Richard and I have worked with hundreds of major gift officers and development professionals over the years.  In that time, we have helped many of them either move into new positions within their current organization, move into a similar position with a different organization or move into a completely new profession outside of fundraising altogether.
Richard would agree with me that, outside of helping a major gift officer or development professional grow in his or her craft, helping good people find their way to fulfill their passion in life is incredibly fulfilling.
There is nothing like watching someone who enjoys his work.  Think about it.  The majority of your life, apart from sleeping perhaps, is spent in some kind of employment in order to earn a living.  Why wouldn’t you want to be happy doing that?
But, let’s be honest.  In our industry, many folks are either hanging on too long or leaving too quickly and moving on to other jobs.
In looking for candidates for positions, I’ve gone through hundreds of resumes, and it seems that a majority of candidates for good development positions are hopping all over the place every 2.3 years.  Either there really is this illusion that there is something better out there or folks are just running away from something.
Then, of course, there is the employee who has been at one organization for 10+ years (remember the movie, Office Space?) No one has the guts to be honest with that person to tell him he is ineffective and it may be better to pursue another line of work.  Instead, he languishes comfortably while everyone figures out how to work around him.
Okay then, when is it a good time to leave one position and pursue something new?
Here are some thoughts:

1. When you have accomplished all you wanted to with your organization.  When you starting working at your organization, what were your goals?  Not just revenue goals, but professional goals.  Have you met them yet?  If not, can you meet or exceed them with the team that surrounds you?
2. When you can no longer grow.  This is a tough one for many people.  They may love the mission and the pay is fine, but they have hit a dead end as far as professional growth.  Perhaps, over the last 5-6 years you have been the associate development director.  You are now ready to be a development director, but the one you have isn’t going anywhere.  Well, perhaps this is YOUR time to move into something new.  Why stay somewhere that stifles your growth?
3. When the vision you have for yourself is not at the organization where you currently serve.  As a good development professional, you have a vision for yourself and where you ultimately want to land in your career.  You know your strengths and weaknesses and what you’re passionate about.  A new opportunity comes up that is a marker for you toward that vision.  Take it.
4. When you’re miserable.  You might be saying, “Well, of course, this is a no brainer. Why would you do something that is making your life miserable?”  Richard and I see so many folks who are miserable and have been that way for years in the same job.  I really try to have compassion for these folks, but if your job or your organization is so miserable, you need to leave.  Why are you hanging on to something that is bringing you down?
5. When you’ve lost passion for the mission.  This seems obvious, but I see so many good people who stay in their jobs either because of loyalty or guilt and they just don’t have passion for the work anymore.  Do the organization a favor and move away.
6. When you’re afraid.  Fear drives many of us to do stupid things.  And it drives us to do absolutely nothing.  My contention is that we are afraid to die.  No, not the big death (although most folks are afraid of that too.) I’m talking about all the little deaths we encounter in this journey of life.  Life is a constant cycle of suffering, death and rebirth…with bits of joy, wonder and happiness in-between, to be sure.  But if we are ever going to move from one place to another, we have to die a little bit.  That fear of death thing gets a hold of us and doesn’t want to let go.  Let it.  Suffer a bit, and then move on to something greater.  Think of all the great things you could be doing if you weren’t afraid to pursue them!
7. If your gut says it’s time to go. When all is said and done, only YOU know if it’s a good time to move on.  But this requires that you really KNOW yourself, that you are authentic and that you’re real in your relationships with others.  If you don’t know your own truth, then how can you trust your gut?  I know too many development professionals who don’t know who they really are.  Many of them are those folks that bop around from one organization to another every couple of years or the ones that stay with an organization so long everyone wants to see them leave.  You don’t want to be one of those people.

It’s not easy to leave and move on to something else.  But, of course, it shouldn’t be easy, either.  It’s that little death that you must go through in order to birth something new.  Richard and I don’t want you to be that person who leaves every 2.3 years,  nor the person who stays forever.  If you are feeling the itch, if something doesn’t seem right, then take these seven reasons with you and figure out if one is either making you run or holding you back.
Someone once told me, “Never run away from something, run toward something instead.”  That’s good advice for us all.
Jeff