Even your nonprofit’s human resources (HR) department has a part to play in fundraising. The team members responsible for managing your organization’s employer-employee relationships can also impact your ability to reach your fundraising goals and build strong relationships with donors. This is true even if you don't have a fully staffed HR department or relies on an external consultant.

This article explores 4 core ways your HR function can support your fundraising work. As you review these suggestions, consider how you can better involve your HR team in helping your nonprofit reach its fundraising goals. Let’s begin!

1. Assembling a strong fundraising team

Since most of the on-the-ground fundraising work of stewarding donors, issuing donation appeals, and maintaining connections with donors will fall to your development or fundraising professionals, you need to ensure you have the right people for the job.

One critical way your HR team can support your fundraising efforts is by helping you assemble a strong team. Here are a few strategies your HR department can use to ensure you’re recruiting and retaining the best fundraisers possible:

• Write thorough job descriptions for fundraising positions that include important details such as required duties, expected skills and competencies, and salary information.
• Promote open roles through all available channels, such as job boards, employee referral programs, and professional social networking sites like LinkedIn.
• Conduct thorough interviews to evaluate candidates for relevant experience, skills, cultural fit, alignment with your organization’s values, and interest in seeing your cause succeed.
• Manage salaries and benefits so that fundraising team members (and everyone else!) receive competitive and fair compensation.

2. Offering thorough training and professional development

After helping your organization hire great fundraisers, your HR team needs to ensure new team members are onboarded effectively. The goal of onboarding is to help employees understand your nonprofit’s culture, overarching goals, and fundraising strategies, as well as the day-to-day duties they’re required to perform in their roles. HR team members may provide general training themselves, but they’ll also likely need to facilitate onboarding sessions between current and new fundraising and development staff so employees who understand these jobs firsthand can share their knowledge and experience.

Beyond the initial onboarding process, HR can implement ongoing training and professional development programs to empower fundraisers to sharpen their skills, stay up-to-date on best practices, and maintain high productivity. Your HR team should consider offering a variety of training and learning opportunities to accommodate different preferences, such as in-person workshops and online courses.

Additionally, fundraising and development managers can work with their direct reports during performance reviews to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and their personal and professional goals. This way, your HR team can design programs tailored to employees’ needs, and managers can get the information they need to monitor progress toward specific goals.

3. Building an internal culture that prioritizes fundraising

HR is also responsible for cultivating a strong internal culture at your nonprofit. This typically involves upholding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, encouraging transparency and regular feedback, promoting optimal work-life balance, and creating a supportive, positive working environment.

However, there are additional ways that your HR team can shape your culture to prioritize and support fundraising specifically. For example, they might:

• Encourage collaboration between fundraising teams and other departments like marketing, program management, and finance so that everyone understands the role fundraising plays in your organization’s success and is motivated to do everything they can to support it.
• Implement programs where employees from all levels and departments can participate in fundraising activities, such as attending fundraising events, assisting with donor communications, or gathering program success stories.
• Establish an employee recognition program that celebrates shared fundraising wins, whether that means reaching a campaign goal or securing a grant.

4. Supporting volunteer engagement

Managing volunteers often overlaps with nonprofit HR functions. In many instances, volunteers can be a great asset to an organization’s fundraising work.

For example, say you’re hosting a big fundraising event, like an annual gala or golf tournament. Volunteers can handle many logistics, such as checking attendees in, running your silent auction, or serving food, while your fundraising team can focus on strengthening its relationships with guests. Or, especially dedicated volunteers may want to try fundraising themselves through something like a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign or by serving on a capital campaign community gifts committee.

HR can help prepare your volunteers to help with fundraising by recruiting the right people, providing thorough training, and matching volunteers to roles and responsibilities related to fundraising that they will enjoy.

Fundraising is essential for running a successful nonprofit and impacts all of your organization’s operations. Don’t make the mistake of seeing your development department as an isolated entity responsible for bringing in donations. Instead, expand your horizons and consider how everyone can support your fundraising efforts, especially HR! Use this guide as a jumping-off point for your HR team to better understand its role in fundraising and support your revenue generation function.