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What does a development officer do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
What does a development officer do

Development Officers are responsible for managing the learning and development of an organization's workforce. Their duties include identifying development needs through job analysis and cross-team consultation, implementing training programs, producing training materials, and monitoring trainees' progress through questionnaires and appraisal schemes. They are also involved in conducting cost-budgeting for programs and organizing support sessions with trainers and managers to address issues. A Development Officer attends meetings, reads journals, and researches new workplace learning methodologies to access the most current solutions.

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Development officer responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real development officer resumes:

  • Manage databases (CRM), as well as executed the opening of bank accounts abroad, for the company.
  • Promote and manage the scholarship program for psychology department students.
  • Manage all aspects of donor prospecting, cultivation, stewardship, and budget/vendor/consultant management for special events and individual giving.
  • Perform data entry and vetting of data, build queries and reports via CRM database.
  • Research ways to use social networking tools such as Facebook to raise visibility and funds.
  • Edit various publications for benefactors, staff and patients as well as wrote for those publications.
  • Utilize social networking tools (e.g., facebook, twitter, blogging) for public relations purposes.
  • Collaborate to conduct focuse group discussion among HIV/AIDS infect patients.
  • Collaborate with programming, identifying strong alumni, initiate and execute a mentor program and other projects interfacing both offices.
  • Develop programs and speaking events of common interest to students, faculty and alumni providing both educational and networking opportunities.
  • Resolve financial issues relate to charitable contributions, provide program budgets, process payroll, and oversight management of operating accounts.
  • Assist in planning and executing special events, including maintaining mailing lists, RSVP lists and other event details.
  • Prepare all RFP's and RFI's and submit to vendors.
  • Create template foundation, and implement a company-wide process for RFP responses.
  • Develop and implement company-wide QA and delivery procedures.

Development officer skills and personality traits

We calculated that 18% of Development Officers are proficient in Stewardship, Alumni, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Instructional skills, and Analytical skills.

We break down the percentage of Development Officers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Stewardship, 18%

    Managed all aspects of donor prospecting, cultivation, stewardship, and budget/vendor/consultant management for special events and individual giving.

  • Alumni, 10%

    Collaborated with programming, identifying strong alumni, initiated and executed a mentor program and other projects interfacing both offices.

  • Customer Service, 8%

    Provided excellent customer service while collaborating one-on-one with more than 20 community volunteers, regional presidents, board and cabinet members.

  • Patients, 8%

    Collaborated to conduct focused group discussion among HIV/AIDS infected patients.

  • Business Development, 4%

    Fostered business development in economically depressed areas in Illinois by collaborating with financial institutions, community organizations, and small businesses.

  • Donor Relations, 4%

    Encouraged and facilitated cooperation and collaboration between the Foundation and Financial Aid office to manage Foundation scholarship activity and donor relations.

"stewardship," "alumni," and "customer service" are among the most common skills that development officers use at work. You can find even more development officer responsibilities below, including:

Creativity. One of the key soft skills for a development officer to have is creativity. You can see how this relates to what development officers do because "specialists should be resourceful when developing training materials." Additionally, a development officer resume shows how development officers use creativity: "compiled new bedford artist directory used to market business development services to creative enterprises and artists. "

Instructional skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling development officer duties is instructional skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "training and development specialists deliver employee training programs." According to a development officer resume, here's how development officers can utilize instructional skills in their job responsibilities: "direct reports included; project managers, instructional designers, authors, graphic designers, q.c. "

Analytical skills. This is an important skill for development officers to perform their duties. For an example of how development officer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "training and development specialists must evaluate training programs, methods, and materials and choose those that best fit each situation." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a development officer: "developed budgets, analyzed data and prepared financial reports. ".

Communication skills. For certain development officer responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "communication skills." The day-to-day duties of a development officer rely on this skill, as "training and development specialists must convey information clearly and facilitate learning to diverse audiences." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what development officers do: "developed communications and collateral materials for presentations, special events, website, newsletters and sponsored fundraising activities. "

All development officer skills

The three companies that hire the most development officers are:

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Compare different development officers

Development officer vs. Programming specialist

A programming specialist is responsible for the overall planning and supervising of programs, mostly in a non-profit organization. It is a programming specialist's job to allocate and manage the budget, hire staff, train volunteers, and ensure that goals are met. It is also their duty to devise strategies and come up with materials that would raise awareness for the program and its cause. Furthermore, a programming specialist is in charge of reaching out to people who will be a valuable asset for the program, such as speakers and educators.

We looked at the average development officer salary and compared it with the wages of a programming specialist. Generally speaking, programming specialists are paid $23,020 lower than development officers per year.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both development officer and programming specialist positions are skilled in customer service, patients, and professional development.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, development officer responsibilities require skills like "stewardship," "alumni," "business development," and "donor relations." Meanwhile a typical programming specialist has skills in areas such as "social work," "veterans," "mental health," and "powerpoint." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Programming specialists earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $82,736. On the other hand, development officers are paid more in the finance industry with an average salary of $92,824.The education levels that programming specialists earn slightly differ from development officers. In particular, programming specialists are 4.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a development officer. Additionally, they're 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Development officer vs. Training specialist

As the name entails, training specialists are the ones who design and perform training programs that will foster employees' workplace performance and align with the core values of an organization. They have varied responsibilities, including identifying employee training needs, preparing teaching plans and developing an annual training program, and turning requirements into training to aid employees in their career development. They are also responsible for implementing training courses, staying up-to-date on the new tools and trends in employee development, and evaluating existing programs periodically.

On average, training specialists earn a $1,310 lower salary than development officers a year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Development officers and training specialists both require similar skills like "customer service," "patients," and "professional development" to carry out their responsibilities.

Each career also uses different skills, according to real development officer resumes. While development officer responsibilities can utilize skills like "stewardship," "alumni," "business development," and "donor relations," training specialists use skills like "training materials," "powerpoint," "training sessions," and "subject matter experts."

Training specialists earn a lower average salary than development officers. But training specialists earn the highest pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $76,281. Additionally, development officers earn the highest salaries in the finance with average pay of $92,824 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Training specialists tend to reach lower levels of education than development officers. In fact, they're 6.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Development officer vs. Training supervisor

A training supervisor is an individual tasked to plan the curriculum and prepare lessons for new employees' training. Training supervisors coordinate locations and times for the training and sessions. They are the ones who set goals for employee performance and schedule deadlines in compliance with the company vision and mission. It is their job to organize workflow in the organization and make sure that employees do understand their duties and responsibilities. They must be proficient both in verbal and written communication skills.

An average training supervisor eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of development officers. The difference in salaries amounts to training supervisors earning a $40,448 lower average salary than development officers.development officers and training supervisors both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "customer service," "professional development," and "hr," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from development officer resumes include skills like "stewardship," "alumni," "patients," and "business development," whereas a training supervisor is more likely to list skills in "basic math," "math," "customer satisfaction," and "leadership. "

Training supervisors earn the highest salary when working in the construction industry, where they receive an average salary of $47,050. Comparatively, development officers have the highest earning potential in the finance industry, with an average salary of $92,824.When it comes to education, training supervisors tend to earn lower degree levels compared to development officers. In fact, they're 10.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.8% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Development officer vs. Facilitator

A facilitator is responsible for assisting a group event or program, ensuring that the participants coordinate well. Facilitators also monitor that the objectives of the event are smoothly delivered and organized. An effective facilitator requires having strong communication and leadership skills to manage the participants' concerns and inquiries, including active participation in group discussions and designing engaging activities and processes. Facilitators also assist with planning and finalizing the timetable and setting the specific house rules and regulations for everyone's compliance.

Facilitators average a lower salary than the annual salary of development officers. The difference is about $33,690 per year.While their salaries may vary, development officers and facilitators both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "customer service," "patients," and "professional development. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between development officers and facilitators, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a development officer might have more use for skills like "stewardship," "alumni," "business development," and "donor relations." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of facilitators require skills like "facilitators," "social work," "mental health," and "classroom management. "

Facilitators enjoy the best pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $45,516. For comparison, development officers earn the highest salary in the finance industry.In general, facilitators hold similar degree levels compared to development officers. Facilitators are 3.3% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of development officer

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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