Director of Development

Job Overview 

Be Strong International (BSI) is seeking a mission-driven and relationship-focused Director of Development to lead our development strategy and drive growth. This key leadership role will build and steward relationships with individual donors, corporate partners, foundations, and community stakeholders to ensure financial sustainability and programmatic expansion. The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker, strong communicator, and passionate advocate for our work and is someone who brings both heart and results. 

Manager to list the top 5 critical duties for this role (these will be used to qualify/measure a new hire during their probationary performance review). 

1.Lead and execute a comprehensive fundraising strategy with full accountability for achieving or exceeding annual contributed revenue targets, including individual, corporate, and institutional giving. 

2. Actively leverage existing community, corporate, and donor relationships to expand BSI’s fundraising pipeline and secure new individual gifts, sponsorships, and foundation support. 

3. Personally cultivate, solicit, and steward major donors and partners, including leading face‑to‑face donor meetings, closing gifts, and maintaining ongoing relationship management. 

4. Oversee fundraising systems and CRM strategy, including donor segmentation, pipeline management, reporting, and analysis to drive data‑informed fundraising decisions and revenue growth. 

5. Lead fundraising events and donor cultivation activities, including consistent availability for evenings and weekends, ensuring strong donor engagement and measurable fundraising outcomes. 

Additional Responsibilities and Duties  

Donor Development & Stewardship 

• Lead the strategy and execution of donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship for individual, corporate, and major gift prospects. 
• Design and oversee engagement strategies that increase donor retention, deepen relationships, and grow giving levels. 
• Ensure high-quality, mission-aligned stewardship practices across all donor touchpoints. 
• Represent BSI at key philanthropic, networking, and community events to actively grow and sustain a robust donor pipeline. 
• Establish and uphold best practices for donor engagement and long-term relationship management. 

Campaign Strategy & Appeals 

• Provide strategic leadership for all fundraising campaigns, including year-end appeals, annual giving, online fundraising, and peer-to-peer initiatives. 
• Partner with Marketing to ensure integrated and compelling donor messaging across all channels. 
• Oversee the development of donor-facing communications and impact materials that clearly articulate BSI’s mission and outcomes. 
• Analyze campaign performance metrics and use insights to drive continuous improvement and revenue growth.  

Grant Management & Institutional Fundraising 

• Lead institutional fundraising strategy, including prospect identification, proposal development, and funder relationship management. 
• Collaborate with program and finance teams to ensure compelling, compliant grant submissions and timely reporting. 
• Maintain oversight of grant pipelines, deadlines, and deliverables to ensure accountability and sustainability.  

CRM Management & Reporting 

• Provide strategic oversight of BSI’s fundraising CRM, including donor segmentation, pipeline management, and reporting. 
• Utilize dashboards and data analysis to inform fundraising strategy, donor engagement, and revenue decisions. 
• Drive improvements in systems, workflows, and SOPs to ensure efficient, values-aligned donor management practices. 

Events & Sponsorships 

• Lead strategy and execution for fundraising events, donor cultivation activities, and sponsorship initiatives. 
• Secure and steward corporate sponsors and partners, ensuring alignment with organizational goals. 
• Oversee event planning logistics and sponsorship fulfillment in collaboration with internal and external partners. 

Other duties as assigned. 

Required Experience, Qualifications and Skill 

• Master’s degree or equivalent work experience in nonprofit management, fundraising, communications, or related field. 
• Minimum of 5–7 years of progressive fundraising experience with direct responsibility for revenue generation ($1,000,000  annually preferred). 
• Proven experience cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding donors. 
• Strong familiarity with community-based fundraising and relationship management. 
• Experience representing an organization publicly and confidently. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to write compelling proposals and tell powerful stories. 
• Demonstrated experience with CRM systems (HubSpot and GoHighLevel preferred) and donor analytics. 
• Highly organized, self-motivated, and able to manage multiple deadlines simultaneously. 
• Comfort with public speaking, presentations, and relationship building with diverse stakeholders. 
• Familiarity with event logistics, sponsorship management, and fundraising best practices. 
• Demonstrated ability to manage a team. 
• Proficiency in data analytics and financial reporting. 
• Graphic design experience (Canva or Adobe Creative Suite). 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

• May have to travel to multiple locations daily. 
• May have to attend after-hours scheduled work events. 
• Available to work occasional evenings or weekends. 

Competencies 

Excellent oral and written communication skills, and strong presentation skills. Experience in public relations, community. 

relations and/or public speaking. Experience in soliciting stakeholders for financial support.  

Characteristics Strongly Desired 

• Creativity/Innovation: Develop new and unique ways to improve the image and functional capacity of the organization and to create new opportunities. 
• Behave Ethically: Understand ethical behavior and business practices and ensure own behavior and the behavior of others are consistent with these standards and aligns with the values of the organization. 
• Build Relationships:
• Establish and maintain positive working relationships with others, both internally and externally, to achieve the goals of the organization. 
• Communicate Effectively: Speak, listen and write in a clear, thorough and timely manner using appropriate and effective communication tools and techniques. 
• Focus on Client Needs:
• Anticipate, understand, and respond to the needs of schools, community organizations and individual clients to meet or exceed their expectations within the organizational parameters. 
• Foster Teamwork: Work cooperatively and effectively with others to set goals, resolve problems, and make decisions that enhance organizational effectiveness. 
• Lead: Positively influence others to achieve results that support the sustainability of the organization. 
• Make Decisions: Assess situations to determine the importance, urgency and risks, and make clear decisions which are timely and in the best interests of the organization. 
• Organized: Set priorities, develop a work schedule, monitor progress towards goals, and track details, data, information and activities. 
• Plan:
• Determine strategies to move the organization forward, set goals, create and implement actions plans, and evaluate the process and results. 

Physical Demands: 

This position is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, speak, and hear. The position requires extensive computer use so the employee must have sufficient hand dexterity to use a computer keyboard and be capable of reading a computer screen. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 30 pounds. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

Limitations and Disclaimer: 

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee occupying this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform other job-related duties requested by their supervisor in compliance with Federal and State Laws.  Requirements are representative of minimum levels of knowledge, skills and/or abilities. To perform this job successfully, the employee must possess the abilities or aptitudes to perform each duty proficiently. Continued employment remains on an “at-will” basis. 

• We are an equal opportunity employer. We consider applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital or veteran status, or any other legally protected status. Hiring is contingent to references and Level II background screening and Sex Offender background check successfully passed.