Disciplines

The figures (figs. 7 through 10) on these two pages offer a closer look at the disciplines as they relate to each other. Figure 7 shows one of the most notable changes since the 2005 survey: Advancement services is now solidly in the number 2 spot, having seen its average salary grow by 12 percent, the highest increase among the disciplines. Average salary for development increased by 8 percent; for comunications and marketing, by 6 percent; and for alumni relations, by 5 percent.

The biggest changes for those who work in or manage two or more disciplines (figs. 8 and 10, respectively) involve new combinations of disciplines. New categories in figure 8 are "alumni relations and advancement servies," "communications and marketing and advancement services," and "alumni relations, communications and marketing, and advancement services."

Those categories also appear for the first time in figure 10, as well as these others: "alumni relations and communications and marketing," "communications and marketing and development," and "advancement services, communications and marketing, and development." In other words, of the 11 categories in figure 10 that group two or more disciplines, six were not listed in 2005.

Among the surprises: Managers who work in the combined disciplines of alumni relations and communications and marketing earn less than managers who work only in alumni relations; managers who combine alumni relations with advancement services earn slightly less than managers who work only in advancement services (fig. 10). And although average salaries for those in the four disciplines individually have increased (fig. 7), managers in the individual disciplines have seen their salaries drop slightly or remain about the same since 2005. Average salaries for managers in alumni relations and development dropped slightly less than 1 percent; for advancement services managers, average salaries dropped about 2 percent; and for communications and marketing managers, average salaries dropped about 4 percent. For managers of two or more disciplines whose groupings also appeared in the 2005 survey, average salaries rose from 3 to 7 percent.

Examining the disparities between disciplines (fig. 9), we see that the difference between development and alumni relations in annual giving and special events has remained about the same since 2005. Advancement services has gained on development under donor relations/donor stewardship (average salary difference in 2005 was $2,900; now, it's $251), but development has almost caught up with advancement services under prospect research (2005 difference: $5,200; 2008 difference: $1,881). Development has also made great strides against communications and marketing under the communications category. Average salaries for development professionals working in development communications grew 18 percent since 2005; for communications and marketing professionals working in development/campaign communications, average salaries grew 2 percent.