For New York-area nonprofit organizations, the high turnover rate for professional development staff suggests a problem that is verging on critical, the New York Times reports.

According to the most recent figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in the nonprofit sector grew 2.5 percent a year from 1997 to 2001, outpacing the growth rate for both the private (1.8 percent) and public (1.6 percent) sectors. But the development staff needed to support the growing numbers of employees at nonprofits have proven hard to find and retain. The Association of Fundraising Professionals reports that in 2003 the national turnover rate for professional fundraisers in the United States hit 25 percent. The resulting demand for professionals who can consistently raise money is pushing development salaries up sharply, particularly in the New York City area, where the average salary for an experienced fundraiser rose 9 percent, to $71,470, in 2003.

In fact, in places like New York, where the high cost of living warrants higher salaries, smaller organizations increasingly find themselves priced out of the market. Equality Now, an international women's rights organization based in Manhattan, has no full-time fundraiser, even though it must raise $1.3 million a year to support its operations. "We're forever faced with a chicken-and-egg situation," said executive director Aina Bien-Aim�. "We can't survive without fundraising, but hiring a fundraiser is expensive." This year, she added, Equality Now's board decided to hire a development director, even if it meant drawing down cash reserves.

Most observers agree that fundraising is more difficult than it was a decade ago, when Wall Street and private foundations were flush with cash and large grants were readily available. Paula Kerger, chief operating officer of WNET, the public broadcasting station in New York, is seeking a new deputy director of foundation and government grants. "More organizations need to raise money because government has cut back," Kerger told the Times. And while her development staff of twelve and membership department of fifteen haven't experienced the high turnover rates common at other nonprofits, the station has had to work harder to broaden its donor base.