Earlier this month the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) released its 2016 Compensation and Benefits Report. Survey respondents, active AFP members in the United States and Canada, were asked to report their salary and benefits for calendar year 2015 with monetary values shown in the respondents own currency (U.S. dollars for United States respondents and Canadian dollars for Canadian respondents). Seventeen percent of all survey respondents hold the CFRE certification.
Possession of the CFRE certification credential correlates positively with salary for fundraising professionals:
As has been the case in previous editions of the AFP Compensation and Benefits Report, holding the CFRE certification credential has a large impact on the salary a fundraising professional is able to command.
- In the United States, CFRE credentialed fundraisers reported average annual salaries nearly $24,000 higher than the average for respondents with no professional certification.
- The average salary reported by CFRE credentialed fundraisers in the U.S. was $90,870 with a median salary of $85, 000.
- In Canada, CFRE credentialed fundraisers reported average salaries nearly $30,000 higher than the average for respondents with no professional certification.
- The average salary reported by CFRE credentialed fundraisers in Canada was $100,317 with a median salary of $90, 000.
Other Notable Findings:
- Sixty-eight percent of fundraisers in the U.S. reported increased income in 2015, even as overall average salaries fell.
- The mean (average) salary in 2015 for all U.S. respondents to the survey was $70,880, a 6.6% decrease from the 2014 average of $75,913.
- The median (middle value) salary for all U.S. respondents was $62,000, a 4.6% drop from the median in 2014 of $65,000.
- There is a dramatic difference in the compensation of males and females: the average salary of male fundraisers is reported to be $88,169 while female fundraisers are paid an average of $69,134.
Visit the AFP website to learn more:
Additional highlights from the 2016 report findings are available on the AFP website.
The full 2016 AFP Compensation and Benefits Report is available free to AFP members while non-members may purchase the report for $79. The report provides information on how salaries differ based on subsector, organizational budget, geography, education, your years of experience and countless other factors, while also detailing fundraiser perspectives on retirement, challenges, keeping them inspired and other issues.
