Managing occupational identity threats and job turnover: How former and current fundraisers manage moments of stigmatized identities

• Author: Rebecca J. Meisenbach,Jessica M. Rick,Jaclyn K. Brandhorst
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• Date: 01 March 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21332

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Managing occupational identity threats and job

turnover: How former and current fundraisers

manage moments of stigmatized identities

Rebecca J. Meisenbach

1

| Jessica M. Rick

2

| Jaclyn K. Brandhorst

3

1

Department of Communication, University of

Missouri, Columbia, Missouri

2

Department of Communications, University of

Southern Indiana, Evansville, Indiana

3

Department of Management, University of

Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri

Correspondence

Rebecca J. Meisenbach, Department of

Communication, University of Missouri,

108 Switzler Hall, Columbia, MO 65211.

Email: meisenbachr@missouri.edu

Maintaining a strong group of fundraisers amidst high

turnover rates is essential to the financial health of non-

profit organizations. One issue potentially harming fun-

draisers' success and continued presence in the field is the

negative reputation sometimes associated with fundraising

work. This exploratory study uses Stigma Management

Communication Theory and content analysis of in-depth

interviews with current and former university fundraisers

to investigate how fundraisers communicatively manage

stigmatizing messages associated with their occupation.

The findings suggest that current fundraisers use a greater

number and variety of stigma management strategies than

former fundraisers described using. The findings also

highlight the potential consequences and distinctions

among ways of using humor to manage stigma messages.

These findings can be translated into orientation and train-

ing programs for fundraisers, teaching them successful

ways of framing their occupations and work.

KEYWORDS

dirty work, fundraisers, occupational identity, stigma,

turnover

1|INTRODUCTION

Nonprofit organizations in the United States are experiencing a 19% annual staff turnover rate

(Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey, 2016). Within those numbers, fundraisers are a troubling

subset, with the average tenure of a fundraiser recently estimated at approximately 16 months

(Flandez, 2012). Iarrobino (2006) called this fundraiser turnover an epidemic over a decade ago, and

the trend has not abated. Although higher-level fundraisers, such as Chief Development Officers,

Received: 9 October 2017 Revised: 22 June 2018 Accepted: 15 July 2018

DOI: 10.1002/nml.21332

Nonprofit Management and Leadership. 2019;29:383–399. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/nml © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 383

have an average tenure of over three years, they still have a recently reported annual turnover rate of

25% (Reed, 2013). This high turnover rate couples problematically with Nonprofit Employment Prac-

tices’(NEP, 2016) reports that fundraising is the most anticipated growth need area in the nonprofit

sector and with Meyer and Leitner's (2018) recent finding that abundance in human resources,

referred to as human resources slack, correlates with higher levels of innovation in nonprofit

organizations.

Despite these concerning conditions, systematic research on fundraisers is scarce, with the most

comprehensive studies having been conducted over 20 years ago (Brittingham & Pezzullo, 1990;

Kelly, 1991, 1998). Recent fundraising research has focused on donors (e.g., Croson, Handy, &

Shang, 2009) and on increasing the success of those engaged in fundraising (e.g., James III, 2016),

rather than on understanding fundraisers' career choices and identity constructions. In the philan-

thropic field more broadly, Stewart (2016) recently investigated how nonprofit executives experience

turnover processes, but her research did not focus on the fundraising elements of such turnover. Dur-

onio and Tempel (1997) suggested that fundraiser turnover rates are “related to the rapid growth of

the field, the resulting opportunities for advancement for fundraisers, and the strong competition for

experienced fundraisers”(p. 57). However, their argument assumed that fundraisers were staying in

the profession. Movement of fundraisers from one institution to another in search of better pay at

another nonprofit certainly occurs, but across the sector, less than half of those who voluntarily leave

a position remain within the nonprofit sector (NEP Survey, 2016). Other research addressing fundrai-

ser turnover has identified several potential reasons for leaving the profession, including extended

work hours, unreasonable demands for productivity, and low job satisfaction (Haggerty, 2015; Kelly,

1998; Payton, 1987). Potentially related to low job satisfaction, fundraisers are also susceptible to

negative reputation issues tied directly to public’s tendencies to frame fundraising only in financial

terms (Carver & Mize Smith, 2016; Duronio & Tempel, 1997; Meisenbach, 2008).

Prior research on negative reputation issues among service industry workers has identified

workers' consciousness of negative job stereotypes as linked to lower organizational identification,

intention to change jobs, and actual changes in jobs (Pinel & Paulin, 2005; Shantz & Booth, 2014;

Wildes, 2005). Pinel and Paulin (2005) found that, although supervisor support correlated with less

likelihood of expecting to leave a job, support did not lessen service workers' stigma consciousness.

These authors concluded that employers should “think about ways of directly tackling the negative

and seemingly tenacious effects of stigmatization at the workplace”(p. 351).

Organizational communication scholars are among those who seek to understand both occupa-

tional stigma and job turnover, and as such, their work may offer insights to address these issues and

their effects among fundraisers. Communication-based exploration of how fundraisers manage stigma

has multiple implications. First, this investigation allows researchers insight into how fundraisers

make sense of their jobs through talk. Second, this study gives voice to former and current fundrai-

sers' (CFRs) experiences with negative statements about their profession that are rarely publicly dis-

cussed. Third, a thorough examination of how fundraisers discuss the management of stigma may

assist organizations in retaining valued employees. Finally, an understanding of these identity threats

may aid in the development of effective coping strategies that can be adopted by newcomers as they

enter the field. Therefore, this exploratory study answers the call for an understanding of how indi-

viduals can effectively manage moments of stigma associated with organizational identity threats

(Ashcraft & Trethewey, 2004; Pepper & Larson, 2006).

Awareness of a variety of these stigma management strategies can be useful to individuals work-

ing in stigmatized jobs and those hoping to retain them. Specifically, this analysis of strategies used

by both those who have remained in and those who have left fundraising provides insight into

384 MEISENBACH ET AL.