The other day someone relatively new to development reached out to discuss his career trajectory and it gave me a great chance to reflect on my own career. In Part 1 of this 3 part story, I will share the story of my first job in development and why I left a great work environment and moved across t...

By Mary Hernandez, Petrus Blog Contributor

The newest release of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) annual Compensation and Benefits Study is timed perfectly for organizations creating a strategic plan to start or grow their development team in the new year. We've limited the sc...

By Matt Bond, Director of Development at St. John's Catholic Student Center at Oklahoma State University

As many people in our field, I fell into the profession of development by happenstance. A great priest walked into a classroom of my former student center where my sister-in-law just happ...

By JoAnn Shull, Petrus Consultant

I’m going to be really honest with you, dear reader, in that for the vast majority of my life I had no idea what this idea of “development” was or that I would end up in a career that I didn’t even know existed.  

Growing up, my family was not church-going, bu...

By Rhen Hoehn, St. Albert the Great University Parish Development Director, Houghton, Michigan

I grew up in a Catholic family that practiced the faith. While I was preparing for confirmation, I went on a NET (National Evangelization Team) retreat. This retreat plus the grace of the sacrament en...