Four Must-Have Skills For Fundraising Jobs

So you want to work in fundraising?  That's all well and good, but do you have the right qualifications?  Having a solid background in finance and numbers will help your cause, but nonprofits look for a wide variety of skills when choosing people for fundraising jobs.  Here are four skills that many organizations look for when going through potential fundraisers:

• A strong background in technology: If you have a great understanding of computers, the Internet, and social media, it will greatly help your cause.  The Internet is an important frontier for fundraising, so using it to research new donors will be a great help to the organization.
• Intellectual capacity beyond traditional book smarts: Being able to think outside the box to solve potential problems quickly is key.  The fundraising world will throw many different problems at you, so it's imperative to have great problem solving skills.
• Communication: A great fundraiser will have excellent written and verbal skills.  You should be very comfortable selling the organization to potential donors.
• Team Player: Fundraisers will often have to work independently, but they still need to be able to work efficiently with a team.  If you think that the donors you get are your property, fundraising probably isn't the right position for you.