Read on for a day in the life of a fundraiser at a nonprofit
Job Title: Fundraising Associate
Industry: Nonprofit
Location: Indiana
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Salary/Benefits: $45,000/year. Health and dental insurance covered. 3% 401k matching.
Employer Type: Non-profit organization
Employer Size: less than 100 employees
Time in Current Position: 2 years
Highest Level of Education: Bachelors
Path to This Job: I spent more than a year after college temping and got placed at a nonprofit organization. I hit it off with their head of fundraising, who hired me for a fulltime position when she joined another organization. I’ve been in my job for about 2 years now and love it.
A typical day at work:
6:00: Wake up to dog breath and take my pup out for a walk before getting myself ready for work and making some scrambled eggs for breakfast. I like to spend a little quiet time reading a book before I head to work. This week I’m reading In the Woods by Tana French. So far, it’s really good.
7:45: Give the pup one last hug before I head out the door to work. My roommate is in grad school and has a pretty flexible schedule, so she’ll walk the dog during the day while I’m at work.
8:00: So glad I have a super short commute. Settled in at my desk. I have a bunch of calls to make this morning to ask for donations to a silent auction we’re hosting in a couple months. I leave a lot of voicemails.
10:00: Time for my weekly one-on-one with my boss. We chat about our big fundraiser gala coming up in a couple of months.
10:30: Meet with our marketing director to talk about our next direct mail campaign. We still send out snail mail requests for donations even though a lot of people donate online these days.
11:30: Spend some time on paperwork updating our records on fundraising outreach.
12:30: Lunchtime! I pack salads on Sunday night and bring one each day during the week. This week I’ve got spinach, radishes, carrots, sunflower seeds, and hard boiled eggs with a honey mustard dressing. Yum! I hang out in the break room and chat with some coworkers while eating.
1:30: Spend some time working on posts for our website and updates for our quarterly donor newsletter.
3:30: Check our department email account and respond to a few questions, mostly from people who want to volunteer with our organization. I share responsibilities for managing our volunteers with a coworker so I copy her on my emails responding to the prospective volunteers.
4:00: Make a few more calls for the gala. I don’t love talking on the phone, so I try to break up the phone calls in bits and pieces throughout the day.
5:00: Wrap up my last call and pack up my stuff.
5:20: Arrive at home and let the dog out. We go on a nice long walk, which will count as my exercise for the day because I have plans tonight. Give the dog her dinner and fix a snack for myself before heading out to pick up a couple of friends on the way to pub trivia. I’m DD tonight so I stick to diet coke and apps while we play. We do pretty well – third out of ten teams!
9:00: Home. Let the dog out one last time and hang out with my roommate for a while for heading to bed around 11:00.
READERS, SUBMIT YOUR DAY: The Career Files Submission Form
If you enjoyed this day in the life of a fundraiser at a nonprofit, check out our other day in the life posts here