How To Become A Director Of Philanthropy: What It Is and Career Path

What is a director of philanthropy and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

If you're looking to take a job as a director of philanthropy, you should know that it entails building relationships and garnering trust from people. As such, you have to have the personal qualities of credibility, integrity, and commitment. As a director of philanthropy, your significant responsibilities encompass creating strategies through which your team will meet fundraising goals. You also need to figure out a sustainable means of revenue for your organization.

Directors of philanthropy are highly charismatic people who can inspire followership in others. Therefore, excellent verbal and communication skills are of utmost importance. Beyond this, good interpersonal skills will also prove very helpful. Besides, if you have the rare ability to listen, negotiate, and work with different external and internal stakeholders, you'll succeed in this career.

While an earning of $95,251 per year may not be the highest you can make as a director of philanthropy, it'll go a long way. Once you gain prestige in the profession, you can be among the top ten percent who earn more than $157,000 a year.

ScoreDirector Of PhilanthropyUS Average

Salary

7.6

Avg. Salary $100,554

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.7

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.42%

Asian 5.08%

Black or African American 5.79%

Hispanic or Latino 8.97%

Unknown 4.65%

White 75.09%

Gender

female 67.86%

male 32.14%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

8.7

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.4

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a director of philanthropy

Explore director of philanthropy education requirements

Most common director of philanthropy degrees

Bachelor's

80.1 %

Master's

11.4 %

Associate

3.2 %

Start to develop specific director of philanthropy skills

Skills	Percentages
Donor Relations	21.40%
Gift Prospects	13.08%
Capital Campaign	9.08%
Strategic Plan	8.82%
Fund Development	6.41%

Complete relevant director of philanthropy training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New directors of philanthropy learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a director of philanthropy based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real director of philanthropy resumes.

Research director of philanthropy duties and responsibilities

Manage communications with students, alumni and faculty, including distribution of all social media
Design strategies and implementation of plan giving, endowment, and scholarship programs.
Create and implement philanthropy events in order to raise money for trips and scholarship donations.
Design and restructure chapter's social media presence through rebuilding of websites and direct communication with alumni and local organizations.

Get director of philanthropy experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a director of philanthropy. The most common roles before becoming a director of philanthropy include development director, internship team lead and vice president.

Apply for director of philanthropy jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a director of philanthropy job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams