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Build a Fundraising Leadership Role That Candidates Can Understand

By Priya Ellison · 30 July 2026

A strong Development Director job description does more than assemble a long list of fundraising tasks. It tells candidates what revenue they will own, which fundraising channels matter, what authority and resources they will receive, who will support the work, and how the organization will judge success.

That clarity matters because “Development Director” is not a standardized title. One organization may need its first full-time fundraiser. Another may need a player-coach who manages two employees while carrying a major-gift portfolio. A larger institution may expect the director to lead specialists in grants, annual giving, operations, events, and major gifts.

The customizable template below covers the common core while separating it from optional duties. Use it to create a realistic role—not to assign every activity associated with fundraising, marketing, communications, events, grants, and community engagement to one person.

What a Development Director Does—and Why the Title Needs Context

In a nonprofit, educational, cultural, or public-service organization, a Development Director generally leads fundraising strategy and execution. The director connects the organization’s mission and financial priorities with donors, foundations, companies, government funders, and other funding partners.

That work usually includes more than asking for money. Development can encompass prospect research, relationship building, solicitation, stewardship, donor retention, gift administration, fundraising communications, events, grants, data management, volunteer engagement, and reporting. In some institutions, development sits within a broader advancement function that may also include constituent relations, marketing, communications, public affairs, or alumni relations. Lindauer’s explanation of development and advancement illustrates why the surrounding organizational structure matters as much as the title.

Depending on the role, they may:

Create an annual development plan and campaign calendar.
Set revenue goals and forecast contributed income.
Maintain a portfolio of qualified prospects and donors.
Conduct donor meetings and make direct solicitations.
Prepare or review proposals, appeals, and reports.
Lead annual, major-gift, grant, corporate, event, or digital campaigns.
Manage staff, contractors, consultants, volunteers, or cross-functional projects.
Report fundraising results to executives and the board.
Maintain the systems and processes behind donor relationships.

The balance changes according to organizational size, revenue mix, staffing, mission, donor base, and fundraising maturity. Repeated responsibilities across job postings show common practice, not a formal occupational standard.

This article uses “Development Director” in its nonprofit and institutional sense. It does not cover software development, real-estate development, product development, or corporate business-development positions.

Before writing the description, decide which of these three configurations you are hiring:

Solo or first development hire: The director establishes the fundraising program and personally handles much of the strategy, donor work, administration, and campaign execution.
Player-coach: The director carries personal fundraising responsibilities while supervising a small team, contractors, or volunteers.
Department leader: The director manages specialized employees responsible for areas such as grants, annual giving, events, major gifts, operations, and donor communications.

The title alone will not communicate that distinction. The job description must.

Copy-Ready Development Director Job Description Template

Replace every bracketed field before publishing. Delete any responsibility module that does not match the actual role. In particular, retain only the fundraising channels the Development Director will genuinely own.

Job header

Job title: Development Director
Organization: [Organization name]
Location: [City, state, region, or service area]
Work arrangement: [Onsite, hybrid, or remote, including required onsite frequency]
Employment status: [Full-time or part-time]
Classification: [Exempt or nonexempt, subject to applicable law]
Salary range: [Minimum–maximum and currency]
Reports to: [Executive Director, CEO, President, or other title]
Leadership-team status: [Member/not a member of leadership team]
Direct reports: [Titles or number of employees]
Travel: [Expected frequency, geography, and whether overnight travel occurs]
After-hours work: [Expected evening or weekend meetings and events]

About the organization

[Organization] advances [mission] by [brief description of programs, services, or institutional purpose]. We serve [community or constituency] in [location or service area]. Our current priorities include [two or three relevant strategic priorities].

Role summary

The Development Director leads [Organization]’s fundraising strategy and execution in support of [mission]. Reporting to [title], this position is accountable for an annual contributed-revenue goal of [amount] across [relevant channels] and manages [portfolio, team, budget, or other scope].

The Development Director works with [executive leader], [board or board committee], [finance], [programs], and [communications] to build sustainable funding relationships, execute fundraising plans, and report progress. This is a [solo fundraiser/player-coach/department leader] position with responsibility for [brief description of strategic and hands-on scope].

Core responsibilities

Create and execute an annual development plan aligned with organizational strategy and approved financial goals.
Establish channel-level revenue goals, campaign schedules, expense budgets, forecasts, and review dates.
Monitor contributed revenue and fundraising expenses, identify material changes, and recommend corrective action.
Identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit, steward, retain, and re-engage donors and funding partners.
Manage a qualified portfolio of [number or scope] prospects and donors using documented cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship plans.
Conduct donor meetings and make direct solicitations appropriate to the organization’s fundraising model.
Coordinate the participation of the [Executive Director/CEO/President], board members, program leaders, and other relationship owners.
Report regularly on revenue, expenses, pipeline movement, donor retention, campaign results, grants, and forecast changes.
Follow organizational policies governing donor confidentiality, gift acceptance, restricted funds, conflicts of interest, and respectful donor communications.

Fundraising-channel modules

Retain only the modules the director will genuinely own. If another employee or contractor performs the work, specify whether the director leads, approves, supervises, coordinates, or supports it.

Annual giving

Lead [direct-mail, email, digital, workplace, membership, or other] annual-giving campaigns.
Develop audience segments, messages, schedules, goals, and follow-up plans.
Evaluate acquisition, renewal, upgrade, and re-engagement performance.

Major gifts

Build and manage a portfolio of qualified major-gift prospects and donors.
Create individualized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship plans.
Conduct meetings, make direct asks, prepare proposals, and involve executives or board members when appropriate.

Grants and institutional funding

Develop a foundation, corporate, and/or government-funding strategy.
Maintain a grant calendar covering research, inquiries, applications, reports, renewals, and compliance dates.
[Write proposals and reports personally/Review and approve work prepared by grant staff or contractors].
Coordinate budgets, program information, outcomes, and reporting requirements with finance and program teams.

Corporate partnerships and sponsorships

Identify and cultivate companies whose interests align with the organization’s mission and audience.
Develop partnership, sponsorship, or employee-engagement opportunities with clearly defined benefits and obligations.
Coordinate approval of public recognition, deliverables, and donor commitments.

Events

Set fundraising, engagement, and stewardship objectives for donor events.
[Lead event execution/Supervise an events employee or contractor/Provide fundraising strategy while operations manages logistics].
Evaluate revenue, expenses, donor participation, follow-up opportunities, and staff workload.

Campaigns

Lead [capital, comprehensive, endowment, special-project, or capacity] campaign planning and execution.
Coordinate case development, prospect strategy, volunteer leadership, gift discussions, reporting, and stewardship.
Manage campaign consultants or contractors where applicable.

Planned giving

Develop an appropriate planned-giving education and stewardship program.
Refer technical questions and gift-documentation matters to qualified financial, tax, or legal professionals.
Maintain accurate records of documented intentions and follow organizational gift-acceptance procedures.

Digital appeals

Lead online fundraising appeals across [email, website, social media, peer-to-peer, or other channels].
Coordinate segmentation, messaging, landing pages, schedules, testing, and reporting with communications staff.
Ensure donor data moves accurately into the organization’s systems and follow-up workflows.

Team leadership module

Supervise [titles or number of employees], with responsibility for hiring, onboarding, coaching, goal setting, workload allocation, evaluation, and professional development.
Establish clear ownership of portfolios, campaigns, deadlines, data, and donor relationships.
Manage relevant consultants, vendors, contractors, interns, or volunteers.
Build a collaborative, accountable development culture focused on sustainable donor relationships and reliable execution.

Development operations module

Oversee the donor CRM and related fundraising workflows.
Maintain standards for donor records, contact reports, opportunity stages, moves management, reporting, and data quality.
Ensure timely and accurate gift processing, acknowledgments, pledge tracking, and reconciliation with finance.
Maintain fundraising calendars, grant deadlines, campaign documentation, dashboards, policies, and procedures.
Define appropriate access controls and confidentiality practices for donor and prospect information.
Produce reliable reports for staff, executives, finance, and the board.

Board and executive partnership

Prepare concise fundraising reports, forecasts, and decisions for the [board/board development committee].
Help board members identify prospects, open relationships, participate in cultivation or solicitation, and thank donors.
Prepare executives and board members for donor meetings with clear objectives, background information, roles, and follow-up steps.
Document who owns each donor relationship and who is accountable for the next action.

Minimum qualifications

[Number] years of progressively responsible fundraising, development, advancement, or comparable experience.
Demonstrated fundraising results appropriate to the scale and complexity of this position.
Experience cultivating and directly soliciting individual donors or major gifts at a level relevant to [Organization].
Ability to build trusted relationships with donors, funding partners, executives, board members, colleagues, and community stakeholders.
Strong written, oral, presentation, and interpersonal communication.
Ability to create plans, manage concurrent projects, meet deadlines, and adjust strategy based on results.
Financial awareness sufficient to build budgets, monitor expenses, forecast revenue, and interpret fundraising performance.
Experience leading people, projects, volunteers, or cross-functional work appropriate to the scope of the role.
Proficiency with CRM workflows, prospect tracking, donor segmentation, pipeline reporting, spreadsheets, and data-quality controls.
[Degree or equivalent education and experience, if genuinely required.]

Preferred qualifications

Experience managing development employees, contractors, or volunteers.
Familiarity with [mission, community, geography, institution type, or funding environment].
Established relationships in [relevant philanthropic community], where useful to the role.
Planned-giving, capital-campaign, government-grant, or other specialized experience.
[Advanced education], if relevant to the work.
CFRE certification.
Experience with [specific platform], if onboarding cannot reasonably provide the required knowledge.

Performance expectations

Success will be assessed through goals approved during the annual planning process, including:

Contributed revenue against goal.
Donor retention, renewal, upgrade, or re-engagement.
Qualified-pipeline development and movement.
Major-gift portfolio progress.
Campaign performance.
Grant deadlines, awards, reporting, and compliance.
Forecast accuracy and timely communication of changes.
Fundraising expense management.
CRM completeness and reporting reliability.
Team, executive, and board participation in agreed fundraising responsibilities.

Compensation and benefits

Salary range: [Range]
Benefits: [Health coverage, retirement, leave, holidays, professional development, flexible scheduling, or other benefits]
Review schedule: [Timing and process]
Other compensation: [Bonus or incentive structure, if applicable and appropriately reviewed]

Schedule and working conditions

This position normally works [schedule and hours] from [location or work arrangement]. It requires approximately [travel expectation] and [frequency] of evening or weekend work for [donor meetings, board meetings, or events].

The position requires [precisely described, job-related physical or environmental requirements]. Candidates may request an accommodation through [process or contact method].

Employment is subject to [job-related background check, driving-record review, reference check, or other condition], where applicable.

How to apply

Submit [resume, cover letter, writing sample, work sample, references, or other materials] through [application method] by [deadline]. Candidates who need an accommodation during the application or interview process may contact [method].

[Organization] is an equal opportunity employer. [Insert an employment statement reviewed for the organization and jurisdiction.]

Informational note for employers: This template is informational, not legal, HR, compensation, or employment advice. Obtain qualified advice in the relevant jurisdiction before finalizing worker classification, compensation disclosures, screening procedures, accessibility language, recordkeeping, or other regulated terms. Requirements vary and may change. HRaizon states the same informational-only limitation in its published terms.

Core Responsibilities Across the Fundraising Cycle

A useful Development Director job description organizes work around outcomes and relationships, not a disconnected list of campaigns.

Prospect identification and qualification begins with finding people and institutions that may have an interest in the mission. The director establishes qualification criteria, reviews available information, talks with relationship owners, and decides whether a prospect belongs in an active portfolio. A large unqualified list is not the same as a viable pipeline.

Cultivation develops understanding and trust before a solicitation. It can include conversations, program visits, briefings, events, volunteer involvement, and introductions to organizational leaders. The description should make clear whether the director personally manages these relationships or creates strategies for others to execute.

Solicitation converts an appropriate funding opportunity into a direct request. Depending on the channel, that may mean a face-to-face major-gift conversation, proposal, sponsorship package, grant application, annual appeal, or digital campaign. If direct asking is central to the position, say so plainly.

Stewardship follows the gift. It includes timely acknowledgment, appropriate recognition, impact reporting, compliance with restrictions, and continued relationship management. It should not be described merely as sending thank-you letters; it is part of maintaining trust and preparing for future engagement.

Retention and re-engagement address whether donors continue their support. The director may analyze lapsed donors, renewal patterns, engagement history, and opportunities to deepen relationships. The description should identify what the director controls and what depends on program quality, leadership involvement, communications, or external conditions.

The annual development plan turns these lifecycle responsibilities into an operating system. It should connect organizational priorities to:

Channel and campaign goals.
A calendar of appeals, proposals, meetings, reports, and events.
Revenue and expense forecasts.
Staff, board, executive, and volunteer assignments.
Portfolio and pipeline priorities.
Communications and stewardship schedules.
Monthly or quarterly reviews.

Portfolio management should also be concrete. Instead of writing “build donor relationships,” describe the expected work: maintain qualified prospects, record relationship history, create next-step plans, conduct donor meetings, make direct requests, and coordinate executive or board participation.

Not every director needs to oversee annual giving, major gifts, grants, corporate funding, sponsorships, events, planned giving, capital campaigns, and online appeals. Select channels based on the organization’s actual revenue strategy. A position that owns many channels may need specialist staff, outside support, or a narrower personal portfolio.

Donor communications commonly include acknowledgments, appeals, proposals, updates, reports, presentations, and stewardship events. The director may write these materials in a small organization. Where communications staff exist, the director can instead define the fundraising objective, audience, donor context, offer, and approval requirements while a specialist handles production.

Grant duties require similar precision. A solo director may research opportunities, write applications, construct supporting budgets, submit reports, and maintain the full calendar. A department leader may set institutional-funding strategy, cultivate funders, review proposals, monitor compliance, and supervise grant staff. Densho’s 2025 role description, for example, combined grant research, applications, funder stewardship, and reporting with annual appeals, major gifts, events, online campaigns, and planned giving. Its official job description demonstrates how broad the role can become.

Use verbs deliberately:

Lead means accountable for direction and results.
Approve means another person prepares the work, but the director has decision authority.
Supervise means managing the person or process performing the work.
Coordinate means aligning multiple contributors without necessarily controlling them.
Execute means personally performing the task.
Support means contributing without primary accountability.

A director can own an outcome without personally performing every task. Conversely, writing “oversee” throughout the description can obscure a role that is actually expected to execute nearly everything.

Team Leadership, Board Partnership, and Development Operations

Reporting relationships vary. A Development Director may report to an Executive Director, President, President and CEO, advancement executive, or another institutional leader. For example, De La Salle North Catholic’s posting assigned the role to the President and placed it on the leadership team. Its employer-issued description also defined the position as full-time and exempt.

The posting must name the actual supervisor rather than assuming candidates will infer it from the title. It should also state whether the director serves on the leadership team.

Define the staffing model directly:

Solo fundraiser: No permanent development employees; may coordinate volunteers or contractors.
Player-coach: Supervises a small team while personally managing donors, proposals, or campaigns.
Department leader: Sets strategy and oversees specialized employees with substantial delegated execution.

List direct reports by title or provide the number and general functions if the structure is still being finalized. Describe whether the director can hire, coach, assign work, set goals, conduct evaluations, recommend compensation, approve professional development, manage contractors, and recruit volunteers.

Board partnership should be described as work, not as a vague instruction to “collaborate with the board.” The director might:

Prepare reports and recommendations.
Staff a development committee.
Help trustees identify potential relationships.
Ask board members to make introductions.
Prepare them for donor meetings.
Assign cultivation and stewardship actions.
Provide scripts, background information, or training.
Track agreed follow-up.

That does not eliminate accountability. The description should distinguish what the director owns from what the chief executive, board chair, committee, and individual board members are expected to do.

Cross-functional relationships need the same clarity. The Development Director may work:

With finance on budgets, forecasts, reconciliations, restricted gifts, grant reporting, and revenue questions.
With programs on outcomes, service information, site visits, proposal content, and funder reports.
With communications on appeals, campaign messages, donor stories, public recognition, and editorial schedules.
With executives on major relationships, institutional priorities, gift discussions, and board engagement.
With operations or technology staff on system access, security, integrations, and data governance.

Development operations are not secondary if the director is expected to produce reliable forecasts and donor strategies. The description should assign ownership for the CRM, donor records, moves management, gift processing, acknowledgments, pledge tracking, grant deadlines, campaign calendars, dashboards, policies, and data quality.

Finally, document decision rights. Candidates should know:

Which gifts the director may accept or decline under organizational policy.
Who approves restrictions or unusual donor commitments.
Which campaign expenses the director can authorize.
Who approves fundraising messages and public recognition.
Whether the director can engage vendors or consultants.
What staffing decisions the director controls.
When executive, finance, legal, or board approval is required.

Ambitious revenue accountability should come with appropriate staff, data, budget access, executive support, board participation, and decision authority. Otherwise, the organization is assigning responsibility without providing control over the conditions that shape results.

Core Duties Versus Organization-Dependent Additions

A responsibility matrix helps prevent the Development Director job description from becoming a collection point for every externally facing activity.

Category	Responsibilities	Editing approach
Core fundraising leadership	Fundraising planning, donor relationships, direct solicitation, stewardship, revenue forecasting, performance reporting, portfolio management, and appropriate development operations	Include the responsibilities relevant to the role, with scope and authority defined
Organization-dependent development modules	Grant writing, event execution, planned giving, volunteer management, alumni or constituent relations, government funding, corporate partnerships, and broad community outreach	Add only when these functions are part of the revenue strategy and the workload is feasible
Caution: potentially separate functions	Organization-wide marketing, brand management, public relations, unrelated sales, general communications, and broad organizational development	Include only when the broader structure, priorities, staffing, authority, time, and compensation are explicit

Small nonprofits may reasonably combine functions. A first development hire might write appeals, manage an event, administer the CRM, prepare grants, and meet with donors. The problem is not combination itself; it is failing to identify priorities.

If fundraising is the primary accountability, say which other duties are secondary or occasional. For example:

The Development Director owns fundraising strategy, donor relationships, and contributed-revenue performance. The director provides fundraising input to organization-wide communications but does not own brand management, media relations, or general program marketing.

Before publishing, edit the duty list in four passes:

Remove duplication. “Manage donors,” “build donor relationships,” and “cultivate supporters” may describe the same responsibility.
Identify an owner. Decide who is accountable for each campaign, system, deadline, and result.
Estimate workload. Consider the annual calendar, number of channels, event intensity, proposal volume, portfolio expectations, and supervisory responsibilities.
Separate leadership from production. State whether the director sets strategy, reviews work, supervises execution, or personally completes it.

Warning signs for both candidates and hiring teams include:

No defined annual fundraising or portfolio scope.
Accountability for revenue without budget access, data, staff, or executive support.
Marketing, public relations, sales, and general communications added without boundaries.
Every possible fundraising channel assigned by default.
Strategic leadership expectations paired with predominantly administrative work.
Multiple people described as owning the same outcome.
No indication of which responsibilities take priority during competing deadlines.

An overextended description does not necessarily produce a versatile hire. It can conceal unresolved organizational decisions and make performance expectations impossible to interpret.

Required and Preferred Qualifications

Start with demonstrated capability rather than an inflated credential list. The most useful qualification block addresses whether the candidate can:

Produce fundraising results at a relevant scale.
Build and maintain donor relationships.
Conduct direct solicitations.
Manage major-gift work appropriate to the organization.
Communicate persuasively in writing and conversation.
Create and execute a development plan.
Manage projects, campaigns, deadlines, and budgets.
Lead employees, contractors, volunteers, or cross-functional contributors.
Use data and fundraising systems to manage a pipeline and report performance.
Work effectively with executives and board members.

Requirements of approximately five or more years appear in multiple employer descriptions and hiring templates, but they are not universal. Densho’s 2025 description, for example, required at least five years of nonprofit fundraising experience, while other employer examples requested more senior experience for broader management and revenue responsibilities. The Densho posting tied its requirement to individual giving, annual appeals, events, and major gifts.

Tie any experience requirement to the role rather than choosing a number in isolation. Consider:

The size and complexity of gifts.
Whether the director must make major-gift asks.
The number and maturity of fundraising channels.
Campaign responsibility.
Government or foundation compliance.
Team size and management complexity.
Budget and forecasting authority.
Executive and board interaction.
Whether the director must build a new function or improve an established one.

Required and preferred qualifications should be visibly separate. A requirement is something a candidate needs to perform the job with reasonable onboarding. A preference may strengthen the application but should not function as an unstated screening rule.

Degree expectations also vary. Some employers require a bachelor’s degree; others accept an equivalent combination of education and experience. New Beginnings’ 2024 posting used the latter approach while also requiring progressively responsible development and management experience. Its qualification language demonstrates how employers can recognize equivalent preparation.

A master’s degree or CFRE certification may be preferred for a particular position, but the available employer examples do not support presenting either as universally necessary or as proof of stronger performance.

Software requirements deserve similar restraint. Ask instead for experience with:

Donor segmentation.
Prospect and opportunity tracking.
Moves management.
Pipeline and forecast reporting.
Dashboards and spreadsheets.
Data-quality controls.
Digital fundraising workflows.
Responsible handling of donor information.

Avoid labels such as “born leader,” “rock star,” “dynamic,” or “entrepreneurial” unless they are translated into observable behavior. “Can establish priorities across simultaneous campaigns and coach employees through missed deadlines” is assessable. “Dynamic leader” is not.

A more inclusive example qualification block is:

Minimum qualifications: Progressively responsible fundraising, development, advancement, or comparable experience; demonstrated fundraising results; experience cultivating and directly soliciting donors at a level relevant to this role; strong relationship-building and communication skills; ability to manage plans, budgets, projects, and deadlines; and proficiency with CRM-based portfolio and reporting workflows. Comparable combinations of education and experience will be considered.

Preferred qualifications: Experience supervising staff or contractors; familiarity with [mission, community, or sector]; planned-giving or campaign exposure; relevant local philanthropic relationships; advanced education; or CFRE certification. Candidates do not need to meet every preferred qualification to apply.

Goals and KPIs That Make the Role Measurable

A Development Director job description should explain the scale of the assignment before listing metrics. Include editable fields for:

Annual contributed-revenue scope: [amount].
Fundraising expense budget: [amount].
Donor or prospect portfolio: [scope].
Direct reports: [number and titles].
Primary fundraising channels: [list].
Campaign or grant portfolio: [scope].
Historical context: [stable, growing, rebuilding, or newly established program].

Performance measures should connect responsibilities to outcomes.

Responsibility area	Activities	Outcomes
Individual and major giving	Meetings, calls, proposals, solicitations	Revenue, retained donors, upgraded donors, and qualified opportunities
Pipeline development	Research, qualification, contact plans	A current pipeline with credible next actions and relationship owners
Campaigns	Appeals, events, digital activity, follow-up	Revenue, participation, donor progression, and useful campaign learning
Grants	Research, applications, reports, funder meetings	Timely submissions, awards, renewals, compliant reporting, and strong funder relationships
Forecasting	Monthly review and scenario updates	Reliable projections and timely explanation of material changes
Expense management	Budget review and vendor oversight	Spending within approved plans and informed tradeoffs
Operations	Data entry, audits, reconciliation, dashboards	Complete records, timely acknowledgments, and dependable reporting
Leadership	Coaching, assignments, board preparation	Clear accountability and effective participation by staff and volunteer leaders

Activities matter, but they are not outcomes. Donor meetings, proposals, appeals, and events show that work occurred. Revenue, retained donors, qualified opportunities, compliant grants, and reliable data show what the work produced.

Do not copy universal percentages, portfolio sizes, gift thresholds, pipeline ratios, or forecast-accuracy targets into the description. Appropriate targets depend on historical performance, donor composition, staffing, fundraising investment, geography, gift cycles, available data, and pipeline maturity.

A first-year scorecard can use stages rather than invented numeric standards:

Initial assessment and stabilization: Review historical performance, meet key stakeholders, assess active donors and prospects, audit deadlines, and address urgent data or acknowledgment problems.
Strategy and pipeline development: Present an annual plan, clarify channel priorities, qualify the pipeline, assign relationship ownership, and establish reporting.
Campaign execution and forecast refinement: Execute priority appeals, solicitations, proposals, and stewardship work while improving forecasts based on actual results.
Annual results and next-year planning: Evaluate revenue, expenses, retention, pipeline, team performance, and campaign results; recommend next-year goals and investment.

The description should also identify shared dependencies. Revenue may depend on the chief executive attending donor meetings, board members opening relationships, program staff supplying evidence, communications staff producing appeals, or finance providing accurate reports. State which goals the director controls individually and which require joint execution.

Sample language:

Report monthly on revenue, expenses, pipeline movement, donor retention, grant status, and forecast changes, with targets approved through the annual planning process. Identify significant risks, decisions, resource needs, and corrective actions. Performance goals will reflect historical results, available staffing and budget, pipeline maturity, and agreed participation by organizational leaders and the board.

Compensation, Work Conditions, and Final Posting Checklist

Publish a salary range appropriate to the role and jurisdiction rather than relying on a single national figure or one employer’s posting. Compensation should reflect geography, organizational budget, revenue responsibility, portfolio complexity, team size, functional breadth, schedule, and total benefits.

Historical employer postings illustrate substantial variation, but they do not establish a current or universal market rate:

In a January 2024 employer description, Girls Inc. of Long Island in Deer Park, New York, listed $80,000–$85,000 for a full-time, exempt Director of Development role requiring extensive nonprofit fundraising experience. The posting also included travel within Long Island.
An archived Raw Art Works posting listed $100,000–$115,000 for a hands-on department leader responsible for more than $3 million in revenue. The archived evidence does not state a publication date or work location, so this figure should not be treated as a dated geographic benchmark. The role appeared on the Massachusetts Council of Nonprofits career board.
In a March 2025 description, Seattle-based Densho listed $100,000–$120,000, depending on experience, for a full-time position overseeing multiple fundraising channels. The role could be hybrid or onsite in Seattle, with limited remote possibilities in specified areas of Washington or California.
In a June 2024 description, Seattle nonprofit New Beginnings listed $117,000–$125,000 for an exempt, 36-hour-per-week hybrid position supervising three development managers and occasional volunteers. The posting’s application deadline was July 11, 2024, so the figure is historical rather than current.

These examples belong to different employers, periods, roles, schedules, and geographic contexts. They illustrate variation; they do not substitute for a current compensation analysis.

Beyond salary, disclose:

Employment status and classification.
Benefits and eligibility timing.
Standard schedule and expected hours.
Onsite, hybrid, or remote requirements.
Geographic or residency restrictions.
Travel frequency and territory.
Evening and weekend obligations.
Precisely described physical requirements, if job-related.
Screening or driving conditions, if applicable.
Application materials, method, deadline, and accommodation process.

Do not copy employer-specific religious commitments, geographic restrictions, background-check conditions, travel demands, or physical requirements into a generic template. Include them only when they genuinely apply to the job and have received appropriate jurisdiction-specific review.

Before publishing, confirm that the posting contains:

[ ] Organization name and mission.
[ ] Clear role purpose.
[ ] Actual reporting line.
[ ] Leadership-team status.
[ ] Direct reports and supervisory authority.
[ ] Annual revenue, portfolio, and budget scope.
[ ] Core responsibilities.
[ ] Only the optional channels the director will own.
[ ] Distinct required and preferred qualifications.
[ ] Salary range and benefits.
[ ] Employment status and classification.
[ ] Schedule, location, and work arrangement.
[ ] Travel and after-hours expectations.
[ ] Application materials, method, deadline, and accommodation process.
[ ] Decision rights and required executive or board participation.
[ ] Outcome-focused performance measures.

Apply one final quality-control test: Can a candidate tell what they own, how success will be measured, who supports them, what authority they have, what they will be paid, and when and where the work occurs?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a Development Director and a Development Manager or Chief Development Officer?

There is no universally fixed hierarchy attached to these titles. Organizations define them according to their size, structure, fundraising model, and executive needs.

A Development Manager often manages campaigns, operations, projects, or a specific channel and may report to a director. In a small nonprofit, however, a manager may be the senior fundraiser.

A Development Director commonly leads the fundraising program, owns planning and reporting, manages donor relationships, and may supervise staff. The position can range from solo practitioner to department leader.

A Chief Development Officer generally signals broader executive scope, such as organization-wide revenue strategy, leadership of a larger department, participation in enterprise decisions, or oversight of multiple development functions. The title alone does not guarantee that scope.

Choose the title only after defining revenue accountability, direct reports, budget authority, decision rights, executive status, and hands-on workload.

How many years of experience should a Development Director have?

There is no universal tenure requirement. Employer examples commonly request several years of progressively responsible fundraising experience, but the appropriate level depends on the role’s complexity rather than the word “director.”

A first development hire with a modest program may need less tenure but strong planning, direct-solicitation, and systems-building ability. A department leader responsible for major gifts, multiple channels, employees, a large budget, and board strategy may need substantially more senior experience.

Use language such as “progressively responsible fundraising experience appropriate to the scope of this role,” then identify the capabilities that must have been demonstrated. If using a numeric threshold, explain what candidates should have learned or accomplished during that period.

Does a Development Director need a bachelor’s degree or CFRE certification?

Not universally. Some employers require a bachelor’s degree, while others accept an equivalent combination of education and experience. Whether a degree is necessary should depend on the work rather than inherited language from an older description.

CFRE certification can be listed as preferred when the organization values it, but it should not be treated as a universal requirement or proof that a candidate will perform better. The same applies to a master’s degree.

Prioritize evidence of fundraising results, direct donor work, communication, planning, financial awareness, leadership, ethical judgment, and effective use of fundraising systems. If equivalent experience is acceptable, state that explicitly.

Who should a Development Director report to?

The director should report to the organizational leader who can align fundraising with strategy, programs, finances, and board participation. Depending on the institution, that may be the Executive Director, CEO, President, head of school, advancement executive, or another senior leader.

Avoid an informal dual-reporting arrangement in which the chief executive and board both supervise the director without defined authority. A board or development committee may set expectations, receive reports, and participate in fundraising, but the employment reporting line should be explicit.

If the director reports to someone other than the chief executive, explain how the position will access executive decision-making and coordinate major donor relationships.

How should the job description change for a first development hire or solo fundraiser?

Narrow the role to the fundraising channels that matter most and distinguish immediate priorities from future possibilities.

The description should disclose:

That the position is the first or only dedicated fundraising role.
Current contributed revenue and available historical data.
Existing donors, grants, campaigns, and deadlines.
Administrative or contractor support.
Executive and board fundraising commitments.
The CRM’s condition and ownership.
Available budget and decision authority.
Which activities can be deferred, outsourced, or discontinued.
Realistic first-year priorities and assessment periods.

A solo fundraiser can still hold a director title when the role carries genuine strategic ownership and organizational influence. What matters is that the description sets clear boundaries.

Treat this template as a scope-setting tool rather than a generic task list. Before publishing, confirm what revenue the director owns, which channels matter, who supports the work, what authority and resources accompany the goals, how performance will be assessed, and what compensation and working conditions apply.

A clear, bounded Development Director job description gives the organization and its candidates a more realistic basis for deciding whether the role is achievable—and whether it is the right fit.