Director of Development

Spirit League; Fremont (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

SAVE is seeking a Director of Development and Communications in Fremont, CA to lead fundraising and marketing initiatives supporting a $4M operating budget. This strategic role guides partnerships, elevates visibility, and steers a high-performance team toward data-driven philanthropy and sustained growth.

You will optimize internal workflows, supervise grants, major gifts, campaigns, and communications programs, and ensure rigorous donor data hygiene and reporting to stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 8 years of progressive development and fundraising experience in the nonprofit sector, with a proven track record of securing major gifts and corporate/foundation funding.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience in a related field. CFRE certification desired.
• Change Management: Demonstrated experience in process optimization, workflow design, or scaling/rebuilding development and communications operations.
• Relationship Management: Exceptional interpersonal skills with a demonstrated ability to build authentic relationships with diverse stakeholders, funders, and community partners.
• Communication Skills: Superb written, oral, and presentation skills; ability to translate complex programmatic work into compelling fundraising narratives.
• Technical Savvy: Proficiency with modern nonprofit CRMs/donor databases, digital fundraising platforms, and data analytics tools. Experience with agile content tools (e.g., Canva, email marketing platforms) is highly preferred.
• Project Management: Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage competing deadlines, prioritize effectively, and work both independently and collaboratively.

Responsibilities

• Define fundraising strategies and multi-year plan with major gifts and partnerships.
• Meet annual contributed revenue goals via events and donor cultivation.
• Engage Board and provide data-driven progress reports.
• Oversee campaigns, donor pipelines, and cultivation strategies.
• Direct grants strategy, tracking, and reporting for proposals.
• Manage donor data workflows and CRM systems for data-informed decisions.
• Oversee donor recognition and fundraising events.

Skills

Fundraising strategy

Donor relations

Campaign planning

Board engagement

Grant writing

Data analytics

CRM proficiency

Project management

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

CFRE certification desired

Tools

CRM software

Canva

Email marketing platforms

Digital fundraising platforms

Job description

POSITON SUMMARY

The Director of Development and Communications serves as a strategic leader responsible for designing, executing, and modernizing SAVE’s fundraising and marketing strategy to support our $4M annual operating budget. This role builds philanthropic partnerships, elevates organizational visibility, and leads a dedicated team. A primary mandate for this position is to assess and optimize existing internal workflows, establishing clear operational boundaries and transitioning the department toward high-performance, data-driven operations.

SUPERVISORY

Development Associate, Grants Manager, and occasional external contractors

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Philanthropy & Fundraising

• Strategic Planning: In partnership with the Executive Director, defines SAVE’s overarching fundraising strategies, policies, and implementation; develops a robust, multi-year development plan encompassing major gifts, annual campaigns, and corporate/foundation partnerships.
• Revenue Generation: Owns accountability for meeting the organization’s annual contributed revenue goals through events, direct major donor cultivation and oversight of department initiatives.
• Board Engagement: Partners with and equips the Board of Directors in fundraising activities; serves as the primary staff liaison for relevant Board committees and provides timely, data-driven progress reports.
• Campaign & Relationship Management: Oversees and advances membership campaigns, individual donor pipelines, and personalized cultivation and solicitation strategies.
• Grants & Institutional Giving: Directs the strategy, tracking, and reporting for all corporate, foundation, and government grant proposals, ensuring compliance and alignment with organizational goals.
• Systems & Data Management: Ensures donor tracking systems (CRM) and data workflows support the business needs of the organization; assesses and implements new technology as appropriate to drive data-informed decisions.
• Events: Oversees strategic donor recognition and fundraising events to maximize engagement and return on investment.

Communications & Marketing

• Brand & Messaging Strategy: Develops and executes an annual marketing and communications plan to elevate SAVE's profile across digital, print, social media, and traditional press platforms.
• Hands-on Execution: Oversees and directly contributes to the creation of digital and print content, including newsletters, social media, and website updates, ensuring quality control and brand alignment.
• Cross-Department Collaboration: Educates internal teams on fundraising goals and serves as the brand steward to ensure consistent messaging across all organizational programs.

Leadership, Business Process & Financial Management

• Workflows: Establishes clear operational lanes, guardrails, and internal workflows to define where development activities interface with communications initiatives; optimizes the collective capacity of the team to ensure revenue-generating activities are prioritized.
• Operations Optimization: Directly guides and mentors the Development Associate in elevating fundraising operations, ensuring best-in-class donor data hygiene, gift acknowledgment workflows, and stewardship touchpoints.
• Team Development: Recruits, supervises, and evaluates development and communications staff and independent contractors, fostering a collaborative and high-performing culture.
• Fiscal Responsibility: Collaborates with the CFO and Executive Director to construct, monitor, and manage the annual departmental budget.

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum of 8 years of progressive development and fundraising experience in the nonprofit sector, with a proven track record of securing major gifts and corporate/foundation funding.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience in a related field. CFRE certification desired.
• Change Management: Demonstrated experience in process optimization, workflow design, or scaling/rebuilding development and communications operations.
• Relationship Management: Exceptional interpersonal skills with a demonstrated ability to build authentic relationships with diverse stakeholders, funders, and community partners.
• Communication Skills: Superb written, oral, and presentation skills; ability to translate complex programmatic work into compelling fundraising narratives.
• Technical Savvy: Proficiency with modern nonprofit CRMs/donor databases, digital fundraising platforms, and data analytics tools. Experience with agile content tools (e.g., Canva, email marketing platforms) is highly preferred.
• Project Management: Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage competing deadlines, prioritize effectively, and work both independently and collaboratively.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to walk; sit; drive; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand; reach with hands and arms; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.

Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions except when such accommodation would cause undue hardship.

The work environment includes settings of the client’s home, educational institutions, community places, and office environments. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions except when such accommodation would cause an undue hardship.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

As an equal opportunity employer, SAVE supports equal opportunity for employment and advancement free of race, color, religious creed, ancestry, national origin, age, sex (including sexual harassment) pregnancy (childbirth or related medical conditions), marital status, sexual orientation (heterosexuality and bisexuality), medical condition (cancer and genetic characteristics), mental and physical disability (includes HIV and AIDS), political affiliation/opinion, Veteran’s status, or request for family leave. SAVE is committed to ensuring that the work environment of SAVE employees is free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.