---
title: "Fundraising Manager"
description: "Plan, direct, or coordinate activities to solicit and maintain funds for special projects or nonprofit organizations."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/fundraising-manager"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Fundraising Manager

**Category:** Management · **SOC code:** 11-2033 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 11-2033.00

Plan, direct, or coordinate activities to solicit and maintain funds for special projects or nonprofit organizations.

Also advertised as: Advancement Director; Annual Giving Director; Development Director; Donor Engagement Director; Foundation Director; Fundraising Manager; Individual Giving Director; Individual Giving Manager.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $125,470 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $60.32/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $75,130 to $222,350, with the middle half between $95,970 and $169,990
- **Total US employment:** 38,810
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +5.4% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 3,700 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 27/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 38,810 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $75,130 |
| 25th | $95,970 |
| 50th (median) | $125,470 |
| 75th | $169,990 |
| 90th | $222,350 |
| Mean (average) | $140,020 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NY | $169,510 | $157,069 | 4,080 |
| NH | $157,080 | $150,799 | 270 |
| RI | $155,970 | $152,493 | 220 |
| MA | $151,740 | $143,480 | 2,260 |
| VA | $143,730 | $142,161 | 880 |
| DC | $141,720 | $128,952 | 800 |
| NJ | $140,500 | $129,130 | 750 |
| WA | $137,010 | $128,031 | 1,050 |
| CA | $135,870 | $122,715 | 5,430 |
| DE | $131,750 | $132,003 | 120 |
| MD | $130,750 | $124,572 | 810 |
| CO | $130,010 | $126,160 | 600 |
| VT | $129,170 | $131,863 | 180 |
| MN | $126,920 | $128,695 | 680 |
| NC | $125,870 | $133,441 | 1,030 |

33 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 48 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/fundraising-manager/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/fundraising-manager.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 48,800 in the 2025–2035 base year to 51,400 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 2,600 jobs, or +5.4%. Faster than average: 5.4% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 3,700 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** 5 years or more.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 65.5% |
| Some College Courses | 19.7% |
| Master's Degree | 10.9% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 3.9% |

## What the work involves

- Develop strategies to encourage new or increased contributions.
- Establish and maintain effective working relationships with clients, government officials, and media representatives and use these relationships to develop new fundraising opportunities.
- Compile or develop materials to submit to granting or other funding organizations.
- Plan and direct special events for fundraising, such as silent auctions, dances, golf events, or walks.
- Develop fundraising activity plans that maximize participation or contributions and minimize costs.
- Manage fundraising budgets.
- Contact corporate representatives, government officials, or community leaders to increase awareness of organizational causes, activities, or needs.
- Conduct research to identify the goals, net worth, charitable donation history, or other data related to potential donors, potential investors, or general donor markets.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Speaking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Administration and Management — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Sales and Marketing — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Economics and Accounting — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Enterprising (E), Conventional (C), Social (S).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| E — Enterprising | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 4.82 |
| S — Social | 3.76 |
| A — Artistic | 2.61 |
| I — Investigative | 2.41 |
| R — Realistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESFJ | 76.1 |
| ENFJ | 73.2 |
| ESTJ | 69.4 |
| ENTJ | 68.1 |
| ESFP | 62.0 |

Best-fitting types: ESFJ, ENFJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Fundraiser](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fundraiser) — median $72,550
- [Public Relations Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-relations-manager) — median $146,910
- [Public Relations Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-relations-specialist) — median $74,750
- [Advertising and Promotions Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/advertising-and-promotions-manager) — median $133,660
- [Social and Community Service Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/social-and-community-service-manager) — median $80,390
- [Financial Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/financial-manager) — median $166,570
- [Meeting, Convention, and Event Planner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/meeting-convention-and-event-planner) — median $61,160
- [Marketing Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/marketing-manager) — median $166,790
- [Sales Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sales-manager) — median $148,270
- [Treasurer and Controller](https://nuecareer.com/careers/treasurer-and-controller) — median $166,570

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/fundraising-manager