Fractional Director of Development & New Partnerships

Gofractional; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 103,000 - 152,000; Part time

Job summary

Cancer Pathways, based in Seattle, is seeking a Fractional Director of Development & New Partnerships in a hybrid, part-time independent contractor role. You will rapidly build a donor and corporate pipeline, secure meetings, and drive new revenue while cultivating long-term relationships across the Seattle area.

The role emphasizes urgency and relationship-based fundraising, with compensation starting at $75/hour and potential bonuses based on fundraising milestones.

Qualifications

• Significant successful experience in securing major gifts or corporate partnerships.
• Proven track record of personally developing new donor relationships and revenue.
• Ability to move opportunities from identification to closing with urgency and judgment.

Responsibilities

• Generate philanthropic revenue from individuals, corporations, sponsors, and other sources.
• Identify near-term opportunities while building a longer-term pipeline.
• Open doors and cultivate prospective donors and corporate partners.

Skills

Major gifts

Corporate development

Relationship-based sales

Donor relations

Pipeline development

Communication skills

Job description

Fractional Director of Development & New Partnerships

Cancer Pathways | Seattle, WA | Hybrid

Independent Contractor | Part-Time, Up to 20 Hours/Week

The Opportunity

Cancer Pathways has an opening for an experienced, relationship-driven fundraiser who can create new revenue opportunities quickly while building relationships that can grow into significant long-term support. This is a results-oriented engagement. We are looking for someone who can quickly build a qualified new-business pipeline, create new donor and corporate relationships, and begin generating new revenue within the first few months.

We need someone who can come in, quickly understand our mission and story, identify where the strongest opportunities exist, and begin opening doors with new individual donors, corporate partners, sponsors and other prospective funders. This is not a role where success means developing a strategy that may eventually produce results — we need both strategy and execution, with urgency.

At the same time, we know meaningful philanthropy is built on relationships. We are not looking for someone who equates fundraising with sending large volumes of cold emails or making premature asks. We want someone who knows how to find the right prospects, create a path to them, build genuine relationships, recognize when an opportunity can move quickly, and thoughtfully cultivate those that require more time.

Primary Responsibilities

• Generate new philanthropic revenue for Cancer Pathways from individuals, corporations, sponsors and other sources.
• Quickly identify the strongest near-term opportunities for new funding and actively pursue them, while simultaneously building a pipeline of larger, longer-term prospects.
• Build and continuously manage a qualified pipeline of new prospects with clear revenue potential, strategy and next steps.
• Personally open doors and create relationships with prospective donors and corporate partners, finding creative paths through personal relationships, community connections, events, research, professional networks and other channels.
• Secure meetings and personally participate in cultivation, proposals, solicitations and closing opportunities.
• Develop new corporate partnerships that can include sponsorships, program funding, employee engagement and longer-term organizational support.
• Bring discipline and consistent follow-through to every promising opportunity.
• Partner closely with the CEO on cultivation and solicitation strategy, including advising on important existing donor relationships when appropriate.
• Maintain clear visibility into the prospect pipeline, activity, next steps, potential revenue and expected timing.

Existing Donor Relationships

Cancer Pathways has many long-standing donors with deep personal connections to the organization and its founder. Those relationships are incredibly important to us and require context, judgment and care.

The CEO will lead many of these relationships. This role will serve as a strategic fundraising partner — helping identify opportunities, develop individualized cultivation strategies, prepare for conversations, and determine when and how an ask makes sense. We believe relationships come before asks, particularly with people who have been part of Cancer Pathways for many years.

What We're Looking For

This is not a role for someone learning how to originate new relationships and revenue. Whether your background is in nonprofit development, corporate partnerships or relationship-based sales, you must have a demonstrated track record of personally developing new donor and/or corporate relationships that resulted in meaningful new revenue, and be able to speak to specific examples of how you created those opportunities and the results you personally produced. How did you identify them, how did you get in the door, how did you develop the relationship, what you did to move the opportunity forward and ultimately what the result was.

• Significant successful experience in major gifts, corporate development, nonprofit fundraising, strategic partnerships, relationship-based sales/business development or a closely related field. We are open to candidates from outside the nonprofit sector who can demonstrate exceptional success developing new relationships and generating revenue.
• A demonstrated record of personally generating new donors, corporate relationships, clients, partnerships and/or new revenue - not simply managing or renewing an established donor portfolio.
• Experience securing meaningful individual gifts, corporate commitments and/or sponsorships.
• Exceptional relationship-building skills and strong interpersonal judgment.
• The resourcefulness to identify prospects, find a path to them and create opportunities independently.
• Strong knowledge of the Seattle/Puget Sound philanthropic and corporate community; existing relationships are highly valued.
• The ability to balance urgency with thoughtful relationship development.
• Confidence making meaningful asks when the relationship and opportunity are right.
• Strong communication skills, judgment and follow-through.
• A bias toward action, accountability and results.
• The ability to operate independently and move quickly from strategy to execution.

We care far more about demonstrated fundraising results, relationships and judgment than degrees, titles or the size of the organizations you have worked for in the past. We're interested in what you have PERSONALLY made happen.

How Success Will Be Measured

• New philanthropic revenue secured
• New individual donors and corporate partners acquired
• Qualified new prospects and revenue opportunities created
• Movement of prospects from identification through cultivation, solicitation and commitment
• Strength and value of the forward revenue pipeline
• Consistent execution, follow-through and measurable progress

Engagement & Compensation

This is a part-time independent contractor engagement of up to 20 hours per week. Some work can be performed remotely, but this is a Seattle-focused relationship role, and the contractor must be available for donor and prospect meetings, events and other important in-person opportunities throughout the greater Seattle area.

Compensation begins at $75/hour, with the opportunity for increased hourly compensation and/or fixed performance bonuses based on achievement of mutually agreed-upon fundraising, new-revenue and pipeline goals. Performance and compensation will be reviewed regularly.

The engagement is designed to provide flexibility for both Cancer Pathways and the contractor and may be ended by either party with appropriate notice.