Posted on June 25, 2026
If there’s one constant in the nonprofit world, it’s change. Entry- and mid-level development staff turnover is a battle nearly every organization is fighting, and the ripple effects reach further than most organizations anticipate.
In peer-to-peer fundraising, maintaining some level of consistency in participant recruitment and fundraising support is important to maximize the impact and health of your event. Participants notice when faces change. Some of them become deeply attached to specific staff members, and that relationship is part of the experience for them. You don’t have to have the same person serving in the same role for multiple years in a row, but you do need consistency in training, skillset and the way your team shows up. That way when someone inevitably leaves, you have a strong foundation that keeps the friction at a minimum.
We asked some of the nonprofit leaders we admire to share what they’ve learned about hiring, onboarding and protecting their teams and participants when turnover hits. We want you to hear from people who have navigated this challenge firsthand and to learn what they look for when filling these types of roles. Whether you feel like you’re constantly in hiring mode or trying to build a strong team from the ground up, we hope you will find these insights helpful.
Hire for who they are, not just what they’ve done.
When it comes to entry- and mid-level roles, all three of our nonprofit leaders agreed that traditional development experience is not a requirement.
Jane Hoffman, Director, Community Fundraising Events from the Michael J. Fox Foundation said, “I look less at whether someone has worked in fundraising specifically and more at whether they demonstrate strong relationship-building skills, sound judgment, accountability, and a willingness to learn.”
Victoria Vighetto, Vice President, Peer-to-Peer and Field Development at ZERO Prostate Cancer echoed that, “Some of the best development professionals I’ve seen came from sales and business development. They brought excellent relationship management, pipeline thinking, and comfort with asking for commitments.”
In our own experience working with fundraising staff, this tracks. The candidates who lead with curiosity and genuine mission alignment almost always outperform those who simply have the résumé.
Set honest expectations from the start.
Shannon Greene, VP of Peer-to-Peer at Shatterproof shared how important it is to be clear throughout the hiring process about what the role requires and how success will be measured, so there are no surprises once onboarding begins. She shared a great nugget of wisdom: “Clarity is kindness, and it helps ensure the candidate is both clear and confident about how to be successful in the role.”
Victoria encourages hiring managers not to oversell or undersell the role, and to pair a structured 90-day onboarding plan with a mentor who isn’t the new hire’s direct supervisor.
Shannon also shared a practice worth adopting: annual stay interviews which are conducted outside of the performance review cycle. To learn what an employee needs, don’t wait until an exit interview. By that point, it’s too late to act on it. Instead, try a stay interview. “They give the manager and the employee a shared line of sight into career goals, opportunities for growth and job crafting, and how to keep centering the employee’s strengths.”
Protect your institutional knowledge before someone walks out the door.
Not surprisingly, Jane, Shannon and Victoria all agreed that turnover is inevitable and how you prepare for that can make all the difference when someone transitions off your team. Jane shared, “One philosophy I strongly believe in is the ‘if I got hit by a bus tomorrow’ test — no individual should be the sole keeper of important information, relationships, or processes.”
All three agreed that detailed event files and documentation and consistent and frequent updates in your CRM needs to be prioritized all the time — not just when someone is leaving. When a departure does happen, all three shared how important it is to have a structured knowledge transfer that doesn’t take place during a rushed exit interview. Instead, provide the time and space for the departing staff member to document the “why” behind relationships, review high-touch contacts, and capture anything a CRM field can’t. The goal is, as Shannon shared, “The constituent should never feel the break.”
Thank you to Jane, Shannon and Victoria for sharing their experience and expertise with us. Their advice is practical and worth bookmarking and incorporating into your own hiring practices.
Of course, even the best advice has its limits and one limit nearly every hiring manager hits is time. Even with the best instincts and a thoughtful onboarding plan, there’s rarely enough of it. Once you’ve gotten your new hire(s) on board, you may already be behind on your timeline and goals. That’s why we built Event 360’s fundraising coaching package for internal staff. It’s not meant to replace your onboarding process, but to accelerate it.
Our coaching is designed to reconnect new development staff to the fundamentals of fundraising quickly and meaningfully. We want them to get up to speed and to build habits that stick. Every engagement is tailored to your organization, but at its core it covers these three things:
Nonprofit staff who get this kind of fundraising coaching leave equipped to start their meaningful work with purpose and confidence.
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Rene’ Tamayo
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