Director of Development

Mainstay Supportive Housing & Home Care, Inc. • Newton, MA

1d • $70,000 - $90,000

About The Position

Mainstay Supportive Housing and Home Care, Inc. is a mission-driven nonprofit serving low-income elders, people living with disabilities and mental health complexities, and people transitioning out of chronic homelessness. The organization provides permanent supportive housing and person-centered home care throughout Massachusetts and is focused on expanding its impact and strengthening financial sustainability.

The Director of Development leads fundraising initiatives in support of Mainstay’s strategic goals, with a primary focus on individual giving, donor relationships, and fundraising strategy. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, this hands-on leadership role works closely with the COO, President & CEO, volunteer Board of Directors, and marketing consultants. As Mainstay’s solo development professional, the Director develops fundraising strategy and carries it through execution, expanding the donor base, increasing donor engagement, and building reliable philanthropic revenue.

Requirements

• At least 5 years of experience in nonprofit development and fundraising.
• Bachelor’s degree.
• Ability to work independently as the solo development professional and take ownership of fundraising initiatives from strategy through execution.
• Ability to collaborate as an integral member of the leadership team and leverage support from the Board of Directors and outside consultants.
• Proven success in individual giving and major-gifts fundraising.
• Experience maintaining donor databases, managing donor information, and using data to guide fundraising activities.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and build relationships with prospects and key stakeholders.
• Ability to create and execute fundraising plans that drive growth and advance organizational goals.
• Experience managing fundraising initiatives, events, and gift reporting.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including storytelling for donor engagement and persuasive proposal writing.
• Ability to build and leverage networks for prospecting.

Nice To Haves

• Knowledge of Boston and surrounding communities.

Responsibilities

• Create and implement a plan to grow philanthropic support, emphasizing individual giving and aiming to increase the donor base to more than 200 over three years.
• Prepare and partner with the volunteer Board of Directors on major-donor outreach, solicitations, and relationship-building.
• Develop donor recognition and stewardship strategies to improve retention and increase giving over time.
• Identify opportunities to expand annual appeals, recurring donations, and other individual-giving initiatives.
• Create personalized moves-management plans for major prospects giving $500 or more.
• Identify, cultivate, and solicit prospects through visits in and around Greater Boston, calls, personalized emails, event attendance, proposals, and other communications.
• Leverage organic relationships and networks to identify fundraising prospects.
• Ensure donors receive timely, meaningful acknowledgment and recognition.
• Oversee and direct fundraising events, working with an event planner as needed.
• Identify, cultivate, and solicit foundations and other grantmaking prospects, and direct a grant-writing consultant in drafting proposals, advancing requests, and producing reports.
• Manage relationships with foundation representatives and other institutional funders.
• Track, manage, and steward funding commitments and ensure compliance requirements are met.
• Establish annual and multi-year fundraising goals in collaboration with the executive team.
• Provide regular reports and data-driven recommendations to leadership on fundraising progress and growth opportunities.
• Monitor fundraising progress and provide data-driven insights to leadership.

Benefits

• Opportunity to influence organizational strategy and long-term sustainability.
• Work directly with executive leadership and an engaged volunteer board.
• Join a mission-driven team committed to empathy, compassion, teamwork, and reliability.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director