Description

Summary

The Director leads the Development team providing oversight for portfolio strategy, assignments, and coverage across the Foundation’s donor base. The Director also carries a personal portfolio of high-net-worth prospects, guides the team in managing major and planned gift work and leads the professional advisor program in sustaining campaign-era fundraising disciplines as part of the Foundation’s long-term development operation.

Reporting to the Vice President for Advancement, the Director of Development serves as a member of the Advancement Leadership Team (ALT), sharing in the Advancement department’s contributions to organization-wide strategic priorities and collaborative decision making, providing advice in areas of functional expertise and raising opportunities for collective consideration. This role partners with the VP for Advancement and Director of Donor Experience in managing donor engagement, stewardship and donor pools across the full donor pipeline, including the Foundation’s donor Direct program.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Manages a personal portfolio of major gift prospects, cultivating and soliciting individuals, families, private foundations, and corporations toward the creation of new charitable funds.
• Oversees the assignment and rebalancing of donor pools across Development Officer and Senior Officer portfolios ensuring the transition from campaign-era prospect lists into active, sustainable portfolios.
• Sets and monitors individual and team fundraising goals and metrics, coaching Development Officers and Senior Officers toward measurable targets.
• Manages the donor pool, portfolio structure, moves management targets and gift closing efficiency standards for the Development team, in collaboration with the VP for Advancement.
• Monitors the donor Direct program in collaboration with the Director of Donor Experience to ensure the program effectively segments, routes and tracks donors who fall outside individually assigned portfolios and prevents unmanaged donor relationships.
• Carries forward a public and sustainability infrastructure adapting cadence, reporting and prospect tracking to major and planned gifts for ongoing, non-campaign fundraising.
• Collaborates with the Advancement Leadership Team (ALT) to ensure smooth cross-functional integration of workflows between Development, Donor Experience and other functional areas of the Foundation.
• Leads strategic identification, outreach and cultivation to broaden development relationships across the Foundation’s service area, with particular attention to historically underrepresented groups, organizations, and associations.
• Conducts proactive research to identify and cultivate new major-gift prospects through referral networks, wealth screenings and community engagements and build the pipeline beyond inherited and campaign-era relationships.
• Leads and manages the Foundation’s Professional Advisor Community and all related advisor engagement, capacity, and charitable gift planning support, serving as the primary point of contact for attorneys, accountants, financial planners, and other advisors on the Foundation’s giving vehicles.
• Partners with the VP for Advancement in managing corporate relationships, new giving vehicles and revenue-generating strategies to grow total assets.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Competencies and Attributes

• Demonstrated experience in major gift solicitation, preferably in a community foundation, large nonprofit, or higher education setting.
• Demonstrated ability to manage both individually assigned portfolios and pooled or unassigned donor segments at scale.
• Experience transitioning campaign-specific systems and prospect pipelines into permanent, sustainable development operations.
• Working knowledge of donor management and portfolio-routing platforms; direct experience with Foundant C-Suite or comparable CRM/portfolio tools strongly preferred.
• Proficient written communication and public presentation skills.
• Demonstrated project management experience with the ability to prioritize, organize, and manage competing assignments, projects, and deadlines.
• Proven ability to lead and develop a multi-disciplinary team, including staff at varying seniority levels.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively within a diverse environment, interacting openly with individuals of diverse backgrounds.
• Demonstrated ability to handle sensitive and confidential donor and prospect information with discretion and diplomacy.
• Demonstrated knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite products and fundraising CRM systems.

Education and Experience

Degree requirement can be substituted with equivalent practical experience.

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in a related field.
• 7–10 years of experience in development, donor services, or a closely related field, including management or supervisory experience.
• Track record of increasing donor base participation and securing gifts of $500,000 and more.
• Experience managing a team through a shift from campaign-mode fundraising to steady-state portfolio management is a plus.

Location

This is a hybrid position that includes remote work up to 2 days per week and in-office work in Hartford, CT