Senior Vice President of Development (Fundraising)

HR Media & Co.; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 185,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

HR Media & Co. is representing a national foundation seeking a Senior Vice President of Development (Fundraising) to build and lead a high‑performing fundraising function.

In this role, you’ll develop strategy, expand the donor pipeline, strengthen systems, and lead a five‑person team, while cultivating relationships with executives, the Board, and major donors. You’ll drive a pathway toward sustained unrestricted revenue of $5M+ annually, across major gifts, individual giving, corporate

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive fundraising and development experience, including senior‑level leadership responsibility.
• Proven success in cultivating, soliciting, and closing major gifts.
• Experience building or scaling a development function or program.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a comprehensive fundraising strategy with a pathway to $5M+ in annual unrestricted revenue.
• Build diversified revenue across major gifts, individual giving, corporate philanthropy, foundations, sponsorships.
• Personally cultivate, solicit, close, and steward significant gifts.
• Establish targets, forecasts, and pipeline metrics for fundraising performance.

Skills

Major gifts

Donor pipeline

CRM systems

Leadership

Board engagement

Tools

CRM software

Job description

Senior Vice President of Development (Fundraising)

Salary: $185,000–$200,000 annually

Job Type: Full-Time

Reports to: Chief Financial Officer

HR Media & Co. is seeking a Senior Vice President of Development (Fundraising) for our client, a national foundation, to build and lead a high-performing, sustainable development function.

This is a unique opportunity for an accomplished fundraising executive who is energized by building, not simply inheriting an established fundraising program.

The Senior Vice President will develop the strategy, donor pipeline, systems, team discipline, and relationships needed to create a diversified, sustainable philanthropic program with a credible pathway toward $5M+ in annual unrestricted revenue.

Working closely with the President & CEO, CFO, Board of Directors, and senior leadership, the Senior Vice President will combine strategic leadership with hands‑on fundraising, personally cultivating relationships, making significant asks, closing gifts, and creating the infrastructure necessary for long‑term growth.

What You’ll Lead

• Develop and execute a comprehensive fundraising strategy with a pathway toward $5M+ in sustainable annual unrestricted philanthropic revenue.
• Build diversified revenue across major gifts, individual giving, corporate philanthropy, foundations, sponsorships, and other appropriate channels.
• Personally cultivate, solicit, close, and steward significant philanthropic gifts.
• Establish fundraising targets, forecasts, performance measures, and pipeline expectations.

Major Gifts & Donor Pipeline

• Build a qualified pipeline of major donors and high‑capacity prospects.
• Develop and manage a personal portfolio of prospective and current donors.
• Establish disciplined prospect identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, renewal, and re‑engagement practices.
• Create strategies to acquire new donors, deepen existing relationships, increase giving, and build long‑term philanthropic support.

Development Operations & Infrastructure

• Assess the current development operation and establish the systems required for sustainable fundraising growth.
• Strengthen CRM utilization, moves management, donor segmentation, prospect research, portfolio management, stewardship, proposal tracking, and reporting.
• Develop dashboards and reporting to track pipeline, fundraising activity, commitments, forecasts, and results.
• Ensure donor relationships, institutional knowledge, and next steps are documented and maintained within organizational systems.

Team, CEO & Board Partnership

• Lead, coach, and develop an approximately five‑person development team.
• Establish clear roles, goals, portfolios, performance expectations, and accountability.
• Partner with the President & CEO to develop and advance a focused portfolio of high‑value prospects.
• Engage Board members strategically in introductions, cultivation, relationship development, and solicitation.
• Create the structure and follow‑through necessary to turn organizational relationships into qualified philanthropic opportunities.

What We’re Looking For

The ideal candidate is a proven fundraising builder and major‑gift fundraiser who knows how to create momentum where significant fundraising infrastructure and donor pipelines are still being developed.

• 10+ years of progressive fundraising and development experience, including senior‑level leadership responsibility.
• Demonstrated success personally cultivating, soliciting, and closing major gifts.
• Experience building, rebuilding, or significantly scaling a development function or fundraising program.
• Track record of personally contributing to substantial philanthropic revenue growth and leading against multimillion‑dollar fundraising goals.
• Experience building qualified donor pipelines and developing new philanthropic relationships.
• Experience with major gifts, individual giving, corporate philanthropy, and foundation fundraising.
• Strong knowledge of CRM systems, moves management, prospect research, forecasting, stewardship, and fundraising performance measurement.
• Experience leading and developing fundraising teams.
• Demonstrated ability to engage CEOs, senior executives, and Board members effectively in fundraising.
• Strong executive presence, communication, judgment, relationship‑building, and organizational skills.
• Ability to operate effectively in an entrepreneurial environment while simultaneously building structure, systems, and accountability.

Strongly Preferred

• Experience building, scaling, or materially contributing to a development program generating $5M+ in annual philanthropic revenue.
• Experience significantly increasing unrestricted fundraising.
• Experience building a development operation rather than solely inheriting an established fundraising program.
• Formal fundraising or development training and/or professional certification.
• Experience engaging major individual donors, corporations, foundations, and family offices.
• Experience fundraising across multiple geographic markets.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means creating both fundraising momentum and sustainable infrastructure.

During the first year, the Senior Vice President will be expected to establish a qualified donor pipeline, strengthen development operations and systems, activate CEO and Board relationships, build team accountability, advance significant cultivation and solicitation opportunities, and demonstrate meaningful progress toward a sustainable $5M+ annual fundraising program.

This is an opportunity for a development executive who wants to leave a lasting mark by building the people, pipeline, systems, relationships, and fundraising discipline required for long‑term philanthropic growth.

Travel

Periodic overnight travel is required for donor meetings, prospect cultivation, Board engagement, fundraising events, and relationship‑building activities in Dallas, Atlanta, and other markets as appropriate.