Top 12 Development Coordinator Skills to Put on Your Resume

In development coordination, your resume has to do more than list duties. It should hum with evidence of impact, smart systems, and people-first savvy. Below are the 12 skills that consistently move the needle for hiring teams—technical and soft skills braided together—so you can present a profile that feels both credible and sharp.

Development Coordinator Skills

1. Salesforce
2. Raiser's Edge
3. Grant Writing
4. Project Management
5. Data Analysis
6. Microsoft Excel
7. Donor Relations
8. Event Planning
9. Adobe Creative Cloud (formerly Creative Suite)
10. Social Media Management
11. Budgeting
12. CRM Systems

1. Salesforce

Salesforce is a cloud CRM platform used to track relationships, manage campaigns, and automate processes across fundraising, marketing, and programs. It supports custom apps, declarative automation, and robust reporting so teams work from one reliable source of truth.

Why It's Important

For a Development Coordinator, Salesforce centralizes donor and partner data, streamlines communication, and automates repetitive tasks. That means cleaner handoffs, faster follow-up, clearer insights, and fewer missed opportunities.

How to Improve Salesforce Skills

1. Customize for fit: Build custom fields, page layouts, and record types that mirror your workflows. Keep screens lean; make the important fields impossible to miss.

2. Automate with Flow: Replace manual steps using Flow for assignments, alerts, and updates. Sunset older Process Builder automations to reduce conflicts.

3. Raise data quality: Add validation rules, picklists, and duplicate rules. Schedule data audits; document naming conventions and required fields.

4. Train and adopt: Create quick reference guides, short videos, and role-based training. Trailhead modules help new users ramp up quickly.

5. Integrate wisely: Connect email, events, forms, accounting, and marketing tools using native connectors or APIs so activities land in Salesforce automatically.

6. Report what matters: Build dashboards for pipeline, LYBUNT/SYBUNT, response rates, and grant milestones. Share weekly to drive action.

How to Display Salesforce Skills on Your Resume

2. Raiser's Edge

Raiser’s Edge (including NXT) is donor management and fundraising software for nonprofits. It tracks gifts, pledges, campaigns, events, and interactions to power cultivation and stewardship.

Why It's Important

It’s the operational backbone for moves management, acknowledgment workflows, and gift reporting—translating fundraising activity into accurate, actionable data.

How to Improve Raiser's Edge Skills

1. Keep the database clean: Standardize entry rules, dedupe regularly, and archive stale records. Consistency beats cleverness.

2. Segment with intent: Create smart lists by recency, frequency, amount, affinity, and engagement. Personalized outreach lifts response.

3. Tune reports and dashboards: Track campaign ROI, retention, acquisition costs, and upgrade rates. Automate scheduled reports to stakeholders.

4. Upgrade user skills: Provide ongoing training and office hours. Document naming conventions, codes, and processes so usage stays uniform.

5. Integrate and automate: Connect online giving, email, and events tools. Reduce hand entry; pipe data in once, use it everywhere.

How to Display Raiser's Edge Skills on Your Resume

3. Grant Writing

Grant writing covers researching prospects, aligning programs to funder priorities, crafting persuasive narratives, assembling budgets, and delivering clean, compliant submissions and reports.

Why It's Important

Grants can anchor core programs, seed pilots, and stabilize growth. Skilled coordination turns scattered inputs into fundable, credible proposals with measurable outcomes.

How to Improve Grant Writing Skills

1. Know the funder: Study mission fit, eligibility, past awards, and evaluation criteria. Tailor language to their stated outcomes.

2. Set sharp objectives: Specific, measurable, time-bound outcomes with clear indicators and a plausible evaluation plan.

3. Tell a tight story: Problem, solution, evidence, capacity, and impact—no fluff. Use plain language and concrete examples.

4. Back claims with data: Cite current, relevant statistics and program results. Pull from public datasets and your own evaluation findings.

5. Budget with integrity: Align line items to activities; include realistic overhead; match narrative to numbers.

6. Peer review: Build time for feedback and compliance checks. Fresh eyes catch gaps and jargon.

7. Keep learning: Seek trainings and resources from organizations like Candid and professional associations.

How to Display Grant Writing Skills on Your Resume

4. Project Management

Project management means planning, sequencing, resourcing, and steering work to a finish—on time, on budget, with quality intact. In development, that covers campaigns, events, proposals, and cross-team initiatives.

Why It's Important

It prevents drift. It clarifies ownership, surfaces risks early, and keeps stakeholders aligned, so results don’t wobble at the finish line.

How to Improve Project Management Skills

1. Pick a method: Use Agile for iterative efforts, Kanban for flow, or a classic timeline for fixed-scope projects. Be consistent.

2. Use the right tools: Task boards, timelines, and shared docs (e.g., Asana, Trello, Monday.com, Smartsheet) to track work in one place.

3. Make comms explicit: Cadence, channels, owners, and decision rights—write them down. Summaries beat sprawling threads.

4. Manage risk: Maintain a risk log with triggers and mitigations. Revisit weekly.

5. Retrospectives: After action, collect lessons and update playbooks. Then actually apply them.

How to Display Project Management Skills on Your Resume

5. Data Analysis

Data analysis is the practice of turning raw information into insight—spotting patterns, testing hypotheses, and informing decisions for campaigns, grants, events, and stewardship.

Why It's Important

It sharpens strategy: who to ask, when to ask, and how much to ask for. It reveals what’s working, what’s waste, and where to pivot.

How to Improve Data Analysis Skills

1. Collect cleanly: Standardize forms and fields. Define required data and ownership for each source.

2. Level up tools: Excel for analysis, Power BI or Tableau for dashboards, Google Sheets for quick collaboration.

3. Know the basics: Averages, distributions, significance, cohorts, and simple forecasting. Enough to avoid bad conclusions.

4. Visualize clearly: Choose the chart that matches the question. Label plainly; remove clutter.

5. Practice on real data: Build sample dashboards, segment donors, test assumptions. Iterate based on stakeholder feedback.

How to Display Data Analysis Skills on Your Resume

6. Microsoft Excel

Excel is the workhorse for organizing, analyzing, and visualizing data—budgets, donor lists, pivot tables, and quick models that support decisions.

Why It's Important

It turns messy exports into tidy insights and repeatable reports. Fast, flexible, and familiar across teams.

How to Improve Microsoft Excel Skills

1. Advanced formulas: Master LOOKUPs, INDEX/MATCH/XMATCH, TEXT functions, and dynamic arrays.

2. PivotTables and PivotCharts: Summarize giving, segments, and trends with slicers for instant filtering.

3. Data cleanup: Use Power Query to transform, merge, and standardize datasets reliably.

4. Automation: Learn basic VBA or Office Scripts to eliminate repetitive tasks.

5. Visualization: Build clear charts and apply conditional formatting for quick scans.

6. Quality controls: Data validation, named ranges, and protected sheets to reduce errors.

How to Display Microsoft Excel Skills on Your Resume

7. Donor Relations

Donor relations is the art and discipline of building trust—thoughtful outreach, timely acknowledgment, consistent reporting, and meaningful engagement that deepens commitment.

Why It's Important

Retention beats acquisition on cost and stability. Strong relationships lift lifetime value and unlock major gifts when the time is right.

How to Improve Donor Relations Skills

1. Personalize: Reference past gifts, interests, and outcomes. Small, specific details land with weight.

2. Report impact: Share results, not just activities. Photos, quotes, and quick metrics stick.

3. Thank fast: Acknowledge within 48 hours. Layer email, letter, and calls for higher-value gifts.

4. Invite dialogue: Ask for feedback and preferences; honor communication channels and cadence.

5. Build community: Events, briefings, site visits, and peer connections strengthen ties.

6. Systematize: Create stewardship matrices and calendars so no donor falls through the cracks.

How to Display Donor Relations Skills on Your Resume

8. Event Planning

Event planning spans concept to debrief: goals, budgets, venues, run-of-show, vendor coordination, guest experience, fundraising mechanics, and post-event follow-up.

Why It's Important

Events generate revenue, visibility, and connection. When logistics fade into the background, your mission takes center stage.

How to Improve Event Planning Skills

1. Start with objectives: Define audience, outcomes, and success metrics before booking anything. Then align every choice to those targets.

2. Budget with buffers: Include contingencies for AV, labor, and last-minute needs. Track commitments in real time.

3. Vendor relationships: Build a vetted roster with clear scopes, SLAs, and backup options.

4. Team coordination: Centralize tasks and timelines. Daily check-ins the week of; no surprises.

5. Marketing and enrollment: Use email, social, and partners with consistent messaging and a simple registration flow.

6. Engagement tech: Badging, check-in, live polls, and mobile agendas elevate the experience.

7. Debrief and document: Survey attendees, tally revenue vs. expense, capture lessons, and update your playbook.

How to Display Event Planning Skills on Your Resume

9. Adobe Creative Cloud (formerly Creative Suite)

Adobe Creative Cloud includes tools for design, video, and web—Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, and more—used to craft collateral, proposals, reports, and campaign assets.

Why It's Important

Strong visuals cut through noise. Polished materials elevate your brand, clarify complex ideas, and boost response rates.

How to Improve Adobe Creative Suite Skills

1. Standardize assets: Use Creative Cloud Libraries for logos, colors, and templates so every piece stays on brand.

2. Speed up production: Create actions, presets, and styles. Batch tasks when possible.

3. Collaborate cleanly: Lean on cloud documents and version history. Name files sensibly.

4. Design for accessibility: Sufficient contrast, readable typography, alt text, and logical hierarchy.

5. Learn new features: Explore updated tools, including AI-assisted edits and Adobe Express for quick-turn social graphics.

6. Customize your workspace: Panels and shortcuts arranged for the work you do most.

How to Display Adobe Creative Suite Skills on Your Resume

10. Social Media Management

Social media management covers strategy, content creation, publishing, engagement, and analytics across platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, and X.

Why It's Important

It widens your reach, builds community, and moves supporters from awareness to action—event signups, donations, advocacy.

How to Improve Social Media Management Skills

1. Define goals: Awareness, acquisition, retention, fundraising—choose and measure accordingly.

2. Know your audience: Map personas, platforms, and content preferences. Meet people where they actually are.

3. Plan ahead: Build a rolling content calendar. Mix educational, impact, behind-the-scenes, and calls-to-action.

4. Engage promptly: Respond to comments and messages quickly. Conversations, not broadcasts.

5. Prioritize visuals: Crisp images, short videos, captions with hooks. Brand templates save time.

6. Track and adapt: Use native analytics, UTM tags, and A/B tests. Double down on what performs.

7. Stay current: Platform features shift often. Refresh tactics quarterly.

8. Accessibility matters: Add alt text, captions, and descriptive copy. Inclusion expands reach.

How to Display Social Media Management Skills on Your Resume

11. Budgeting

Budgeting allocates resources to priorities, tracks plan versus actuals, and informs tradeoffs—vital for grants, events, and campaigns.

Why It's Important

Money tells the story of strategy. Sound budgets keep ambitions tethered to reality and help leaders choose with clarity.

How to Improve Budgeting Skills

1. Set SMART goals: Tie dollars to specific outcomes and timelines.

2. Structure clearly: Separate fixed and variable costs; map expenses to activities and funding sources.

3. Use the right tools: Spreadsheets or planning software with version control and scenario modeling.

4. Review routinely: Monthly variance analysis with notes and corrective actions.

5. Scenario plan: Build best/base/worst cases. Pre-plan levers to pull if revenue shifts.

6. Collaborate: Involve program and development leads so assumptions hold up in practice.

7. Maintain controls: Clear approval thresholds, documentation, and audit trails.

How to Display Budgeting Skills on Your Resume

12. CRM Systems

CRM systems manage contacts, interactions, pipelines, gifts, and tasks across teams. They underpin outreach, stewardship, and reporting.

Why It's Important

Centralized data means better coordination and fewer missteps. With shared visibility, teams act faster and measure what matters.

How to Improve CRM Systems Skills

1. Customize thoughtfully: Fields, stages, and dashboards should reflect how your organization actually works.

2. Integrate the stack: Connect email, forms, events, accounting, and marketing automation so data flows without manual re-entry.

3. Train and support: Onboarding paths, role-based cheat sheets, and office hours keep adoption high.

4. Protect data quality: Governance policies, validation rules, and routine audits. Decide who owns which records.

5. Automate the mundane: Triggers for reminders, task creation, and acknowledgments free time for relationship work.

6. Mind privacy: Respect consent, retention, and access controls. Document compliance practices.

How to Display CRM Systems Skills on Your Resume