Capital campaigns nationwide are facing a shortage of qualified fundraisers to fill development positions, causing rapid turnover, instability and, in many cases, costing donations.

According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, fundraisers average about two years at any college or university. Employees are often kept out of the loop by senior leadership and are baited by head hunters offering professional growth and high salaries.

The college’s first major campaign has been no exception. Ten members of the development staff have either resigned or retired since the campaign began in 2001. Seven of those employees, including six directors, left less than a year before the college’s announcement today of its $115 million goal.

Shelley Semmler, vice president of institutional advancement, said the college has lost a lot of people to salaries and opportunities it couldn’t match.

Some former employees, however, said more than just lucrative job offers lured people away from the office. They said Semmler and other senior leadership could have done a better job keeping staff members informed.

But Semmler said turnover in the development office has been “perfectly appropriate.”

Graham Stewart ’81, former director of alumni relations, resigned Sept. 22. Stewart began working for the college in 1993 as admissions coordinator for the School of Music. He moved to alumni relations in 1999.

After 13 years at the college, his prospects for advancement were limited, he said. When the University of Buffalo offered an associate vice president position in alumni relations, the choice was clear.

“It’s not the best timing, and I’ll concede to that,” Stewart said. “But sometimes you don’t have a choice. Seven years is a pretty good tenure for this job. It’s not like I’m leaving after three.”

Kirk Swenson ’96, former director of the Capital Campaign, did leave after three years, stepping down Aug. 30. He was heavily recruited by the University of Rochester for an assistant vice president position in advancement, one of several the university is looking to fill as it enters its second year of a campaign.

“It wasn’t a situation where I was out looking,” Swenson said. “They came to me and offered a tremendous opportunity.”

After nearly 20 years at the college and more than three years as director of special programs, Kristen Ford was recruited to Cornell University as a senior campaign officer. She left Jan. 5. Cornell will publicly announce a multi-billion dollar campaign Oct. 27.

Paula Davis, former director of corporate and foundation relations, left the college April 4 after only a year in the position, becoming director of institutional grants at St. Bonaventure University.

Anytime an employee leaves a campaign, at least a little ground is lost, said George Ruotolo, acting chair of Giving Institute: Leading Consultants to Non-Profits. Hiring and training costs money, and organizations often lose ground on prospective donors in the process, he said.

In preparation for the campaign, the college created several new positions, including two specifically designed for traveling the country and meeting with alumni.

As individual giving officers, Peter Irwin and Richard Ahlfeld contacted alumni to re-engage them with the college and move toward a major gift. Irwin said many of the alumni hadn’t heard from the college in more than 20 years.

Both Irwin and Ahlfeld resigned after less than a year in the development office, costing the college valuable face time with alumni, Stewart said.

Unlike Stewart and Swenson, Irwin cited office politics as his reason for leaving. He said some members of the senior leadership of the campaign mismanaged information, making decisions behind closed doors without relaying that information to people out talking with alumni.

Melanie Weymer, former director of planned and leadership giving, said she knew of the problem but wasn’t personally affected. She and Irwin were two of four people who left between Jan. 5 and May 31.

Ahlfeld could not be reached for comment.

“There were members of the team that worked well together, and others who were not always privy to information, or received information much later than other folks,” Irwin said. “Those of us who left around the same time all had very similar feelings and thought about what was happening and how staff were being related to.”

Communication issues are common among organizations, and that includes the college’s development office, Semmler said.

“As decisions about overall strategy are made and the implementation is decided upon, this information is communicated to those meeting with alumni and friends in a number of ways,” she said. “Invariably, as we make plans in the same timeframe that our staff members are talking about the campaign to alumni and friends, there will be changes in focus.”

According to a 2002 article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, fundraisers who complain about low job satisfaction say they often get treated as outcasts and are left out of discussions about programs and mission.

Caroline Cox, director of major gifts who will retire in January, said a historic campaign such as this one brings change, and people are trained and expected to perform simultaneously.

“Part of training is fitting in,” she said. “For some, it was easier than others.”

Kristiina Heptig, former assistant director of alumni relations, didn’t fit, said Stewart, her boss at the time. Heptig moved from major gifts into alumni relations, resigning soon after in fall 2005.

“It was not a good situation,” Stewart said. “It wouldn’t have done anyone good to have her continue here, for the office or the campaign.”

Heptig could not be reached for comment.

Ruotolo, of the Giving Institute, said he thinks a lot of turnover is due to a lack of performance on the part of the employee, and also that employee realizing that it’s time to move on.

“They’ve outlived what they view as their usefulness to the institution, and that’s when they start putting their résumé together,” he said.

Almost every development office has some form of dissatisfaction, including Ithaca College’s, Semmler said. The purpose of the campaign plan was to be able to plug in new parts and without affecting the ultimate goal, she said.

But Stewart said the college missed opportunities to engage alumni, solicit gifts and lay the groundwork for future campaigns by not replacing Irwin.

“We didn’t reach as many alumni as we could have,” he said. “How much would have come from those individual contacts, questionable, probably a small amount. The long-term strategy, making those second and third contacts to set up gifts for the next campaign, that’s where we suffered.”

Keeping relationships with alumni and other potential donors is the biggest challenge a campaign faces when dealing with turnover, said Swenson, former director of the campaign. But he said any campaign is really about building a relationship between the donor and the college, not an individual fundraiser.

“No one is irreplaceable,” Swenson said. “Anyone can plug in and run with it.”

While turnover can be disruptive, Ruotolo said, it’s management that’s important.

Semmler refilled positions vacated by Heptig, Davis, Ahlfeld and Weymer, and shifted responsibility for positions vacated by Swenson and Stewart. Other positions not refilled had outlived their purpose, she said.

“We’re doing what we have to do to make it work,” Semmler said.