Director of Development

About the role

The Director of Development and Communications serves as a strategic leader responsible for designing, executing, and modernizing SAVE’s fundraising and marketing strategy to support our $4M annual operating budget. This role builds philanthropic partnerships, elevates organizational visibility, and leads a dedicated team. A primary mandate for this position is to assess and optimize existing internal workflows, establishing clear operational boundaries and transitioning the department toward high-performance, data-driven operations.

Supervisory responsibilities

• Development Associate
• Grants Manager
• Occasional external contractors

Responsibilities

Strategic Philanthropy & Fundraising (Estimated 70%)

• In partnership with the Executive Director, define SAVE’s overarching fundraising strategies, policies, and implementation; develop a robust, multi-year development plan encompassing major gifts, annual campaigns, and corporate/foundation partnerships.
• Own accountability for meeting the organization’s annual contributed revenue goals through events, direct major donor cultivation and oversight of department initiatives.
• Partner with and equip the Board of Directors in fundraising activities; serve as the primary staff liaison for relevant Board committees and provide timely, data-driven progress reports.
• Oversee and advance membership campaigns, individual donor pipelines, and personalized cultivation and solicitation strategies.
• Direct the strategy, tracking, and reporting for all corporate, foundation, and government grant proposals, ensuring compliance and alignment with organizational goals.
• Ensure donor tracking systems (CRM) and data workflows support the business needs of the organization; assess and implement new technology as appropriate to drive data-informed decisions.
• Oversee strategic donor recognition and fundraising events to maximize engagement and return on investment.

Communications & Marketing (Estimated 30%)

• Develop and execute an annual marketing and communications plan to elevate SAVE's profile across digital, print, social media, and traditional press platforms.
• Oversee and directly contribute to the creation of digital and print content, including newsletters, social media, and website updates, ensuring quality control and brand alignment.
• Educate internal teams on fundraising goals and serve as the brand steward to ensure consistent messaging across all organizational programs.

Leadership, Business Process & Financial Management

• Establish clear operational lanes, guardrails, and internal workflows to define where development activities interface with communications initiatives; optimize the collective capacity of the team to ensure revenue-generating activities are prioritized.
• Directly guide and mentor the Development Associate in elevating fundraising operations, ensuring best-in-class donor data hygiene, gift acknowledgment workflows, and stewardship touchpoints.
• Recruit, supervise, and evaluate development and communications staff and independent contractors, fostering a collaborative and high-performing culture.
• Collaborate with the CFO and Executive Director to construct, monitor, and manage the annual departmental budget.

Requirements

• Minimum of 8 years of progressive development and fundraising experience in the nonprofit sector, with a proven track record of securing major gifts and corporate/foundation funding.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience in a related field.
• CFRE certification desired.
• Demonstrated experience in process optimization, workflow design, or scaling/rebuilding development and communications operations.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills with a demonstrated ability to build authentic relationships with diverse stakeholders, funders, and community partners.
• Superb written, oral, and presentation skills; ability to translate complex programmatic work into compelling fundraising narratives.
• Proficiency with modern nonprofit CRMs/donor databases, digital fundraising platforms, and data analytics tools. Experience with agile content tools (e.g., Canva, email marketing platforms) is highly preferred.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage competing deadlines, prioritize effectively, and work both independently and collaboratively.

Physical requirements

• Regularly required to walk; sit; drive; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; and talk or hear.
• Occasionally required to stand; reach with hands and arms; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
• Must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions except when such accommodation would cause undue hardship.

The work environment includes settings of the client’s home, educational institutions, community places, and office environments. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.