Director of Development

The Citizen Service; Metuchen (NJ); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

The Citizen Service in Metuchen, NJ seeks a Director of Development to design and lead a comprehensive fundraising strategy that includes major donor campaigns, foundations, and long-term development infrastructure.

You will work closely with the Executive Director, Founder, and Board Chair to build relationships with high-net-worth donors, craft compelling proposals, and implement systems to track donors and measure impact.

Qualifications

• 3–6 years of nonprofit fundraising with success in individual donor fundraising, grants, or campaigns.
• Experience with fundraising campaigns; able to apply urgency and momentum.
• Proven ability to build donor and stakeholder relationships.
• Strong writing skills for donor communications and proposals.
• Familiarity with donor databases and tracking tools.
• Ability to organize scattered donor data into a centralized database.

Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day execution of a major fundraising campaign.
• Develop and manage the campaign timeline, donor pipeline, and outreach strategy.
• Coordinate campaign activity with the Executive Director, Founder, board members, and key stakeholders.
• Develop campaign materials including the case for support, donor communications, and cultivation event collateral.
• Build and manage a foundation grants program from the ground up; prospect research, LOI/writing, reporting, cultivation.
• Develop and maintain a grants calendar and identify foundations aligned with strategy.
• Manage and grow a portfolio of individual donors with leadership alignment.
• Develop stewardship practices for long-term donor loyalty and recurring giving.
• Support board fundraising roles with talking points and materials.
• Collaborate with communications to align donor content with priorities.
• Consolidate donor information into a single database and build reporting framework.
• Build systems and tools for a mature development program; track progress with leadership.
• Hire and manage development staff as the program grows.

Skills

Fundraising

Campaign management

Donor relations

Grant writing

Donor databases

Data organization

Job description

The Citizen Service is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to building a citizen movement that empowers people across varied backgrounds and circumstances with the tools, confidence, and skills to solve community problems that matter most to them. Through our No-Blame, Pragmatic Problem-Solving approach, we work with community colleges, high schools, and community organizations to develop citizen leaders who go beyond the ballot to shape the future of the places they call home.

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Metuchen, New Jersey, The Citizen Service has spent nearly three decades proving that everyday people, given the right training and infrastructure, have real power to drive change. We are now at an exciting inflection point, with new executive leadership in place, a national expansion underway, and a landmark 30th anniversary on the horizon. This is a rare opportunity to join an organization at a pivotal moment and help build a movement that will inspire change!

The Opportunity

The Director of Development is a new role at The Citizen Service and a foundational hire for the organization's future. This is not a role for someone looking to maintain an existing development program. It is a role for someone who wants to build one.

The Director of Development will work closely with the Executive Director, the Founder and Board Chair, and organizational leadership to design and execute a comprehensive fundraising strategy that includes a major individual donor fundraising, a foundation and institutional grants program, and a long-term development infrastructure that positions TCS for sustained financial health.

This role requires someone who is as comfortable working independently in an entrepreneurial environment as they are managing relationships with high-net-worth donors, foundation program officers, and organizational leadership. The right candidate brings campaign experience, development instincts, and the emotional intelligence to navigate a dynamic and hands-on organization with confidence and grace.

No-Blame Problem-Solving is not just the work we do in communities; it is how we operate internally. We are looking for someone who brings that same spirit to their work, focusing on solutions rather than blame, approaching challenges with pragmatism and good faith, and treating colleagues as partners in figuring things out together.

What You Will Do

• Lead the day-to-day execution of a major fundraising campaign
• Develop and manage the campaign timeline, donor pipeline, and outreach strategy
• Coordinate campaign activity across the Executive Director, Founder, board members, and key stakeholders
• Develop campaign materials including the case for support, donor communications, and cultivation event collateral

Foundation and Institutional Grants

• Build and manage a foundation grants program from the ground up, including prospect research, LOI and proposal writing, reporting, and relationship cultivation
• Develop and maintain a grants calendar tracking foundation deadlines
• Identify foundations and institutional funders whose priorities align with TCS's strategic plan.

Donor Relations and Stewardship

• Manage and grow a portfolio of individual donors in partnership with the Executive Director and Founder
• Develop stewardship practices that build long-term donor loyalty and recurring giving
• Support board members in their fundraising roles, including preparing talking points, briefing materials, and cultivation strategies
• Partner closely with the communications team to ensure email, social, and public-facing content is aligned with and actively supports development priorities, campaign messaging, and donor cultivation efforts

Development Infrastructure

• Work closely with Operations to consolidate donor information currently spread across various records and systems into a single, organized donor database, an important early project that lays the foundation for everything else in this role
• Build the systems, processes, and tools that a mature development program requires including a donor database and reporting framework
• Track and report on fundraising progress to the Executive Director.
• Hire and eventually manage development support staff as the program grows

What We Are Looking For

We recognize that no single person will bring every quality listed below. We are not looking for a perfect match on paper. We are looking for someone eager to learn, willing to experiment, and excited to grow into this role and with this organization. If you see yourself in much of what follows, we encourage you to apply.

Experience and Skills

• Three to six years of nonprofit fundraising experience with demonstrated success in individual donor fundraising, grant writing, or campaign work
• Experience with or strong working knowledge of fundraising campaigns, including the ability to apply urgency and momentum to a fundraising effort
• Proven ability to build relationships with donors, the philanthropic community, and organizational stakeholders
• Strong writing skills including the ability to craft compelling donor communications and grant proposals
• Familiarity with donor databases and development tracking tools
• Comfortable building organized systems from scattered information, with the patience and attention to detail to consolidate donor records into a clean, centralized database

Character and Approach

• A self-starter who thrives in entrepreneurial environments where systems are still being built and job descriptions are a starting point rather than a ceiling
• A natural practitioner of No-Blame Problem-Solving who approaches challenges with pragmatism, good faith, and a focus on solutions rather than blame
• Emotionally intelligent and politically savvy with the ability to navigate complex organizational dynamics with grace and confidence
• Ambitious and mission-driven with a genuine belief in the power of civic engagement and citizen-led change
• Collaborative and communicative with the ability to work across departments and with senior leadership without losing sight of development priorities
• Comfortable working cross-functionally with communications staff to ensure consistent storytelling and messaging across donor-facing and public-facing channels
• Organized and detail-oriented with the ability to manage multiple deadlines and donor relationships simultaneously

Why This Role

This is an opportunity to build a development program from the ground up at an organization with nearly thirty years of proof behind it and a compelling national story ahead of it. The Director of Development will have direct access to senior leadership, meaningful ownership over strategy, and the chance to leave a lasting mark on an organization at a pivotal moment in its history.

Location and Schedule

This is a hybrid role based out of our Metuchen, New Jersey office. The standard schedule is three days in office and two days remote per week.

The Citizen Service is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a team that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve, and we strongly encourage individuals of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.