Fundraising managers are one of the least happy careers in the United States.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, fundraising managers rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 20% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy fundraising managers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Lodging manager | 2.9 | $47k |
| Office manager | 2.9 | $36k |
| Controller | 2.9 | $71k |
| Merchandiser | 2.9 | $26k |
| Purchasing manager | 2.9 | $70k |
| Fundraising manager | 2.8 | $69k |
| Risk management specialist | 2.8 | $90k |
| Budget analyst | 2.8 | $67k |
| Sales manager | 2.8 | $63k |
| Executive assistant | 2.8 | $49k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are fundraising managers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do fundraising managers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as fundraising managers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are fundraising manager’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are fundraising managers making the best use of their abilities?
Are fundraising managers happy with their salary?
Fundraising managers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Fundraising managers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked fundraising managers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
762 fundraising managers
9% of fundraising managers rated their compensation 5 stars
22% of fundraising managers rated their compensation 4 stars
30% of fundraising managers rated their compensation 3 stars
26% of fundraising managers rated their compensation 2 stars
13% of fundraising managers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do fundraising managers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, fundraising managers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.2/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked fundraising managers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
767 fundraising managers
15% of fundraising managers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
28% of fundraising managers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of fundraising managers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
19% of fundraising managers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
12% of fundraising managers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as fundraising managers?
Fundraising managers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of fundraising managers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked fundraising managers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
878 fundraising managers
20% of fundraising managers rated their career fit 5 stars
37% of fundraising managers rated their career fit 4 stars
25% of fundraising managers rated their career fit 3 stars
11% of fundraising managers rated their career fit 2 stars
6% of fundraising managers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a fundraising manager’s work environment?
As a whole, fundraising managers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked fundraising managers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
875 fundraising managers
13% of fundraising managers rated their work environment 5 stars
36% of fundraising managers rated their work environment 4 stars
27% of fundraising managers rated their work environment 3 stars
17% of fundraising managers rated their work environment 2 stars
6% of fundraising managers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are fundraising managers making the best use of their abilities?
Former fundraising managers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.0/5. Fundraising managers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked fundraising managers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
875 fundraising managers
9% of fundraising managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
23% of fundraising managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
31% of fundraising managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
28% of fundraising managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
9% of fundraising managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars