Director of Development (Remote)

Institute for Humane Studies • Arlington, VA

3d • Remote

About The Position

The Director of Development leads IHS’s fundraising execution and has direct oversight of Development Operations, ensuring that fundraising strategy, systems, and execution operate as a cohesive and sustainable whole. The Director is accountable for clarifying priorities, establishing decision-rights, coaching fundraisers, and ensuring that Major Gifts, Foundations, and Annual Giving function effectively as an integrated system. This role works closely with Communications & Marketing, Programs, Finance, Executive leadership, and the Board to ensure high-quality donor-facing deliverables, aligned engagement efforts, and strong fundraising execution.

Requirements

• 8+ years of progressive experience in nonprofit fundraising.
• Demonstrated success cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding donor relationships.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end development execution across major gifts, foundations, and annual giving.
• Proven people management experience and ability to coach teams through growth or change.
• Strong operational, systematic, and data-driven fluency, including CRM-enabled fundraising and reporting; Salesforce and Asana experience highly preferred.
• Strong cross-functional leadership and collaboration skills.
• Excellent writing, editing, and quality-control instincts for donor-facing materials.
• Comfort representing the organization externally in donor and partner settings.
• Alignment with IHS’s mission and values.

Nice To Haves

• Direct experience working within these philanthropic functions strongly preferred.
• Writing samples strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day execution of fundraising across Major Gifts, Foundations, and Annual Giving, aligned with organizational priorities and departmental strategy set by leadership.
• Manage, coach, and develop fundraising staff by setting clear priorities, expectations, and performance goals.
• Coach fundraisers toward ambitious moves management and upgrade strategies, ensuring follow-up and next steps are tracked and executed.
• Provide leadership and direction to Development Operations, ensuring systems, workflows, staffing, and processes support effective fundraising execution.
• Establish and maintain clear ownership, handoffs, and decision frameworks across fundraising functions to support efficient execution and appropriate oversight.
• Ensure Salesforce data integrity, reporting readiness, and compliance expectations are met across fundraising activities.
• Use reporting and dashboards to guide prioritization, coaching, and performance management, translating pipeline signals into clear actions and accountability.
• Oversee the quality, clarity, and consistency of donor-facing materials (including proposals, reports, briefs, decks, and stewardship touchpoints) in coordination with Communications & Marketing.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Communications, Finance, and Programs to support aligned fundraising execution and donor-facing deliverables.
• Partner with the Executive Director and Board to strategically support donor cultivation, stewardship, and upgrades.
• Escalate strategic, reputational, or cross-functional issues to leadership as needed.
• Manage a portfolio of major or transformational donors, modeling effective cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.

Benefits

• IHS provides exceptional benefits to all employees, including health and dental insurance coverage (which includes paying 100% of the health and dental insurance premium for individuals), health savings accounts, long-term disability and life insurance, a 403(b) retirement savings program, a parking permit and 12 free tuition credit hours annually atGeorge Mason University.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees