Director of Philanthropy

Pathways Health; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 126,000 - 187,000; Full time

Job summary

Pathways Home Health & Hospice in Sunnyvale, CA seeks a Director of Philanthropy to lead a comprehensive fundraising program that advances its hospice and home health mission. The role focuses on cultivating major and planned gifts, guiding the Foundation team, and aligning efforts with CommonSpirit philanthropy resources to support patient care and caregiver initiatives.

The Director will oversee the annual operating plan and budget, engage volunteers and executive leaders, manage donor

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field.
• At least five years of nonprofit fundraising and development experience with donor cultivation.
• At least three years of management experience, including leadership and performance accountability.
• Experience with budgets, projects, and persuasive donor communications and proposals.
• Preferred: experience with planned giving, grants, shared services, or CRM conversion (Raiser’s Edge NXT or DREAM).

Responsibilities

• Lead the Foundation’s fundraising program and annual operating plan.
• Cultivate and solicit major and planned gifts; manage the Foundation team.
• Oversee donor relations, engagement, and stewardship across pathways and CommonSpirit.
• Present to executive leadership and boards; coordinate with clinical leaders for donor opportunities.
• Manage donor data, reporting, and CRM as part of DREAM system transition.
• Develop and monitor fundraising campaigns and events; allocate resources effectively.

Skills

Fundraising

Donor cultivation

Team leadership

Budget management

Education

Bachelor's degree in a related field

Tools

Microsoft Office

Google Workspace

Donor CRM systems

Job description

For over 45 years Pathways has been a Bay Area pioneer, leader, and innovator in Hospice, Home Health and Palliative Care. We provide care at home or in settings such as assisted living, a nursing home, or the hospital. We have offices in Sunnyvale, South San Francisco, and Oakland. Patients and their families know us for our personalized, high-quality care, delivered with empathy, kindness, and respect.

TITLE:Director of Philanthropy
SCHEDULE:M-F
HOURS:8:30am-5pm
Office Location: Sunnyvale

The posted compensation range of $125,733.00 to $187,028.00 (Annual Salary) is a reasonable estimate that extends from the lowest to the highest pay Pathways Home Health & Hospice in good faith believes it might pay for this particular job, based on the circumstances at the time of posting. Pathways Home Health & Hospice may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range as permitted by law.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Director of Philanthropy leads a comprehensive fundraising program that advances Pathways’ home health and hospice mission and supports charitable patient care, grief and bereavement services, and approved caregiver initiatives. The Director personally cultivates and solicits major and planned gifts, leads the Foundation team, engages volunteer leadership, and manages the annual operating plan and budget. The role directs integration with CommonSpirit philanthropy resources so shared services support dependable operations and local staff can devote more time to donor relationships.

AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY:

• Develop, implement, and evaluate the Foundation’s annual and multiyear fundraising plans. Set revenue, donor growth, retention, major gift, planned giving, and engagement goals with Pathways and CommonSpirit philanthropy leadership.
• Translate approved priorities into cases for support, proposals, and a menu of giving opportunities. Align major gifts, annual giving, grants, corporate sponsorships, tribute giving, and digital channels with donor interests and program needs.
• Manage a portfolio of approximately 50–75 qualified prospects and donors, consistent with the approved Pathways plan. Refresh capacity research, qualify prospects, and develop individualized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies.
• Personally conduct donor visits and solicitation meetings; secure gifts, pledges, and matching challenges. Engage executive leaders, Board members, and clinical or program leaders in donor conversations, and pursue joint qualification of donors with interests across CommonSpirit sites.
• Maintain documented next steps, proposals, stages, and gift commitments in the current donor CRM and transition to DREAM as the system of record. Meet the plan’s relationship activity standards, including 3–5 documented moves per month, and participate in market and regional prospect reviews.
• Lead the FreeWill planned giving program with CommonSpirit resources and the Annual Giving Manager. Identify legacy prospects among loyal donors and tribute families, follow up on leads, and document planned giving conversations and commitments.
• Develop recurring and noncash giving opportunities, including stock, donor-advised fund, and qualified IRA gifts. Work with gift planning specialists and donors’ advisers to document intentions and arrange appropriate acceptance, recognition, and stewardship.
• Supervise the Annual Giving Manager’s execution of national annual giving campaigns and approved local appeals. Approve segmentation, messaging, acquisition, renewal, recapture, and upgrade strategies; coordinate direct mail, email, website giving, publications, employee giving, and monthly giving.
• Build a compassionate engagement journey for memorial donors, tribute families, and bereavement constituents. Respect donor preferences and readiness, connect donors to program impact, and provide personalized stewardship and impact reports for leading supporters.
• Set fundraising and cultivation strategy for One from the Heart and other approved events. Lead sponsorship and donor development while contracted or regional event professionals manage event delivery; evaluate net revenue, prospect yield, and staff time to inform future event decisions.
• Develop community and institutional partnerships and sponsorships for management-approved caregiver and other initiatives. Obtain required approvals before launching new initiatives or making program commitments, and coordinate delivery and outcome reporting with program leaders.
• Oversee grant opportunity review, applications, award documentation, restricted funding, and reporting with appropriate grant support. Ensure applications, awards, and revenue are recorded in DREAM and reports are complete and timely.
• Recruit, orient, and engage Foundation Advisory Board members and fundraising volunteers. Support appropriate governance and committee structures, including philanthropy, community engagement, and One from the Heart; promote personal giving, prospect introductions, sponsorship leads, and active participation.
• Partner with Board and executive leadership on donor strategy and quarterly philanthropy briefings. Ensure meetings, materials, follow-up, and stewardship commitments are supported.
• Recruit, supervise, coach, and evaluate Foundation staff. Set individual goals, clarify responsibilities and shared services handoffs, develop staff competencies, and orient and recognize volunteers while protecting time for donor work.
• Develop and monitor revenue and expense budgets, forecasts, fundraising return on investment, and event results. Report progress and variances to leadership, improve cost effectiveness, and coordinate approved charitable distributions according to available funds, donor restrictions, and program needs.
• Provide oversight of CommonSpirit Operations Support Services integration, gift processing, acknowledgment quality, donor records, reporting, and audit support. The Administrative Coordinator manages the daily OSS interface; the Director resolves policy, priority, and service issues.
• Sponsor data cleanup and the transition from Raiser’s Edge NXT to DREAM. Approve data governance decisions with the conversion team, including deceased suppression, tribute reconciliation, non-constituent mapping, fund and appeal rationalization, and retirement of parallel donor spreadsheets.
• Work with Accounting, Revenue Cycle, and operations leadership to document approval, coding, reconciliation, and charitable impact reporting for Foundation-funded patient care. Maintain appropriate gift controls and records of grants, restrictions, and approved expenditures.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and additional job-related experience.
• Required: At least five years of nonprofit fundraising and development experience, including personal cultivation and solicitation of donors and responsibility for fundraising plans or programs.
• Required: At least three years of management experience, including staff leadership, goal setting, and performance accountability.
• Required: Demonstrated ability to manage budgets and projects, prepare persuasive donor communications
  and proposals, and use Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and donor CRM systems.
• Preferred: Healthcare, hospice, or community services philanthropy experience; experience working with boards and executive or clinical leaders.
• Preferred:Experience with planned giving, grant development, shared services, or CRM conversion; familiarity with Raiser’s Edge NXT or DREAM.
• Preferred: Certified Fundraising Executive credential.