Development Director

$100,000 - $120,000/Yr

Delta Waterfowl - Houston, TX

Full-time - Mid Level

Remote - Houston, TX

About the position

The Development Director is a seasoned fundraising professional responsible for managing a portfolio of major gift prospects, focusing on securing donations primarily between $10,000 and $100,000. This role involves cultivating relationships with individual, foundation, corporate, and agency/association donors, as well as identifying and securing planned gift agreements. The position requires active engagement in donor management, strategic planning, and collaboration with senior leadership and development teams.

Responsibilities

• Actively cultivate, solicit and steward a major gift portfolio of 100-125 donor prospects to reach annual dollar and activity goals.
• Identify and recruit new major donors/gift prospects.
• Engage appropriate donors in conversation about their estate gift planning to reach annual Planned Giving Agreement goals.
• Embrace the prescribed team donor moves management protocol in accordance with donor life cycle best practices.
• Actively maintain constituent contact information and dynamic opportunity (solicitation) pipeline.
• Record and update the daily prospecting, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship activities.
• Annually create and follow relationship and solicitation maps for top 20 major gift prospects.
• Build deep, lasting relationships and trusted reputation through individual engagement and appropriate participation in community organizations, events and other positive visibility opportunities.
• Provide timely communications to major donors/prospects including research, program and annual report updates as well as appropriate stewardship and acknowledgement activities.
• Collaborate, share information and support the work of fellow major gift solicitors.
• Actively participate in development meetings, portfolio strategy meetings and donor assignment meetings.
• Engage senior leadership and (when appropriate) Board Members to best position the most appropriate and fulfilling donor solicitations.
• Partner closely with others to best utilize and support the Chapter and banquet system network.
• Work with development writers to draft written solicitations, proposals, gift agreements and stewardship collateral as needed.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, Communications, Wildlife Science or related field.
• Three or more years' experience in major, planned and/or principal gift fundraising and/or high net worth sales experience, focused on 1:1 relationship-based close of gifts/sales of $10,000+.
• Ability to identify major giving prospects and creatively secure face-to-face donor interactions.
• Innate, self-motivated ability to help build and execute a donor portfolio management plan in a remote, matrixed working environment.
• General knowledge and experience with estate planning and securing planned gift agreements.
• Strong face-to-face presentation skills with individuals and small groups of sophisticated donors.
• Ability to construct, articulate, and implement fundraising strategies and reports.
• Strong written development communication skills, including proposal and grant preparation.
• Excellent computer skills, including MS Office and donor database experience.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with donor database management systems.
• Familiarity with wildlife conservation and related fundraising efforts.

Benefits

• Professional development opportunities.
• Flexible working environment.
• Remote work options.