Development Director

About the role

The Development Director is part of a team of fundraisers and relationship builders working together to support Playworks’ strategic growth plan. The Director’s main roles are to create and implement the overarching regional fundraising strategy, lead cultivation and stewardship of many high-level external relationships, and lead, develop, and mobilize the region to achieve ambitious fundraising goals.

Reporting directly to the Executive Director in Northern California, the Director creatively develops, leads and drives ambitious fundraising strategy, board management in close partnership with the Executive Director, and new fundraising generation. As a trusted advisor and strategic thought partner to the ED, the Director is a senior leader in the region who catalyzes regional growth as a resource mobilizer, elevates the Playworks brand, as a fundraising and external relations expert, and as a savvy people leader and relationship builder.

This role is an in-person role responsible for conducting in-person meetings and site visits across the Bay Area, based primarily in our Oakland offices.

Responsibilities

• Create, lead, and drive overarching fundraising strategy, operational plans, and all revenue activities to meet or exceed fundraising goals for the region.
• Maintain high renewal rates
• Maintain donor relationships and build new ones
• Maximize upgrade opportunities for individual and institutional gifts
• Increase revenue in all streams by 10% in FY26
• Identify strategies to generate prospects to support impact goals through 2027
• Own, develop, and implement innovative strategies to increase individual and institutional funding streams and identify prospective government funding opportunities.
• Deliver on a comprehensive development plan for FY26 with a private revenue goal of $1 million and support current local government fundraising sources $1.3M
• Personally manage a high-level portfolio of major individual donors, corporate partners, and foundations (existing and prospective), driving cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship to secure six- and seven-figure gifts and achieve personal fundraising targets.
• Drive Regional External Relations And Local Brand
• Develop a comprehensive communications and public relations plan to help elevate the Playworks brand
• Build external relationships is essential for donor cultivation, prospect identification, and partnership opportunities in the education and literacy sectors.
• Oversee all external communications, ensuring persuasive and compelling messaging, campaigns, and alignment
• Oversee the strategy and support in cultivating and stewarding individual donors
• Manage relationships with institutional donors, including corporate and entertainment alignments
• Staff and provide strategic support to the board through management of Fundraising and Engagement, and Corporate committees
• Ensure systems and operations of the development department, optimizing efficiencies and skills
• Provide strategic advice and direction to the Executive Director to ensure the region’s success against goals and benchmarks

Requirements

• 5+ years of increasing responsibility in a development or related role, including 3 years of team management or leadership
• Demonstrate a strong track record in driving development efforts in rapidly growing mission-oriented organizations, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area
• Have experience reading, interpreting, and providing financial reports for donors
• Be an exceptional and persuasive communicator in writing and verbally
• Show a strong hunger and drive to not only drive strategy internally but also to heavily participate in external relationship building and fundraising
• Lead the strategy, development, and execution of innovative fundraising events that generate new revenue, deepen community engagement, expand Playworks' network of supporters, and achieve annual fundraising goals
• Collaborate with the Northern California leadership team, and lead an internal team to meet and exceed aggressive fundraising goals
• Consistently coach, grow, and create stretch assignments to grow future fundraising leaders from within
• Recruit, cultivate, and co-lead our 14-member Regional Advisory Board and 8-10 member Associate Board, ensuring achievement of annual give-get goals averaging $15,000 per member/board annually, while providing strategic support to Fundraising & Engagement and Corporate committees

Qualifications

• You’ll Be Successful In This Role If You Have
• Experience working in launch or growth phases of organizations
• A bachelor’s or master’s degree in business, public administration, or a comparable field
• Experience working in education or literacy

Other things you need to know

• This role is an in-person role responsible for conducting in-person meetings and site visits across the Bay Area, with flexibility for remote work when not engaged in field activities, based primarily in our Oakland or San Francisco offices.
• Travel: This position travels regularly throughout Northern California. This position may also involve occasional travel to Playworks’ National Headquarters in Oakland, CA.

Compensation & Benefits

Playworks offers the full package - great benefits, a fun place to work, and an opportunity to grow professionally. We offer:

• A hiring salary of $122,600
• A comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, disability, 401(k) plans with employer match of up to 3% of salary, life insurance, employee-funded pre-tax health, and child care spending accounts
• A generous Flexible PTO policy with paid sick and holiday leave

This is a full-time, exempt position that reports to the Chief Development Officer. At Playworks, our starting salary takes into consideration internal pay equity, geographic pay differential, and robust external market data. We highly value transparency and equity within compensation and, therefore, are committed to adhering to established compensation pay points.

About Playworks: At Playworks, we believe in the power of play to bring out the best in every kid. We create a place for every kid on the playground to get active, build valuable skills, connect, and have fun. We partner with schools, districts, and after-school programs to provide a service or mix of services, including on-site coaches, professional training for school staff who support recess, and consultative partnerships.

As an equal opportunity program, Playworks encourages applications from all individuals regardless of age, gender, gender identity/expression, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, faith, marital status, physical ability, or any other legally protected basis. Playworks evaluates all candidates for employment, volunteering opportunities, or board service on a merit basis.