Development, to enjoy or not to enjoy?

I work in development research at a large university, and much of my work is reactive (development officers send me requests for research on people they already know) vs. proactive (what lorigineduemonde was doing). You should definitely ask what sort of research, or what percentage proactive vs. reactive you'd be doing. How big is the office? Would you be specializing in any one area, or is it catch-as-catch-can for requests? I enjoy my job; I get research a lot of interesting people, write about them, give an opinion on whether they might be a good prospect, both in terms of their philanthropic capacity and their connections to the institution, and I've got good relationships with the development officers I work for. Feel free to MeMail me for more info.

I'm a development officer for a medium-sized school, so not everything I say will apply, but I hope it could be helpful. Fund raising is an enormously rewarding line of work if you are one of two kinds of people. Are you a. analytical, detail-oriented, an organizer, perhaps able to see someone's relationship to your institution as part of a pattern that many people share? Or perhaps you are b. a "people" person, happy to talk with others as part of your job, willing to be "on" often, able to balance competing types of work (desk work and outreach). It also helps if you're goal-oriented, because whether you raise annual fund or endowed dollars, you're starting over from zero at some point (each year, or a given project). Finally, whether they are data heads or they work the rubber chicken circuit, the best fundraisers I know are relentlessly customer-service oriented: is the message we're sending easy to understand? Is this the best way to thank our donors? I encourage you to go on the day visit, because that's the only way to see what kind of research philosophy your prospective school has. Does the staff sit and wait for projects to come in - are they reactive, or do they encourage other staff to treat them that way ("We would do more proactive research, but these projects keep coming in at the last minute!")? Or is their philosophy more proactive ("We should begin identifying top prospects for the 2011 reunions now so that officers can plan their trips around reunion goals.") Research is a key part of making sure that fund raising effort is directed toward the right people, so it can be a really important part of keeping a university in business, and helping students get a great education. At its worst, particularly at a university with multiple fund raising offices for different schools, fundraising and research can be territorial and Balkanized ("You can't have this donor. because I need them for a gift to the arts complex/scholarship project."). Two other things to consider: if your prospective employer is in a metropolitan area, that's a plus, because you might be able to switch jobs in the future without relocating (and your fiance would have an easier time finding a job). Some university towns are "company towns," if you know what I mean - the school is the big employer, so you could feel locked in. Second, pay for researchers is probably decent, but not as much as front-line fundraisers make - you'll earn a good living, but a school is still a nonprofit, so you're not going to get rich. The http://www.afpnet.org/ offers comparative salary information that might help you (it used to be cheaper, but http://www.afpnet.org/ResourceCenter/ArticleDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=3109 looks a little steep to me). You could also look at thehttp://www.aprahome.org/ and see if they have more specific information for prospect researchers. Good luck; as with many jobs, it could be a lot of fun. Feel free to let me know if you have more questions.

I work in the stewardship office of a large research university. I don't feel entirely comfortable talking about certain nuts-and-bolts things about the job here, so please send me a MeMail. There are a ton of other factors to consider, i.e. my fiancé is graduating from law school next year and we don't know where he will end up getting a job; we are getting married in the fall of 2010 and I wouldn't have enough leave time to get married and have a honeymoon if I start the new job; Are you sure about the leave stuff? I've worked in two university jobs, for two different institutions, and the leave packages in both cases were excellent. I started my job in July and was still able to take a week off for my wedding in October. I'd imagine that, if you saved your vacation time, you should be able to easily take off the ~2 weeks necessary to get married and go on a honeymoon.