Development Director

This job posting was opened on June 9, 2025. Please note that we will be prioritizing candidates who are current IRC (and recently employed by IRC) staff before other applicants. If necessary, we will extend the opportunity to external candidates.

BACKGROUND:

The IRC operates across a cluster of offices, serving refugees, asylees, and the broader immigrant community. A dedicated staff of 45 professionals offers an array of programs, including case management, employment, adult and youth education, food and agriculture, and immigration legal services. These offices have a strong history of private fundraising, in addition to private and public proposal development, with an annual budget of $4.5M. We are looking for an experienced fundraiser with a proven history of successful major gift solicitation to expand our development success with an emphasis on individual major gifts and lead our existing development team and organization into the next level of revenue.

SCOPE OF WORK:

The Development Director will be an ambitious, entrepreneurial, and highly motivated professional who excels at supporting a high-functioning team, front-line relationship building, and crafting and executing successful strategies to cultivate, solicit, and steward donors and prospects with the capacity to give. The ideal candidate will bring extensive demonstrable experience in cultivating and/or upgrading individuals in giving 5- and 6- figure gifts, donor retention, regional development planning, and crafting and implementing successful multi-state fundraising strategies. In addition to major donor relations and solicitation, they will lead the Development Team in solicitation of corporate and foundation funders, proposal writing, and grants tracking and reporting. The Development Director is a member of the senior leadership team and reports to the Executive Director, overseeing a cluster of IRC offices.

The Development Director will also oversee the community engagement strategy across multiple offices and support the team to secure contributions in kind through existing and new relationships. Additionally, this role will represent the IRC in all conversations with HQ fundraising teams, building strong relationships with key internal stakeholders, and demonstrating the ability to negotiate with key internal stakeholders across the IRC network. A willingness to work across all income generation streams as required by the organization is essential.

Responsibilities:

• Develop an ambitious annual fundraising plan and strategy with specific and measurable goals and objectives for development of restricted and unrestricted funds.
• Meet or exceed annual fundraising goals with a personal emphasis on identifying,
• cultivating, upgrading, and sustaining 5- and 6- figure individual donors. Identify major gift prospects, qualify their giving potential, and develop and implement strategies to optimize gift closures.
• Represent the cluster of offices at fundraising events and external engagements.
• Represent the IRC in all conversations with HQ fundraising teams, building strong relationships with key internal stakeholders.

• Coordinate proactively and productively with IRC Headquarters and national fundraising operations.

Oversee the Development team in:

• Researching, identifying, vetting, writing, and submitting high quality public & private funding proposals and other requests for funding.
• Ensuring proposals meet IRC business development standards.
  Preparing and submitting letters of inquiry, budgets, and reports to public and private funders as necessary.
• Keeping accurate grants management and donation records and assuring donors are promptly and appropriately recognized for their support.
• Supporting the team to secure contributions in kind through existing and new relationships.
• Provide high-level leadership to the Development team including:
• Weekly one-on-one meetings with up to 10 direct reports and regular team meetings with all members.
• Effective delegation of duties and responsibilities.
• Regular feedback and communication.
• Oversee the community engagement strategy across multiple offices.

• Create donor engagement events and opportunities for a range of audiences.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Executive Director
Position directly supervises: Up to 10 direct reports

REQUIREMENTS:

• Demonstrable history of successfully soliciting 5- and 6- figure gifts from individual donors.
• Minimum of five (5) years of managing professional fundraising teams with progressive levels of responsibility.
• University graduate with a BA or BS degree in a relevant field; advanced degree strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of regional philanthropic and social service communities strongly preferred.
• A background of working with high-level donors, volunteers, and trustees is highly desirable.
• Excellent writing and verbal communication abilities.
• Solid organizational skills with the ability to juggle multiple tasks, set priorities, effectively manage time, and meet deadlines.
• Experience with Salesforce or another CRM required.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (especially Word, Excel, Outlook) and internet research.
• Ability to negotiate with key internal stakeholders across the IRC network.
• Understanding of fundraising campaigns and strategies for growing an online donor base preferred.
• A willingness to work across all income generation streams as required by the organization.
• Experience of creating donor engagement events and opportunities for a range of audiences.

WORKING ENVIRONMENT:

• Standard office environment, combined with community-based activities across a cluster of offices. Occasional evening and weekend hours required.

Compensation: Posted pay ranges apply to US-based candidates. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.

Equal Opportunity Employer: IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

US Benefits: We offer a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. In the US, these include: 10 sick days, 10 US holidays, 20-25 paid time off days depending on role and tenure, medical insurance starting at $143 per month, dental starting at $6.50 per month, and vision starting at $5 per month, FSA for healthcare and commuter costs, a 403b retirement savings plans with immediately vested matching, disability & life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support counseling and care in times of crisis and mental health struggles.
#LI-5