Development Manager BiblicalTraining.org

Southern California Seminary; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 55,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

BiblicalTraining.org is seeking a Development Manager in a hybrid role to deepen donor relationships and grow support for free Bible education. You will shape BT’s giving strategy, manage campaigns, and collaborate with the President and a distributed team to turn learners into joyful supporters.

This position emphasizes personal outreach, tiered giving, and systems work—CRM, data hygiene, and donor stewardship—across web, email, and campaigns, with travel 10-20%.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of nonprofit development/fundraising experience.
• Strong donor relations and program-building skills.
• Experience with annual and recurring giving programs.
• Proficiency with donor CRM systems and fundraising dashboards.

Responsibilities

• Build genuine relationships with Ministry Partners and mid-level donors.
• Own BT’s development strategy, annual plan, calendar, budget, and channel mix.
• Plan and run seasonal and year-end campaigns.
• Grow the Ministry Partner recurring-giving community with onboarding.
• Launch and grow mid-tier giving community with outreach.
• Design onboarding paths that convert learners into donors.
• Manage donor data/CRM, ensuring data hygiene and accurate receipts.
• Collaborate with the President on major donor relations.
• Report fundraising progress to the President and team.

Skills

Nonprofit development

Donor relations

Annual giving

Recurring giving

CRM management

Data-driven fundraising

Tools

Little Green Light

Bloomerang

DonorPerfect

Salesforce NPSP

Job description

BiblicalTraining.org is seeking a hybrid (onsite/remote) Development Manager to help turn a growing global audience of learners into a genuine community of supporters. This is a rare opportunity to build meaningful, personal relationships with the people whose generosity makes free, world-class Bible education possible — and to help shape BT’s giving strategy from the ground up, working closely with the President during an exciting season of growth.

About BiblicalTraining.org

BiblicalTraining.org is a 501(c)(3), donor-funded ministry that provides free, high-quality Bible education to “every Christian, everywhere, forever.” Founded by Dr. Bill Mounce and led today by Bill Mounce (Founder) and Rob Marcello (President), BT offers classes across four levels — Basics, Foundations, Academy, and Institute — taught by a growing roster of world-class professors, pastors, and authors. In FY26 alone, BT welcomed 25,000+ new learners and saw 146,000+ lessons completed, on top of 880,000+ site visits over the past year. BT is ECFA-accredited and entirely crowdfunded.

Description

BT is entering an exciting season of growth, and our strategic plan puts donor relationships and development strategy at the center of what’s next. This role is where that vision comes to life — and it’s built to be highly relational: your success will come from genuinely connecting with the people who make BT’s mission possible, not just running campaigns behind a screen.

The Opportunity

• Build relationships at scale. You’ll get to know our learners as people, not just numbers — building warm, personal on-ramps (in-app invitations, post-class conversations, thoughtful email touchpoints) that turn free learners into engaged, joyful supporters.
• Grow our recurring-giving family. Our Ministry Partner community already gives from the heart every month. You’ll get to deepen those relationships with tiered giving levels, a genuine welcome experience, and personal check-ins that make every partner feel seen.
• Launch a mid-tier giving community. You’ll create something new: a mid-tier giving community for donors ready for a closer relationship with BT — personal calls, handwritten notes, and stewardship that feels like friendship, not a transaction.
• Help set our development strategy. You’ll shape BT’s first annual development strategy from the ground up — goals, calendar, and a giving rhythm for the year — working closely with the President and the wider team to bring it to life.
• Build the systems behind great relationships. You’ll build the donor data and CRM practices that help us remember what matters to each supporter, so every relationship gets more personal as we grow, not less.
• Team up across the organization. You’ll partner closely with our Website Director and the rest of the team, aligning development and marketing so every touchpoint — web, email, and campaign — feels like one coherent, welcoming relationship with BT.

What You’ll Do

• Build genuine, personal relationships with our Ministry Partners and mid-level donors — calls, notes, and regular check-ins that make people feel like true partners in the mission, not names on a list.
• Set and own BT’s development strategy: the annual plan, fundraising calendar, budget, and channel mix across email, web, and direct appeals, shaped in close collaboration with the President.
• Plan and run BT’s seasonal and year-end giving campaigns (Giving Tuesday, December appeal, spring campaign), in partnership with the Website Director.
• Grow the Ministry Partner recurring-giving community: design tiered giving levels, a warm onboarding experience, and thoughtful re‑engagement for anyone who’s stepped away.
• Launch and grow BT’s mid-tier giving community for donors ready for a closer relationship with BT — personalized outreach, upgrade paths, and dedicated stewardship.
• Design welcoming pathways that introduce BT’s free learners to giving — in-app invitations, post-class conversations, and lifecycle email sequences.
• Manage the donor database/CRM as a relationship tool: data hygiene, gift processing, tax receipting, and segmentation that helps you remember what matters to each supporter.
• Partner with the President on major‑donor and board relationships — donor research, briefing materials, and stewardship follow‑through.
• Report fundraising progress regularly to the President, and celebrate wins with the wider team.

What You’ll Bring

• 3-5 years of nonprofit development/fundraising experience.
• A warm, relational style — you genuinely enjoy getting to know people and building trust that turns into lasting support.
• Experience with annual giving and recurring/monthly giving programs, and comfort managing a donor CRM (e.g., Little Green Light, Bloomerang, DonorPerfect, Salesforce NPSP).
• Comfort with fundraising data and reporting — you can build a dashboard, not just a spreadsheet.
• Excellent written communication for donor‑facing appeals, stewardship reports, and campaign copy.
• Personal alignment with BT’s broadly evangelical Statement of Faith and mission.
• A collaborative self‑starter who thrives with real autonomy inside a small, growing, distributed team.
• Ability to travel 10-20% of the time.

Preferred:

• CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive) credential or active AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals) membership; candidates without current certification should be willing to pursue AFP membership and CFRE certification.
• Experience with mid-level donor cultivation specifically.
• Background at a church, parachurch ministry, or Christian education organization.

Why This Role Matters

BT has already solved distribution — world-class Bible teaching is reaching learners in nearly every country on earth, for free. The next chapter is relational: turning that reach into a genuine community of supporters who feel personally connected to the mission. You’ll join a small, tight‑knit, growing team at exactly the right moment to help build those relationships and shape what BT’s giving community becomes.

Salary

$55,000 - $70,000 per year