Associate Director of Development

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County; Madison (WI); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County seeks an Associate Director of Development to lead fundraising across annual giving, donor stewardship, alumni relations, and operations. You will build and manage a portfolio of donors and prospects, drive campaigns, and improve development systems.

The ideal candidate will have 5+ years in nonprofit fundraising, strong relationship-building, and expertise with donor CRM, analysis, and reporting.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in fundraising/nonprofit development.
• Proven success cultivating and soliciting donors.
• Experience using a nonprofit CRM to manage donor data.
• Strong relationship-building and communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Commitment to BBBS mission.

Responsibilities

• Manage a donor portfolio: cultivation, solicitation, stewardship.
• Lead annual and year-end giving campaigns.
• Develop strategies to acquire and upgrade donors.
• Monitor giving performance and fundraising goals.
• Cultivate event participants and donors.
• Lead donor stewardship and alumni relations program.
• Manage CRM, donor data, portfolios, and segmentation.
• Produce fundraising communications and collateral.
• Oversee gifts processing and acknowledgments.
• Coordinate with vendors and timelines.
• Collaborate with Development Director on sponsors.
• Represent BBBS to donors and stakeholders.

Skills

Donor relations

Fundraising

CRM management

Campaign management

Portfolio management

Relationship-building

Tools

CRM software

Job description

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County is a youth mentoring organization that has served the community for over 60 years, believing every child has the potential to succeed and thrive. The organization creates meaningful, carefully monitored matches between adult volunteers ("Bigs") and children ("Littles") ages 6–18 in Dane County. These one-to-one relationships are designed to provide guidance, encouragement, and positive role modeling. The organization’s work focuses on building strong, supportive connections that have a direct and lasting impact on the lives of young people.

The Associate Director of Development is a senior member of the Development team responsible for driving fundraising results and providing leadership across individual giving, donor stewardship, alumni relations, fundraising campaigns, and development operations.The Associate Director manages a portfolio of donors and prospects and independently cultivates relationships, identifies opportunities, solicits support, and drives follow-up. This position also strengthens fundraising systems and strategy through effective use of the agency’s CRM and donor data.The Associate Director serves as a key thought partner to the Development Director and helps ensure fundraising priorities move forward effectively. The ideal candidate is an experienced, relationship-oriented fundraiser with strong fundraising instincts, initiative, sound judgment, and follow-through.

Key Responsibilities

Individual Giving & Donor Relations

• Manage a portfolio of annual and mid-level donors and prospects through identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Lead annual and year-end giving campaigns and oversee monthly and other individual giving strategies.
• Develop strategies to acquire, retain, and upgrade donors, deepen relationships, and move prospects through the fundraising pipeline.
• Monitor individual giving performance and donor trends, manage assigned fundraising goals, and proactively identify growth opportunities.
• Cultivate event participants and donors as part of the broader individual giving pipeline.

Donor Stewardship & Alumni Relations

• Develop and lead a year-round donor stewardship strategy, including donor recognition, impact reporting, and personalized engagement.
• Manage and grow alumni engagement, including the Alumni Ambassador program and relationships with former Bigs, Littles, families, and board members.
• Work across departments to identify stories, outcomes, and other impact information for donor and alumni communications.

Development Operations & CRM

• Lead the effective use of the agency’s donor CRM, ensuring accurate donor data, portfolios, prospect pipelines, and segmentation.
• Use donor data, reports, and dashboards to identify opportunities, inform fundraising and stewardship strategies, and monitor progress.
• Oversee gift processing, acknowledgments, pledges, and other development operations, continually improving systems and processes for efficiency and effectiveness.
• Lead the development and production of fundraising communications, including appeals, donor and alumni communications, stewardship materials, event materials, and other development collateral, collaborating with Program/Marketing and the Special Events Manager as needed.
• Manage external designers, printers, mail houses, and other vendors, overseeing estimates, timelines, proofs, and production.
• Step in to address fundraising needs, solve problems, and keep priorities moving forward.
• Partner with the Development Director and Special Events Manager on corporate donor and sponsor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship, as well as other revenue-generating initiatives.
• Represent BBBS professionally with donors, alumni, partners, and community stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressively responsible experience in fundraising or nonprofit development, including experience with annual giving.
• Demonstrated success in cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding donors, managing a donor or prospect portfolio, and working toward measurable fundraising goals.
• Demonstrated experience using a nonprofit CRM to manage donor relationships, track fundraising activity, analyze donor data, build reports, and support fundraising strategy.
• Strong relationship-building and communication skills, with a collaborative approach, excellent organization, attention to detail, and follow-through.
• Demonstrated initiative, sound judgment, and ability to independently move work forward while managing multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Commitment to the mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters.