Your resume is your calling card when you’re ready for a new job. It introduces you to job recruiters or hiring managers and lets them see whether you’ll be a good fit for the company.
When you’re looking for a position in development and fund-raising, you should highlight your experience and accomplishments, including fund-raising successes for nonprofit organizations that are similar to the ones you’re applying to. Recruiters also want to know about your solicitation history and your ability to develop fund-raising materials.
Review the development and fund-raising resume sample below to understand the best way to highlight your accomplishments, so your own resume stands out from the crowd.
Jesus Moreno
123 Fake Street | City, State, Zip Code
Home: 000-000-0000 – email@email.com
Professional Summary
Highly motivated development professional with nearly 10 years of experience in nonprofit philanthropy. Proven history of identifying, cultivating and closing philanthropic gifts, including those at the six-figure level.
Core Qualifications
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Experience
Senior Development Officer
August 2011 to Current Company Name - City, State
- Secured over $300,000 in 2012 on behalf of Center for Real Estate and Entrepreneurship.
- Collaborated and consulted with Alumni Chapter Executive Board while successfully implementing consistent annual giving.
- Identified and secured corporate sponsorships for School of Management's Annual Business Alumni Celebration.
- Maintained minimum of 15 face-to-face donor visits per month.
Development Officer
August 2008 to August 2011 Company Name - City, State
- Effectively managed and streamlined portfolio of 150-175 prospects.
- Consistently averaged 15 personal visits and 2 solicitations per month.
- Successfully cultivated and closed multiple planned estate-gifts.
- Developed and closed five gifts of $25,000 and greater.
Director, Annual Fund
June 2006 to July 2008 Company Name - City, State
- Managed and supervised annual fund staff.
- Created and developed annual fund and stewardship materials.
- Diligently prepared university annual report for Board of Trustees.
- Coordinated and managed student calling campaigns and senior class gift campaign.
Associate Director
July 2004 to March 2006 Company Name - City, State
- Secured gifts totaling more than $100,000 during Scranton Preparatory School's capital campaign.
- Simultaneously managed and coordinated five capital campaigns for churches in Catholic Archdiocese of New York.
- Maintained and processed Raiser's Edge database for St.Vincent Catholic Medical Center.
Education
Bachelor of Arts : Journalism and Mass Communications, 2004 St. Bonaventure University - City, State
Development and Fundraising Resume Questions
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How do you make a development and fundraising resume?
A good resume contains a minimum of five sections, as illustrated by our development and fundraising resume sample. They are the header, professional summary, qualifications, work experience, and education. If you have room, you may add sections for awards and recognitions, and hobbies, provided they are relevant to the job.
Spend time crafting a strong professional summary that describes in three or four sentences who you are and what you do. In both the qualifications and experience sections, use bullet points with short statements to enumerate your skills and accomplishments. In the education section, list your degrees in reverse chronological order. Include the name and location of the school or schools you attended. -
How do you list references on a development and fundraising resume?
As you can see from our development and fundraising resume sample, you do not need to list references on your resume unless the job posting specifically asks for them. Do not include “references available upon request” either. Hiring managers assume you will bring references to the interview.
If the posting does ask for references, place them at the bottom of the page in their own section. Put the full name, job title, phone number, and email address for each reference. -
What’s the best way to show you work well in a team on a development and fundraising resume?
Teamwork is an important part of development and fundraising, so it behooves you to emphasize it in your resume. A great way to do this is to mention in the work experience section opportunities you had to collaborate. Notice in our development and fundraising resume sample that the candidate “collaborated and consulted with the Alumni Chapter Executive Board.” Other pertinent words you can use are organized, supervised, cooperated, participated, and co-produced.
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What goes in the header of a development and fundraising resume?
The header of your resume should contain your full name, address, phone number, and email address. If you have professional social media sites or a web page, you may add them here. Be sure to screen your online profiles for anything that is controversial or unprofessional. Study our development and fundraising resume sample for more details.
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What should you do to make sure your development and fundraising resume makes it past an ATS?
Many employers now use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to screen resumes. To make sure that your resume passes the screening and gets seen by a hiring manager, there are a few simple steps you can take. First, choose a plain format. Eschew fancy designs with colors, graphics, and logos. These can confuse the ATS and cause it to reject your resume.
Next scan the job description for keywords, such as “annual giving” or “estate gifts,” and put them into your experience or qualification sections. Finally, as the ATS screens down the center of the page, use bulleted lists that are either tabbed left or center of the document. Take a look at our development and fundraising resume sample for a good example, or try our resume builder for experienced assistance.