While a talent for public speaking and strong problem solving skills are critical for public relations and fundraising managers, excellent writing skills are also essential… to precisely define a client’s goals, engage an audience, and sway them in the intended direction. Public relations—or PR—managers direct the creation of material aimed at enhancing the public image of their client. They review press releases, sponsor corporate events, and monitor trends that might affect their client’s organization. They also oversee company publications, draft speeches, and handle other contact with the public to help the organization’s top executives. Fundraising managers bring in the donations necessary to keep their organization running. They contact past donors and reach out to new donors, raise funds for new buildings, and solicit wealthy donors for major gifts. Public relations and fundraising managers work for PR firms, civic and non-profit organizations, school districts, and other organizations. Generally they work in offices during regular business hours, but may need to travel to events and attend evening meetings. They sometimes work longer hours to meet project and event deadlines, and may manage multiple events at the same time. Public relations and fundraising managers generally need a bachelor’s degree in public relations, communications, English, fundraising, or journalism, and many years of related experience. Some positions also require a master’s degree.
What they do:
Organize activities to raise funds or otherwise solicit and gather monetary donations or other gifts for an organization. May design and produce promotional materials. May also raise awareness of the organization's work, goals, and financial needs.
On the job, you would:
Identify and build relationships with potential donors.
Secure commitments of participation or donation from individuals or corporate donors.
Write and send letters of thanks to donors.
Business
customer service
sales and marketing
Arts and Humanities
English language
Communications
multimedia
Engineering and Technology
computers and electronics
Basic Skills
talking to others
listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
Social
talking people into changing their minds or their behavior
bringing people together to solve differences
Problem Solving
noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it
Verbal
communicate by speaking
communicate by writing
Ideas and Logic
make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
come up with lots of ideas
Math
add, subtract, multiply, or divide
choose the right type of math to solve a problem
People interested in this work like activities that include leading, making decisions, and business.
They do well at jobs that need:
Integrity
Dependability
Persistence
Initiative
Achievement/Effort
Attention to Detail
You might use software like this on the job:
Customer relationship management CRM software
Blackbaud The Raiser's Edge
Microsoft Dynamics
Presentation software
Microsoft PowerPoint
Data base user interface and query software
Database software
Structured query language SQL
bachelor's degree usually needed
Get started on your career:
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.