Strength in Numbers

By Marla Misek

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CASE's most recent survey of advancement salaries confirms many long-held beliefs about the profession in general and about development in particular.

As in 2002, when CASE last analyzed compensation patterns throughout the disciplines, development continues to dominate in terms of numbers and average salaries. Not only do managers and nonmanagers who work predominantly in development outnumber those who serve each of the other disciplines—nearly 36 percent of survey respondents report that they spend most or all of their time in development—they also tend to be rewarded more handsomely for their work.

On average, development officers earn about $63,000 a year—about 10 percent more than communications and marketing professionals (20 percent of the survey's respondent pool) and advancement services professionals (9 percent) and 19 percent more than the average alumni relations professional (12 percent). For development managers—defined as those who manage both budgets and staff—the average annual salary is nearly $75,000; for nonmanagers, the average salary is $53,600.

The remaining 23 percent of respondents work in combinations of two or more disciplines. Managers who work in development and one or more other disciplines earn average salaries ranging from $73,900 to $103,900; nonmanagers who work in development and one or more other disciplines earn average salaries ranging from $44,600 to $59,400.

Other lessons are buried in the numbers as well. Chief among them is that years of advancement experience, level of management responsibility, age, education, and sex are the factors most closely related to salary for development managers and nonmanagers.

Advancement experience counts

Development managers' average salaries increase steadily and significantly as they accumulate years of advancement experience. Development nonmanagers' salaries also increase with experience, but to a lesser degree. (Respondents also were asked how many years they've worked at their present institution and how many years they've worked in their current position, but these factors weren't statistically significant.)

Notably, development managers with more than 20 years' experience earn an average salary of $104,900—more than double the average salary of newcomers with less than three years' experience ($50,100). (See Figure 1.) Meanwhile, development nonmanagers with more than 20 years' experience earn an average salary of $77,700, compared with an average salary of $45,800 for those with less than three years of advancement experience. (See Figure 2.)

The biggest jumps in average salary occur between the six- to 10-year and 11- to 15-year mark for development managers (an increase of about $21,200) and between the 16- to 20-year and 20-year-plus mark for nonmanagers (up more than $9,400). Development nonmanagers tend to have less experience than managers: Seventy-eight percent of them have worked in advancement for 10 or fewer years, compared with 56 percent of managers.

Money and management mix

As previously noted, development managers earn higher salaries than development professionals with no management responsibilities—a trend that holds true throughout the disciplines. Development managers also earn more than managers of any other single discipline. What's surprising, at least from a development perspective, is that adding another discipline to a development manager's repertoire doesn't necessarily result in a higher salary.

For example, development managers who also manage alumni relations or advancement services earn about $73,900, on average—slightly less than those who only manage development ($75,000). On the other hand, although only a small proportion of development managers also manage communications and marketing, they earn $77,900, nearly $3,000 more than managers of development only.

While the effect on salary of managing two disciplines is mixed, those who oversee three or four disciplines consistently earn more, on average, than those who manage one or two. For more on these professionals, see "The More the Merrier."

Equally interesting is the nature of the management responsibilities development officers report having and the differences in salaries associated with such responsibilities. Among development survey respondents, 37 percent have some management responsibility but do not head a major department, 21 percent head a major department but do not report directly to the CEO, 8 percent head a major department and report directly to the CEO or board, and 1.5 percent head an institutionally related foundation or alumni association and report directly to its board. (The remaining 33 percent of respondents have no management responsibilities.)

Managers who head institutionally related foundations or alumni associations and report directly to their boards earn the highest average salaries among development managers ($114,600), whereas those who have some management responsibility but don't head a major department earn the lowest average salaries ($56,500). (See Figure 3.) Reporting directly to the CEO also makes a difference in development managers' salaries: Those who head a major department and report to the CEO or board earn $88,000—$8,400 more, on average, than those who head a major department but do not report to the CEO.

Age before beauty

It's been said that with age comes wisdom, but in most cases, age also brings bigger average salaries for managers and nonmanagers. A closer look at the data for development officers reveals several interesting patterns.

First and foremost, development managers ages 61 and older earn significantly more, on average, than their colleagues in their 40s and 50s. Development managers in this age range earn an average salary of $101,600—$16,700 more than the average salary of managers in the 41 to 45, 46 to 50, 51 to 55, and 56 to 60 age groups.

Development nonmanagers ages 61 and older also earn the most, but their average salary of $64,800 is just $5,500 more than the average salaries of nonmanagers in their 40s and 50s. Indeed, development managers and nonmanagers seem to experience very little salary growth between the ages of 41 and 60, with average salaries that fluctuate between $81,300 and $86,700 for managers and between $56,500 and $61,200 for nonmanagers.

The news is much better for younger development professionals: Average salaries increase steadily in every five-year segment until age 40. Development managers' salaries, for example, increase by an average of $12,100 in every five-year segment from ages 20 to 40, while nonmanagers gain an average of $7,700 every five years during the same time span.

The more you know

Advanced degrees and higher salaries are correlated in advancement, as is the case in most professions. High school graduates who work in development earn thousands less, on average, than college or university graduates, for example, and development professionals with master's and doctoral degrees earn higher average salaries than those with bachelor's degrees.

Survey data also reveal that a greater proportion of development managers possess advanced degrees, particularly doctorates, than their peers in other disciplines. Roughly 10 percent of development managers hold doctoral degrees, compared with about 6 percent of communications and marketing managers, 3 percent of alumni relations managers, and 4 percent of advancement services managers. The proportion of managers with master's degrees is fairly consistent across the disciplines, ranging from 35 percent for advancement services managers to nearly 41 percent for communications and marketing managers.

Among development managers, average salaries range from $67,800 for bachelor's degree holders to nearly $89,400 for those who hold a doctorate; average salaries for nonmanagers range from $51,000 for bachelor's degree holders to $65,100 for Ph.D.s.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to judge the effect a high school diploma or associate's degree has on a development professional's salary given the small number of respondents who indicated they possess that level of education.

Sex doesn't sell

As noted in "Sex Ed," men in advancement continue to earn more than women, on average, even after holding constant factors such as age, experience, education, and discipline. The disparity between the sexes varies by discipline, with development having the second largest gap among managers and the largest gap among nonmanagers.

For instance, there's a difference of more than $18,300 between male and female managers who work in development, with men earning an average salary of nearly $86,300 and women earning $68,000. Only alumni relations managers report a greater disparity; more than $18,700 separates the sexes in that discipline.

Although the gap between average salaries of male and female development nonmanagers is far less sizable, it nonetheless exceeds the gap between the sexes for nonmanagers in all other disciplines. Male nonmanagers working in development earn about $9,100 more than female nonmanagers; their salaries average about $60,000 and $50,800, respectively. The gap between male and female nonmanager salaries in the other disciplines ranges from nearly $1,600 (communications and marketing) to $6,800 (advancement services).

Task masters

Because three of the top five subdisciplines respondents selected are development-related, it's worth exploring briefly what development officers do to earn their paychecks.

Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents working in development spend their time in one of three areas: raising major or principal gifts (24 percent) or annual gifts (23 percent) or managing the development office (17 percent). Respondents also cite other development subdisciplines as their primary responsibilities, but in significantly smaller numbers: Nearly 7 percent, for example, identify corporate and foundation relations as their primary function, whereas 6 percent cite planned giving and 5 percent cite campaign management.

Not surprisingly, those development officers who spend most of their time on overall development management earn the most on average—more than $100,700 annually. (See Figure 4.) Campaign managers earn the second highest average salaries ($85,300), followed by major gifts ($76,100) and planned giving officers ($72,300) and corporate and foundation relations professionals ($64,600).

Among the remaining subdisciplines represented by significant numbers of survey participants, donor relations professionals earn about $54,700, on average, followed by administrative support staff in development (nearly $52,600), grant writers ($51,000), and annual giving officers (nearly $49,600). Prospect managers earn $49,500 and prospect researchers earn nearly $44,300.

Final thoughts

CASE's latest compensation survey studied the correlation between advancement salaries and 14 professional and demographic factors. Of them, five seem to have the greatest relationship to development managers' and nonmanagers' annual earnings: years of advancement experience, level of management responsibility, age, education, and sex. That's not to say that the other factors don't play a role, however.

It is noteworthy, for example, that survey respondents who work in development and say they hold the Certified Fund Raising Executive credential or some other certification earn higher salaries, on average, than those who do not. The differences vary by certification type and by level of management responsibility, but they break down as follows:

• Development managers with CFRE certification earn $85,900, on average, whereas those with certification other than the CFRE—including certified financial planners and certified public accountants—earn $80,200. Managers who lack certification earn $73,500, on average.
• Development nonmanagers with CFRE certification earn nearly $70,000, on average, compared with $56,700 for those with other certification. Nonmanagers who are not certified earn $52,400, on average.

Certification is by no means prevalent among development officers. In fact, 83 percent of development managers and nearly 87 percent of nonmanagers do not hold any form of professional certification. Among those managers who are certified, 6 percent hold the CFRE and roughly 11 percent hold some other type of certification; among nonmanagers, certification levels fall to roughly 5 percent and 9 percent, respectively. It's important to note that additional analysis might show that development officers holding certification also have other characteristics in common, such as more experience in advancement, that are correlated to higher salaries.

Although the data in this survey are not comprehensive, they do reflect important compensation patterns within the advancement profession, identifying for both managers and nonmanagers in every discipline the range of salaries they might expect for their work. They also suggest possible professional changes—for example, moving into management, obtaining an advanced degree, or even switching or adding a discipline—development officers might want to consider to increase their likelihood of earning a higher salary.

Advancement Profiles

By Julie Nicklin Rubley

Sarah West

Former Associate Vice Chancellor for University Development, University of California, San Diego

Years in advancement: 21

Salary: $176,000, with bonus of up to 15 percent of base salary

Previous job: Working with Quisic and QED Learning, both online learning start-up companies

Next career move: West left UCSD in June to move closer to an aging parent in the Southeast. She is in the final stages of a search for a new advancement job.

Ultimate career goal: "Should I remain in advancement, I ultimately would pursue a vice president or vice chancellor of external relations role in tandem, perhaps, with a consulting practice. I also have a deep interest in higher education administration and strategic planning [or] in starting and managing an entrepreneurial company within the education space."

Why she does what she does: "I grew up in an academic family—I spent the first eight years of my life as a faculty brat—so it can be said that I've spent my life in the family business. On a deep level, however, I believe that education has the power to transform lives, and that this country's education system provides an unprecedented opportunity for the development of a more enlightened society."

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Jackie Thomas-Suggs

Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia

Years in advancement: 22

Salary: $76,585

Previous job: Director of corporate and foundation relations and interim capital campaign director at Howard University

Next career move: Vice president of advancement

Ultimate career goal: Corporate foundation president

Why she does what she does: "I began my career in advancement and development directly out of college. From the very beginning to the present day, it is never boring, always challenging, and affords me an opportunity to meet interesting and successful people and to engage all levels of administration and management, from project development to finance negotiations and marketing. I truly love my job!"

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Julia R. Gandolfi

Campaign Director, Brother Martin High School, New Orleans

Years in advancement: 12

Salary: $35,000 to $40,000

Previous job: Career counselor at Delgado Community College, New Orleans

Next career move: Earning the Certified Fund-Raising Executive (CFRE) designation

Ultimate career goal: After the scheduled 2011 completion of a three-phase, $25 million capital campaign, Gandolfi says she "would like to focus on fund raising that will benefit the long-term financial stability of the school by working to increase our endowment."

Why she does what she does: "I want my work to help continue the mission of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart at Brother Martin High School and to keep Catholic secondary education affordable for all families."