Senior Director of Development

Role Overview

• Develop and execute a comprehensive annual and multi-year fundraising plan targeting revenue growth from diverse sources, including 501(c)(3) foundations and individual donors, 501(c)(4) contributors, Federal PAC contributions, and political bundling.
• Collaborate with the President and senior leadership to ensure fundraising strategies align with DFER's organizational priorities and multi-year growth targets.
• Build and steward a robust portfolio of major donors, foundations, political stakeholders, and institutional partners to secure long-term financial support for DFER's work.
• Identify and cultivate new donor prospects, expanding DFER's network across both the philanthropic and political funding ecosystems.
• Manage, mentor, and develop a development team of one full-time director and two part-time staff, setting clear goals and supporting professional growth.
• Create a culture of accountability and high performance within the development function, ensuring the team meets aggressive revenue targets.
• Establish and maintain strong systems, workflows, and use of CRM tools to maximize team efficiency and donor relationship tracking.
• Lead stewardship of high-net-worth individuals, foundations, and political stakeholders, ensuring donors are engaged, informed, and invested in DFER's mission.
• Ensure timely, compelling donor communications including impact reports, grant reports, acknowledgments, and updates.
• Oversee the planning and execution of high-profile fundraising events, including donor cultivation events, galas, and candidate fundraisers.
• Partner with the Director of Finance & Operations to ensure strong cash flow management, timely financial reporting to donors, and compliance with grant and donor restrictions.
• Collaborate with the communications team to align messaging across fundraising materials, ensuring consistency with DFER's national brand and mission narrative.
• Track and report on fundraising metrics, pipeline health, and outcomes to the President and Board on a regular basis.
• Partner with the President to engage the Board of Directors in fundraising, including board member cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship support.
• Prepare and present development reports for Board meetings, providing clear updates on revenue performance, pipeline, and strategy.
• Contribute to senior leadership discussions on organizational strategy, resource allocation, and long-term growth planning.
• Represent DFER at external conferences, donor convenings, and public forums to advance the organization's mission and expand its philanthropic network.

Requirements

• 5 to 9 years of progressive experience in nonprofit development, with a demonstrated track record of meeting or exceeding ambitious fundraising goals.
• Experience managing fundraising across multiple entity types (C3, C4, and/or PAC contexts) strongly preferred.
• Proven success in individual major gifts, foundation relations, and/or political fundraising.
• Experience managing and developing development staff in a fast-paced, matrixed organization.
• Background in education, political, or advocacy-focused nonprofit environments strongly preferred.

Benefits

• health, vision, and dental coverage
• flexible spending plan
• life insurance
• short
• and long-term disability insurance
• 401K plan with a match plan
• flexible spending/benefits plan
• paid family leave
• paid time off (vacation, sick time, floating holidays, and all National holidays)