Making the Ask: Tips on How to Get Your Raise 5643

Making the Ask: Tips on How to Get Your Raise

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As we near the end of the fiscal year, for a lot of us that means it’s time for the dreaded or highly anticipated annual performance reviews. For those of you who don’t receive annual performance reviews, I highly suggest that you advocate for them. Even if your organization does not give out bonuses or raises, it is a good metric of all the hard work us database administrators do for our organizations, which should then be added to your resume and LinkedIn. Seriously, we should all pause and give ourselves a round of applause! We are the data wizards that make sure our organization’s run efficiently and our donors are properly managed.

In the non-profit sector, a lot of us are operating on shoe-string budgets, little to no staff, and increasing fundraising expectations, which means there will always be a million and one reasons why you may not feel entitled to ask for a raise. I know, because for three years I was one of them. Despite taking on increasing responsibilities and taking the position where it had never gone before, I watched my other colleagues passing me by and receiving the raises that I wanted, but didn’t feel important enough to ask for. Tip #1: Ask!

With the help of the Blackbaud Community, Facebook Raiser’s Edge user group, and my regional RE Support Group, I recently conducted a poll (Results only) of my fellow DBA’s salaries to help me successfully prepare for my own annual performance review and salary re-negotiations. If you haven’t already taken the poll, I strongly suggest that you participate. Tip #2: Compile and use the survey results that are most relevant to you and your position/organization to help you determine a mean or average for a DBA at an organization that is like your own in terms of size, location, industry, budget, responsibilities, etc. Another helpful tool is this website, which calculates the cost of living per geographic areas. As we all know, often pay in the non-profit sector is low despite the cost of living in the area. Use this tool to further help calibrate what your salary should be given the area you live in, or maybe where the area where you are considering a job.

Tip #3: If your negotiations do not go in your favor, advocate for other perks. Too often office politics will play a part in who gets a raise and who doesn’t and as the unsung heroes of our organizations, we are often taken for granted. If you are unable to successfully advocate for a raise, do not give up! I strongly encourage you to advocate for other benefits such as increased PTO, staff support/cross-training, flexible work schedule, or to complete trainings.

I encourage you all to go forth and advocate for yourselves, and may the data be with you! 1fe22e761b41b3793db2cb5825c3b069-huge-ti

P.S. If you have any successful negotiation tips or tales, please chime in on the comments! 
 
News Tips, Tricks, and Timesavers! 05/02/2019 2:46pm EDT

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8 Comments
Thanks Lori McDermott‍! 
Great topic :) 
Beth Hudson‍ Great idea! I'm going to file my certifications now with our Accounting/HR Team! 
If you've earned any Blackbaud certifications be sure to have those added to your employee file and add to your achievement list. Show off your expertise!
Thanks, Jennifer Vincent‍! I love that, I will have to re-brand my files of achievements!  
Excellent topic (and meme) choice Jenna Anderson‍! I quickly lose track of things I've done throughout the year, so I now keep a "smile file" on my desktop and add notes about cool side-projects or presentations I've made. That way at annual review time, all I have to do is narrow my dates and there's a list of one-off projects I can share. 
Thanks, Daniel Snyder‍! That is a great tip as it is so true, especially if your boss or decision makers are in Development! 
Dan Snyder Dan Snyder May '19
Another tip is if you have improved a process at your organization that saved staff time, try to put a dollar figure on the savings you have created for your organization or at least state how much time a process will save.

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