How To Become A Donor Relations Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a donor relations officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A donor relations officer works for an organization that relies on donations to do its work, such as a nonprofit or university. The donor relations officer helps to increase their organization's revenue by identifying potential donors, soliciting them for donations, and maintaining relationships with existing donors.

Their average day could include several hours cold calling potential donors, preparing thank you gifts for people who have given money, or drawing up an overall strategy for improving the organization's revenue. They need to have excellent interpersonal skills in order to convince people to donate money to their organization, as well as the attention to detail to keep track of progress towards revenue goals.

It usually takes a few years of experience to become a donor relations officer. Most people start out by working in sales or as an administrative assistant. Most have a bachelor's degree in business or a related field.

The average salary for a donor relations officer is $54,585 a year. This is a solid career whose job prospects are growing as organizations across the country are looking to increase donations.

ScoreDonor Relations OfficerUS Average

Salary

4.3

Avg. Salary $54,939

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.1

Growth rate 11%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.29%

Asian 5.11%

Black or African American 5.22%

Hispanic or Latino 7.92%

Unknown 4.13%

White 77.33%

Gender

female 62.33%

male 37.67%

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

6.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a donor relations officer

Explore donor relations officer education requirements

Most common donor relations officer degrees

Bachelor's

70.4 %

Master's

11.8 %

Associate

6.6 %

Start to develop specific donor relations officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Donor Relations	23.17%
Alumni	17.32%
Labor Relations	6.10%
Event Planning	5.76%
Press Releases	5.73%

Complete relevant donor relations officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New donor relations officers 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 donor relations officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real donor relations officer resumes.

Research donor relations officer duties and responsibilities

Manage on-site logistics and post-event stewardship.
Manage the grievance process including face-to-face negotiations with union representatives at the highest arbitration procedural level.
Utilize pivot tables and HRIS to produce weekly staffing reports.
Welcome and escort VIP guests and special guests to assign rooms.

Prepare your donor relations officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your donor relations officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a donor relations officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable donor relations officer resume templates

Build a professional donor relations officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your donor relations officer resume.