It's possible that your job title is so terrible, it's chasing donors away.
That's what a new study by researcher Russell James finds, as reported on the MarketSmart blog, at Why fundraiser job titles suck and cost you a lot of money!
The study asked people, "Who at the charity are you more likely to contact?" It gave them an array of typical nonprofit job titles.
The title that fewest people wanted to contact: Director of Advancement.
Others people didn't want to get in touch with:
- Chief Advancement Officer
- Director of Institutional Advancement
- Chief Institutional Advancement Officer
Think you can fix the problem by being called Director of Development?
Sorry.
Titles with the words advancement or development all did poorly.
May I say one gigantic and cumulative ouch for all those hardworking advancement and development professionals out there?
Titles that worked better sounded more gift/advisor-oriented. Like:
- Chief Individual Giving Officer
- Chief Special Gifts Officer
- Director of Major Gifts
Take a look at your title. It may be one of those invisible (to you) barriers that keeps donors at a distance!
(Abstract of the study available here.)
