundraiser does centre around raising money for a good cause, careers in fundraising vary widely – from asking in person for a donation to planning strategic multi-channel campaigns, writing compelling funding applications or organising mass participation events.  

Fundraisers are also very much in demand, which means that there are always plenty of job opportunities available – working for all kinds of charitable causes, and at many different levels. In fact, because fundraising is so varied with so many skills you can learn and a multitude of roles available (many of them well paid), it provides lots of scope for personal and career development.  

So, if you’d like a career with great prospects that’s rewarding and full of achievement, here are some tips: 

Keep learning

With the fundraising career offering so much variety, when you’re starting out it’s a good idea to work on developing as broad a skillset as soon as possible. So, take every opportunity you can to learn. There are plenty of courses out there that can help you build up your knowledge and expertise, from the fundraising courses provided by the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and CharityJob, to skill-specific programmes run by a range of providers covering everything from storytelling, to digital skills, and data insight.   

The fundraising profession is also a very sharing one, and there are lots of people more than willing to take the time to help those just starting out in their careers. Once you’ve got your first job, look out for mentoring schemes that pair up experienced fundraisers with those wanting to improve their skills. There will also be plenty of colleagues within your organisation who can provide you with advice and support to help you progress. 

Another way to ensure you keep developing as a new fundraiser is to put yourself forward at work whenever the opportunity arises. You will gain a good idea of what you need to learn in order to progress simply by working with other teams, so ask to shadow colleagues or offer to help out when a different team to yours is short-staffed on a project. This will help you develop a better understanding of the range of fundraising roles available, as well as the skillsets they require, which will stand you in good stead when considering that next step. 

Stay up to date with fundraising trends

Keeping your eye on sector trends will help you understand which skills are in demand, and are likely to become so in the future. This will prove useful when you’re considering what jobs to go for or where to upskill next, particularly if you have a particular route in mind for your fundraising career. Use of digital fundraising, for example, accelerated during the pandemic and is still growing, and so too is legacy fundraising.  

Not only will staying up to date ensure you’re well-prepared when new opportunities arise but it will help you stand out to employers keen to take on forward-thinking and self-motivated individuals.  

Keeping up with what’s going on in the sector will also prove an advantage here, so when you’re applying for roles, make sure you read the latest on fundraising sector news so you’re familiar with the key issues and trends, and are prepared to address these at interview. 

Find a cause you care about

One of the wonderful things about the fundraising profession is that it’s full of people passionate about making a difference. For the best chances of career success, you need to be one of them, so it really helps to find a cause you genuinely care about. This will help you in two key ways: making you stand out as a candidate when applying for jobs, and motivating you to do the best job possible. 

Use your strengths

Once you’ve got your first job, you might find that there’s a particular aspect of your role that you enjoy more, or are better at, than others. Perhaps you find you have a talent for developing corporate partnerships, for example, or for talking to people about gifts in wills.  

Identifying these strengths and preferences can also help you hone a career path to follow. Then, once you have identified where you want to focus, you can work on the training and upskilling you need to enable you to specialise in this area and grow into the roles you have a preference for.  

Finetune your digital skills

Whatever your area of preference, digital is likely to play a key role in donor engagement, so when you’re working on building up your skills and expertise, make sure too that digital is part of this too.  

Social media, for example, is widely used for engaging both potential and existing supporters these days, so it's helpful to be confident and comfortable with this channel to grow in your fundraising career. It’s also a good idea to develop video and image editing skills and, in our increasingly hybrid world, to become familiar with creating and editing virtual giving platforms, and organising virtual events. The good news is, there are lots of online tutorials that can help you build up your expertise in all these areas, and many more. These tutorials can enable you to take control of your learning, and to upskill whenever’s convenient or necessary for you.  

Look for networking opportunities

Building up your contacts in the sector will also help you expand your horizons, so when you get your first role look out for networking opportunities and take every one you can. Attending fundraising conferences is a great way of both meeting people and growing your knowledge and understanding, and there are also lots of groups for fundraisers dotted around the country (as well as online) so search for one near you.  

Fundraising isn’t just a career with great prospects, it’s also one where you can meet likeminded people keen to share and work together to make the world we live in a better place. As a professional fundraiser, you can really make a difference and, with the help of the tips above, you’ll soon be on your way!  

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