Filling Advancement Gaps Before They Drain Your Bottom Line
The Hiring Crisis in Advancement
Advancement teams are feeling the pressure like never before. Open major gift officer (MGO) positions are slowing down fundraising, straining donor relationships and making it harder to reach ambitious goals. Hiring is taking longer, the talent pool feels smaller and organizations are stuck in a frustrating cycle—unfilled roles, missed opportunities and growing concerns about how to keep moving forward.
Every day a key role stays vacant, it’s not just about dollars lost. It’s about momentum, donor trust and team morale.
At Bryant Group, we hear this from advancement leaders all the time. And recently, at a CASE workshop session that Sally Bryant and Emili Bennett facilitated in Dallas, advancement leaders in attendance had an open and honest conversation about these challenges. The good news? There are ways forward. We’re seeing organizations tackle these issues head-on with creative and practical solutions that are making a real difference.
What This Means for Advancement Leaders
The hiring process isn’t just about filling seats—it’s about bringing in the right people who will build lasting donor relationships and drive long-term success. But traditional hiring approaches aren’t working fast enough, and they’re costing organizations in three major ways:
Vacant roles mean lost dollars. Every day a position stays open, major donor relationships are on hold. That means lost opportunities—not just now, but for years to come.
Hiring is pulling leaders away from fundraising. Advancement leaders should be focused on engaging donors and driving strategy, not sifting through endless resumes.
The right talent isn’t always where you expect it to be. Expanding the hiring pool beyond traditional advancement professionals opens up new possibilities. Some of the best fundraisers come from sales, marketing, and nonprofit leadership.
How Organizations Are Strengthening Their Talent Pipelines
One of the biggest struggles isn’t just finding senior fundraisers—it’s developing the next generation of talent. The traditional pipeline is shrinking, and organizations can’t afford to wait for the “perfect” candidate anymore. Here’s what some are doing differently:
Developing Talent from Within
One university we worked with realized they were relying too much on external hires and getting stuck in a cycle of long vacancies. Instead, they started identifying and training internal team members with strong relationship skills—even if they weren’t in fundraising roles yet. With structured mentorship and training, they created a steady pipeline of future fundraisers, cutting their vacancy rate for major gift officers.
Looking Beyond Traditional Fundraising Backgrounds
This came up in the Dallas workshop in a big way. One participant shared how they hired a former corporate sales executive who had never worked in advancement before—but had built a career on relationships and driving revenue. With some industry-specific training, that hire became one of their top fundraisers. Sometimes, the best candidates aren’t the ones with the most advancement experience but the ones with the right skills.
Rethinking Compensation to Stay Competitive
One major institution was struggling to fill key fundraising roles, and after some digging, they realized why—their salaries weren’t keeping up with the market. Once they restructured their pay scale, they saw an immediate difference. Not only did they start attracting stronger candidates, but they also reduced their time-to-hire and saw better retention among top performers.
Were Do We Go From Here?
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but there are strategies that work—and we’ve seen them in action. What’s working for your organization? Have you explored internal training programs, cross-industry recruitment or rethinking compensation structures?
At Bryant Group, we don’t just study these trends—we help organizations find real solutions. If your team is struggling to fill critical roles, let’s talk. There are proven ways to break the cycle, build a stronger talent pipeline and keep your advancement efforts moving forward.
Let’s start the conversation.
