West Virginia·Business and Financial Operations Occupations·SOC 13-1131

Best Fundraiser programs in West Virginia, ranked by enrollment

Organize activities to raise funds or otherwise solicit and gather monetary donations or other gifts for an organization. May design and produce promotional materials.

9 schools in West Virginia run programs that feed this job, graduating 293 people a year. The job pays a median of $54,760 in West Virginia across about 260 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledDevelopment OfficerPhilanthropy OfficerContract Grant WriterFundraising ConsultantFundraiserGrant WriterDonor OfficerDonor Specialist
Graduates / yr
293
in West Virginia
Median pay · West Virginia
$54,760
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
260
people employed
Schools
9
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
48%
across those schools
Median net price
$17,325
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in West Virginia that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

3 programs in West Virginia that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in West Virginia (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own West Virginia page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1260
88.7%
7$44,670$24,250
224
8.2%
3$39,658$24,500
39
3.1%
1$34,858$25,000

Top 9 schools in West Virginia

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 of the 9 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV Public · 1 feeder programs
144Marketing/Marketing Management, General$42,05865%89%
2American Public University System
Charles Town, WV Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
77Marketing/Marketing Management, General$53,57857%$10,199
3West Liberty University
West Liberty, WV Public · 3 feeder programs
45Marketing/Marketing Management, General60%97%
4University of Charleston
Charleston, WV Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
9Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication46%$21,93962%
5West Virginia Wesleyan College
Buckhannon, WV Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
6Marketing/Marketing Management, General57%$17,32593%
6Bethany College
Bethany, WV Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
5Marketing/Marketing Management, General47%$15,78359%
7Davis & Elkins College
Elkins, WV Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
4Marketing/Marketing Management, General39%$19,28494%
8West Virginia University at Parkersburg
Parkersburg, WV Public · 1 feeder programs
2Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication9%
9Marshall University
Huntington, WV Public · 1 feeder programs
1Marketing/Marketing Management, General$37,19151%96%

All 9 schools in West Virginia

Every school in West Virginia with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in West Virginia that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
West Virginia UniversityMorgantownPublic1441
American Public University SystemCharles TownPrivate for-profit771
West Liberty UniversityWest LibertyPublic453
University of CharlestonCharlestonPrivate not-for-profit91
West Virginia Wesleyan CollegeBuckhannonPrivate not-for-profit61
Bethany CollegeBethanyPrivate not-for-profit51
Davis & Elkins CollegeElkinsPrivate not-for-profit41
West Virginia University at ParkersburgParkersburgPublic21
Marshall UniversityHuntingtonPublic11

What fundraisers earn in West Virginia

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in West Virginia
$54,760
Mean annual
$55,790
Jobs in state
260
What the range looks like
10th pct$37,250Median$54,76090th pct$75,590
Versus the national median
-24.5%

U.S. median $72,550. West Virginia pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.52×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in West Virginia

Morgantown, WV
$63,770median
60 jobs
Charleston, WV
$57,220median
50 jobs
Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH
$53,190median
50 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+4.3%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
10,200
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
5,800
134,400 → 140,200
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Fundraisers page.

How to become a Fundraiser

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

SpeakingReading ComprehensionActive ListeningWritingCritical ThinkingActive Learning

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in West Virginia

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 7 majors mapped to Fundraisers6 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 09.0100Communication, General
  • 09.0900Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication
  • 09.0902Public Relations/Image Management
  • 09.0904Political Communication
  • 52.0214Research Administration(no graduates reported)
  • 52.0502Grantsmanship
  • 52.1401Marketing/Marketing Management, General

Common questions

Answers for people weighing fundraisers programs in West Virginia.

What degree do you need to become a Fundraiser?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Marketing/Marketing Management, General, which awarded 260 degrees in West Virginia in 2024-25, 88.7% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Fundraiser?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Marketing, Public Relations, Communication and Media Studies. Together they graduate about 293 people a year in West Virginia.

How much do fundraisers earn in West Virginia?+

The median is $54,760 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 24.5% below the U.S. median of $72,550. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for fundraisers growing?+

BLS projects a +4.3% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 10,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in West Virginia?+

9 institutions in West Virginia reported graduates from at least one of the 3 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do fundraisers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Development Officer, Philanthropy Officer, Contract Grant Writer, Fundraising Consultant among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 13-1131.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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