Resume template · Updated October 2026
Donor relations manager resume template
Short answer
Leslie suits a donor relations manager: a centred header and blue accent lines give a warm, polished look that fits a role built on relationships, with experience first. The fictional sample runs stewardship for a university's major and endowed donors, writes impact reports and raised donor retention. Show donors stewarded, retention, reports, events and gifts renewed.
Download the donor relations manager sample
Catherine is a fictional donor relations manager. Replace every detail with your own before you send it.
The files are made in your browser by Resumity's own exporters, from this sample. The builder opens it as your own resume: click any line to replace it. Free plan, no watermark.
Why Leslie suits a donor relations manager resume
Leslie prints a centred name and contact line, then summary and experience under blue accent rules. Stewardship is about care and polish, and this neat, gracious layout fits the role while keeping retention numbers easy to find.
Second choice: Henrietta. Henrietta is plainer and more traditional, a fit for hospitals and large foundations.
What goes in each section, in Leslie's order
Leslie prints its sections in a fixed order, the same in the PDF and the Word file. Here is that order for this sample, and what to put in each section.
- Professional Summary. Organisation type, donor groups stewarded, years in fundraising and one retention or renewal result.
- Work Experience. Bullets on donors stewarded, retention, impact reports, recognition programs, events and support for major gift officers.
- Skills. Stewardship planning, donor communications, recognition, events and donor database tools.
- Education. Degree with the year.
The sample resume as text
The same content as the files above, so you can copy a line or compare it with your own.
Catherine Brooks
Donor Relations Manager, University Advancement
Durham, NC | catherine.brooks@example.com | (919) 555-0166 | linkedin.com/in/sample-catherine-brooks
Donor relations manager at a private university with nine years in advancement. Run stewardship for about 1,200 major and endowed fund donors and raised retention in the leadership giving society.
Experience
Donor Relations Manager, Carolina Heights University, Durham, NC (07/2020 to Present)
- Run stewardship plans for about 1,200 major and endowed fund donors.
- Retention in the leadership giving society rose from 72% to 81% in three years.
- Produce about 900 endowment impact reports a year with deans and finance teams.
- Plan the annual scholarship luncheon that brings together about 400 donors and students.
- Prepare stewardship briefings for 15 major gift officers before donor visits.
Stewardship Coordinator, Piedmont Regional Hospital Foundation, Raleigh, NC (06/2016 to 06/2020)
- Wrote donor thank-you letters and impact stories.
- Managed the donor recognition wall.
- Planned hospital tours for donors.
Education
Bachelor of Arts, English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (05/2016)
Skills
Stewardship planning, Impact reporting, Donor recognition, Event planning, Donor briefings, Raiser's Edge NXT, Salesforce, Adobe InDesign, Gracious writing
How to make the sample yours
Show retention
Donor retention or renewal rates for the groups you steward, compared with a baseline. Retention is the core result of stewardship.
Count reports and touches
Impact reports, endowment reports and personal touches per year.
Describe recognition
Giving societies, naming and donor walls you manage.
List events
Donor events and tours you plan, with attendance.
Show teamwork
How you support major gift officers with plans and materials.
Keywords to keep where they are true
Terms this kind of resume is usually searched for. Use the posting's exact wording, and only for work you have done.
- donor relations
- stewardship
- donor retention
- impact reports
- endowment reports
- donor recognition
- major gifts support
- giving societies
- donor events
- Raiser's Edge
- advancement
- nonprofit fundraising
Mistakes to avoid
- Donor names or gift amounts.
- Claiming gifts that officers closed.
- No retention or volume numbers.
- Long lists of events.
How the sample PDF reads in text extractors
We exported this sample with Resumity's PDF exporter in Chrome on 2026-10-29 and read the file back with three open-source text extractors. This shows whether software that turns a PDF into text can recover it; it is not a test of any commercial applicant tracking system. How we test templates.
| Extractor | Name, email, phone | Headings | Bullets intact |
|---|---|---|---|
| pdf.js 4.10.38 | All found | 4 of 4 | 8 of 8 |
| pdftotext (Xpdf) 4.00 | All found | 4 of 4 | 8 of 8 |
| pypdf 6.13.0 | All found | 4 of 4 | 8 of 8 |
Frequently asked questions
What should a donor relations manager resume focus on?
Donors stewarded, retention, reports, recognition and events. Advancement leaders want to see that donors feel thanked and keep giving.
How do I show results in stewardship?
Use retention or renewal rates for the groups you serve, compared with a baseline. You can also show report volume, event attendance and on-time delivery. Some teams also track the share of donors who give again within a year after an impact report, which is a useful measure.
Should I list major gifts?
Describe how you supported gift officers rather than claiming gifts they closed. If you worked on a campaign, say what part you owned. Officers often credit stewardship in renewals, so describe the plans you built for those donors.
How do I move from coordinator to manager?
Show stewardship plans you designed, programs you led and staff or volunteers you guided. Owning a donor group end to end is the main step up.
Is this template right for hospitals or arts groups?
Yes. Replace endowed funds with the giving programs your organisation uses, such as patient care funds or memberships. Describe the donor groups by size and type so readers can compare.
How long should the resume be?
One to two pages. Keep retention results and donor group size on the first page.
Will applicant tracking systems read this Leslie PDF?
The sample PDF read back with its contact details, all 4 section headings and all 8 bullets intact in three open-source text extractors (pdf.js, pdftotext and pypdf). Commercial systems such as Workday, Greenhouse or Taleo were not tested, and each employer configures its own.
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