What Does a Development Coordinator Do?
Development coordinators enter each gift and pledge in the donor database, match it to the right fund and send the thank-you letter and tax receipt on time. Their desk is in a charity's or college's fundraising office, where the job also takes in prospect research, mailing lists and event logistics. Donors notice when a receipt is late.
Also known as: Development Associate, Assistant Donor Database Coordinator
Other Job Titles for This Work
Workers in this occupation report titles such as Contract Grant Writer, Development Associate, Development Officer, Direct Response Consultant, Fundraising Consultant, Grant Coordinator, Philanthropy Officer, Principal Gifts Officer.
Development Coordinator Duties and Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of a development coordinator include:
- Enter gifts and pledges in the donor database and match each one to the right fund.
- Send thank-you letters and tax receipts within the time the office promises donors.
- Reconcile gift records with the finance office each month and correct any mismatches.
- Prepare donor briefings and contact histories before meetings with development officers.
- Research prospects using public records, giving histories and news articles.
- Pull mailing lists and manage annual appeal mailings from print vendor to postage.
- Coordinate event logistics such as invitations, RSVPs, name tags and seating charts.
- Keep development officers' calendars, travel plans and visit reports up to date.
- Clean duplicate and outdated records in Raiser's Edge or Salesforce.
- Run gift reports and dashboards for weekly staff meetings and board updates.
Required Skills and Qualifications
To succeed as a development coordinator, you will need the following skills and qualifications:
- Donor databases such as Raiser's Edge or Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud
- Gift processing and acknowledgment rules
- Excel pivot tables and mail merges
- Careful proofreading of letters and lists
- Prospect research basics
- Confidentiality with donor information
- Event logistics
- Organized handling of competing deadlines
Education and Training
An entry-level job in a fundraising or general office is where most coordinators pick up gift processing and donor databases. Volunteering on a charity event or annual appeal counts as experience too. For most posts a bachelor's degree is expected, and the usual next step is development officer.
Salary and Job Outlook
Typical pay: $57,480 - $92,180 per year, with a median of $72,550.
The range covers the middle half of earners nationwide. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Fundraisers.
BLS projects employment of fundraisers, the group that includes development coordinators, to grow about 5.5 percent from 2025 to 2035, with roughly 10,000 openings a year. And, as long as there are nonprofits and colleges that depend on gifts, coordinators will be needed to make sure every gift is recorded and thanked promptly.
Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, Fundraisers.
Development Coordinator Pay Range
| Earners | Annual pay |
|---|---|
| Bottom 10% earn less than | $46,630 |
| Bottom 25% earn less than | $57,480 |
| Median (half earn more, half less) | $72,550 |
| Top 25% earn more than | $92,180 |
| Top 10% earn more than | $115,820 |
Highest-Paying States for Development Coordinators
The states with the highest median pay for this occupation are District of Columbia ($80,840), New York ($80,540), Maryland ($79,780), California ($79,710), Massachusetts ($79,060). Pay is lowest in Mississippi ($57,610), West Virginia ($54,760), Arkansas ($50,190).
Median pay in all 51 states with BLS data
| State | Median annual pay |
|---|---|
| Alabama | $60,120 |
| Alaska | $62,750 |
| Arizona | $64,180 |
| Arkansas | $50,190 |
| California | $79,710 |
| Colorado | $74,440 |
| Connecticut | $77,730 |
| Delaware | $71,250 |
| District of Columbia | $80,840 |
| Florida | $64,390 |
| Georgia | $72,010 |
| Hawaii | $63,750 |
| Idaho | $61,150 |
| Illinois | $66,440 |
| Indiana | $66,250 |
| Iowa | $63,930 |
| Kansas | $64,820 |
| Kentucky | $68,270 |
| Louisiana | $72,030 |
| Maine | $66,790 |
| Maryland | $79,780 |
| Massachusetts | $79,060 |
| Michigan | $66,130 |
| Minnesota | $76,910 |
| Mississippi | $57,610 |
| Missouri | $63,860 |
| Montana | $61,280 |
| Nebraska | $68,030 |
| Nevada | $68,530 |
| New Hampshire | $66,260 |
| New Jersey | $77,170 |
| New Mexico | $65,440 |
| New York | $80,540 |
| North Carolina | $66,100 |
| North Dakota | $76,040 |
| Ohio | $64,080 |
| Oklahoma | $63,950 |
| Oregon | $64,080 |
| Pennsylvania | $63,730 |
| Rhode Island | $75,410 |
| South Carolina | $62,720 |
| South Dakota | $66,800 |
| Tennessee | $61,370 |
| Texas | $60,320 |
| Utah | $61,820 |
| Vermont | $72,530 |
| Virginia | $72,610 |
| Washington | $79,000 |
| West Virginia | $54,760 |
| Wisconsin | $65,880 |
| Wyoming | $71,310 |
What the Work Is Like
O*NET surveys people who work as fundraisers about their daily conditions. Of those surveyed:
- 100% use email every day
- 95% are on the phone every day
- 85% say teamwork is very or extremely important in their job
- 81% spend more than half the workday sitting
- 81% usually work more than 40 hours a week
- 62% work indoors in a climate-controlled space every day
- 48% say being exact and accurate is very or extremely important
Education Workers Say the Job Needs
| Education level | Share of workers |
|---|---|
| Bachelor's degree | 90% |
Tools and Software Development Coordinators Use
Tools and equipment
Software
Is This Job a Good Fit for You?
People who do well in this job tend to enjoy leading, persuading and making business decisions as well as helping, teaching or caring for people.
Skills O*NET rates most important: Speaking, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Writing, Persuasion, Critical Thinking.
Knowledge areas used most: Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Sales and Marketing, Administration and Management, Communications and Media.
Preparation: O*NET places this occupation in Job Zone 4 of 5, which means considerable preparation.
Related Careers
These jobs use similar skills, according to O*NET's related-occupation data:
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Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035.
- O*NET 30.1 Database, occupation 13-1131.00 (Fundraisers). View on O*NET OnLine.
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