Director of Development

People Architects; Akron (OH); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

People Architects is seeking a Director of Development to lead comprehensive fundraising efforts for a community foundation. This full-time role focuses on growing assets, expanding the donor base, and strengthening donor relationships through data-informed strategies and targeted engagement.

The position emphasizes growing new funds across 900+ charitable funds, managing donor portfolios, and coordinating with staff and board.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.
• 3-5 years of progressively responsible nonprofit development experience.
• Proven track record of personally cultivating, soliciting and securing major gifts.
• Leadership or management experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a comprehensive, data-informed development strategy to increase charitable gifts and grow funds.
• Translate donor and fund data into actionable fundraising priorities and targeted engagement strategies.
• Manage a portfolio of major donors with personalized cultivation, solicitation and stewardship.
• Personally solicit major, planned and complex gifts.
• Maintain donor information in the CRM with notes, interests and next steps.

Skills

Donor cultivation

Major gifts

Fundraising strategy

CRM experience

Data analysis

Communication skills

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Microsoft Office 365/SharePoint

Job description

People Architects is excited to recruiter for a Director of Development

The Director of Development is a full-time position primarily responsible for developing and executing comprehensive fundraising strategies that grow the community foundation's assets, expand its donor base and strengthen relationships with donors and prospective donors. With a proven track record of securing major gifts and planned gifts, the Director of Development will lead the foundation's donor cultivation efforts, using data to identify opportunities, establish priorities and build an actionable plan.

This position will be responsible for growing the foundation's number of new funds and bringing additional dollars to its more than 900+ charitable funds.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement a comprehensive, data-informed development strategy designed to increase charitable gifts, establish new funds, grow existing funds and build a strong pipeline of prospective donors.
• Translate donor, fund and community data into actionable fundraising priorities, including donor segmentation, portfolio development, prospect identification and targeted engagement strategies.
• Manage a portfolio of current and prospective major donors, developing and maintaining relationships through consistent, personalized cultivation, solicitation and stewardship.
• Personally solicit major, planned and complex gifts.
• Maintain accurate, timely and meaningful donor and prospective donor information in the foundation's CRM, including contact reports, interests, relationships, proposals, gift opportunities and next steps.
• Develops and executes fund agreements for the foundation.
• Attends committee and board meetings as needed or requested by the Vice President, Chief Development Officer.
• Maintains regular attendance and a visible presence in the office to be accessible to both internal and external constituents.
• Supports additional development projects on an as-needed basis.
• Represent the community foundation at community meetings, professional gatherings and events, both large and small.
• All other duties as assigned.
• Ability to collaborate with others, including staff, board, donors, vendors, nonprofits and organizations.
• Professional interpersonal style. Ability to interact well with a diverse range of people. Highly desired personal qualities include self-confidence, energetic and diplomatic.
• Required to maintain confidentiality.
• Ability to multitask and work under the pressure of tight deadlines.
• Ability to handle stress.
• Ability to work independently as well as in a team environment.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, in particular strong writing and editing skills.
• Strong planning and organizational skills. Ability to complete assignments independently, professionally and in a timely manner. Ability to make decisions about how to manage and organize own workload.
• Strong critical thinking, problem solving, troubleshooting and decision-making capabilities.
• Demonstrated ability to identify procedural problems or inefficiencies and to recommend and implement improvements.
• Strong work ethic, reliable, self-motivated; seeks out ways to be productive and efficient.
• Detail-oriented and accurate.
• Ability to learn new skills, technology and tasks.
• Proficient with basic modern office technology (computers, phones, copiers, etc.)
• Proficient in Microsoft Office 365/SharePoint and other software/applications.
• Experience with databases/CRMs.
• Ability to take direction from others.
• Ability to converse comfortably with donors, board members, volunteers and others, both internally and externally, in large and small settings.

Required Experience & Education:

• Bachelor's degree in relevant field required.
• 3-5 years of progressively responsible experience in nonprofit development required.
• Proven track record of personally cultivating, soliciting and securing major gifts required.
• Leadership or management experience preferred.
• Solid working knowledge of charitable giving concepts, vehicles and strategies - including donor-advised funds, endowed funds, gifts of appreciated securities and other complex assets - along with the ability to discuss these options effectively with donors and recognize when legal, financial or tax expertise is required.

Other:

• Work is performed in an office environment.
• Must be able to meet outside of standard office hours as necessary.
• Occasional to frequent local and regional travel to meetings; infrequent travel outside of the state.