What Does a Development Officer Do?
Development officers ask people for gifts, but only after learning what each donor on their list cares about. For a college, hospital or charity, that means calls and emails to set up visits, then days on the road. Most visits happen in donors' homes and offices.
Also known as: Constituent Program Officer, Alumni Development Specialist
Development Officer Duties and Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of a development officer include:
- Manage a portfolio of prospective donors and plan the next step with each one.
- Set up visits by phone and email, often with alumni who have never been asked.
- Travel to meet donors at their homes, offices and regional events.
- Ask for annual and leadership gifts, and bring larger prospects to the development director.
- Write proposals that match a donor's interests to scholarships, programs or projects.
- File contact reports in the donor database after every visit or significant call.
- Qualify new prospects by learning their capacity, interests and connection to the college.
- Host small cultivation events with faculty, students and donors.
- Thank and update donors so they see what their earlier gifts achieved.
- Meet visit and solicitation goals and review progress with a supervisor each month.
Required Skills and Qualifications
To succeed as a development officer, you will need the following skills and qualifications:
- Donor cultivation and solicitation
- Proposal and letter writing
- CRM use in Raiser's Edge or Salesforce
- Comfort asking for money in person
- Listening skills and curiosity about people
- Organized follow-up after visits
- Willingness to travel often
- Knowledge of planned giving basics such as bequests
Education and Training
Admissions and sales jobs are common first steps after a bachelor's degree, along with junior roles in a fundraising office, since each teaches you to ask strangers for something. Some officers began on a college phone-a-thon while still students. In interviews, gifts you actually helped secure count for more than any claim to be persuasive.
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 to grow about 5.5 percent from 2025 to 2035, with roughly 10,000 openings a year across the group. Fundraising jobs often are tied to the economy and the stock market, but officers always will be needed as colleges launch campaigns and as older donors plan their estates.
Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, Fundraisers.