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

What is a fundraising officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a fundraising officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $43.81 an hour? That's $91,119 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 11,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreFundraising OfficerUS Average

Salary

7.1

Avg. Salary $91,119

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 5.08%

Black or African American 5.11%

Hispanic or Latino 7.82%

Unknown 4.11%

White 77.59%

Gender

female 59.59%

male 40.41%

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 fundraising officer

Explore fundraising officer education requirements

Most common fundraising officer degrees

Bachelor's

75.6 %

Master's

10.9 %

Associate

6.7 %

Start to develop specific fundraising officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Fundraising Strategy	49.55%
Alumni	33.35%
Press Releases	17.11%

Complete relevant fundraising officer training and internships

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

Research fundraising officer duties and responsibilities

Manage monthly progress meetings and promote education and leadership opportunities through skill-building activities.
Contact alumni students to secure benefactors for the university.
Develop and implement grassroots marketing to increase awareness, including developing the annual marketing plan.
Work with both candidates on successful major-gift solicitation practices, high-dollar events, and PAC solicitations.

Prepare your fundraising officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your fundraising 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 fundraising 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 fundraising officer resume templates

Build a professional fundraising 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 fundraising officer resume.