Skills
Fundraiser Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in fundraisers, and how to build and show them.
What skills do fundraisers need?
Fundraisers need technical skills such as donor research, solicitation, and grant writing, plus people skills like relationship building and persuasion. They also use tools such as Donor CRMs (Raiser’s Edge, Salesforce) and Email marketing tools.
Technical (hard) skills
- Donor research
- Solicitation
- Grant writing
- Event planning
- CRM management
- Campaign planning
People (soft) skills
- Relationship building
- Persuasion
- Persistence
- Writing
Tools, equipment and technology
- Donor CRMs (Raiser’s Edge, Salesforce)
- Email marketing tools
- Wealth screening tools
- Event platforms
- Spreadsheets
- Grant databases
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how fundraisers put their skills to work:
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Donor research” and “Solicitation.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “relationship building,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our fundraiser glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Fundraiser training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.