Director of Development

Boys & Girls Clubs of Paterson and Passaic; Paterson (NJ); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Boys & Girls Clubs of Paterson and Passaic is seeking a Director of Development to lead the development department, drive donor engagement, and align fundraising with organizational priorities. The role requires building robust systems, managing a broad portfolio of relationships, and partnering with senior leadership to advance revenue goals.

The director will implement campaigns, oversee stewardship, and ensure compliant grant practices while coordinating with finance and programs to translate

Qualifications

• Significant professional experience in nonprofit development, communications, fundraising, external affairs, marketing, donor engagement, or a related field.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex projects, build systems, establish workflows, and hold multiple priorities and contributors accountable.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to translate organizational impact into compelling donor-facing communications.
• Experience with donors, corporations, foundations, community partners, fundraising campaigns, events, grants, and/or direct solicitation strongly preferred.
• Experience with donor databases, CRM systems, email marketing platforms, social media, and related development technology; Blackbaud/eTapestry experience preferred.
• Ability to work effectively with executive leadership, staff, board members, donors, volunteers, consultants, and external partners while exercising sound judgment and discretion.

Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day operating framework of the Development Department and maintain the annual development workplan, fundraising calendar, grants matrix, stewardship calendar, campaign workplans, and department dashboards.
• Establish weekly and monthly priorities, assignments, deadlines, and accountability measures; lead regular department meetings and document next steps and ownership.
• Build and maintain standard operating procedures for prospect management, donor cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, renewals, campaigns, events, grants, and development communications.
• Own the effectiveness and integrity of development technology and donor databases, including standards for records, segmentation, coding, gift acknowledgment, stewardship, and reporting.
• Partner with Finance to strengthen reconciliation of gifts, pledges, restricted funds, grants, sponsorships, and other contributed revenue.

Skills

Nonprofit development

Project management

Communication

Donor engagement

CRM / donor databases

Stakeholder collaboration

Tools

Blackbaud / eTapestry

CRM systems

Email marketing platforms

Social media tools

Job description

Director of Development

Position Summary

The Director of Development is a senior leadership position responsible for leading the day-to-day operations, systems, communications infrastructure, and execution framework of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Paterson and Passaic resource development function. The Director serves as the systems architect and operating leader of the Development Department, ensuring fundraising priorities are translated into workplans, calendars, assignments, accountability systems, donor engagement strategies, communications campaigns, grant processes, events, and measurable outcomes.

The role combines development leadership with strategic communications focused primarily on fundraising, donor engagement, community visibility, corporate relationships, philanthropic positioning, and external storytelling. The Director works closely with the CEO to translate organizational priorities into a disciplined, coordinated, and sustainable development operation.

Core Responsibilities

Development Department Leadership & Systems

• Lead the day-to-day operating framework of the Development Department and maintain the annual development workplan, fundraising calendar, grants matrix, stewardship calendar, campaign workplans, and department dashboards.
• Establish weekly and monthly priorities, assignments, deadlines, and accountability measures; lead regular department meetings and document next steps and ownership.
• Build and maintain standard operating procedures for prospect management, donor cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, renewals, campaigns, events, grants, and development communications.
• Own the effectiveness and integrity of development technology and donor databases, including standards for records, segmentation, coding, gift acknowledgment, stewardship, and reporting.
• Partner with Finance to strengthen reconciliation of gifts, pledges, restricted funds, grants, sponsorships, and other contributed revenue.

Fundraising, Donor & Corporate Engagement

• Partner with the CEO and development leadership to execute annual contributed-revenue goals across individual giving, major gifts, corporate partnerships, foundations, grants, campaigns, events, monthly giving, and other philanthropic revenue.
• Maintain the active prospect and solicitation pipeline, track donor movement from identification through stewardship, and ensure timely next steps after meetings, introductions, proposals, and events.
• Manage an assigned portfolio of individual, corporate, foundation, and community relationships and participate directly in cultivation, presentations, donor meetings, and solicitations.
• Coordinate CEO and board donor engagement by preparing background information, meeting objectives, briefing materials, solicitation strategy, and follow-up.
• Develop corporate sponsorship and partnership opportunities and represent the organization professionally in community, civic, corporate, and philanthropic settings.

Development-Centered Communications

• Lead an annual communications strategy aligned with the development plan and focused on donor engagement, fundraising, organizational storytelling, corporate partnerships, external affairs, and mission advancement.
• Develop campaign messaging, annual appeals, cases for support, sponsorship materials, donor correspondence, impact reports, e-newsletters, social media storytelling, web content, and other development collateral.
• Create a reliable internal process through which Programs and Operations provide stories, photos, outcomes, attendance information, testimonials, and other information suitable for donor-facing communications.
• Maintain consistency in organizational messaging, brand, voice, and visual identity across external and development communications.
• Support executive leadership with external messages related to fundraising, major organizational initiatives, community partnerships, and public-facing priorities.

Qualifications

• Significant professional experience in nonprofit development, communications, fundraising, external affairs, marketing, donor engagement, or a related field.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex projects, build systems, establish workflows, and hold multiple priorities and contributors accountable.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to translate organizational impact into compelling donor-facing communications.
• Experience with donors, corporations, foundations, community partners, fundraising campaigns, events, grants, and/or direct solicitation strongly preferred.
• Experience with donor databases, CRM systems, email marketing platforms, social media, and related development technology; Blackbaud/eTapestry experience preferred.
• Ability to work effectively with executive leadership, staff, board members, donors, volunteers, consultants, and external partners while exercising sound judgment and discretion.

Professional Expectations

The Director is expected to model professionalism, accountability, emotional regulation, direct and transparent communication, appropriate professional boundaries, cross-department collaboration, donor confidentiality, and a trauma-informed, human-centered, mission-first approach. The Director will foster respectful relationships, address concerns through appropriate channels, and contribute to an organizational culture centered on trust, dignity, accountability, and collaborative problem-solving. The position should establish sustainable systems rather than rely primarily on informal processes or individual relationships and should remain focused on measurable execution, organizational alignment, and results.

Equal Employment Opportunity

• The Boys & Girls Clubs of Paterson and Passaic provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Paterson and Passaic complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the organization has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.