Director of Development

Celebrating 50 years of service, PBS Fort Wayne is the only public television station in northeast Indiana and the region’s only locally owned and operated full-power television station serving Fort Wayne and more than 800,000 people in northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio with a beloved mix of drama, culture, news, nature, science, lifestyle, documentary and children’s educational programming 24-hours a day on-air, online and on multiple digital platforms such as You Tube, Amazon Prime Video, PBS.org,

You Tube TV, DIRECTV Stream, the PBS App, PBS FW App & PBSFortWayne.org.

PBS Fort Wayne is embarking on an exciting new chapter as a 100% community supported non-profit media organization. We are looking for a mission-driven Director of Development to lead membership, fundraising, grants, and major gift giving initiatives that sustain PBS Fort Wayne’s mission to create media for the public good.

JOB DESCRIPTION: Reporting to the President & CEO, the Director of Development will lead the strategy, implementation, and continuous improvement of PBS Fort Wayne’s annual fundraising and membership programs. This role is part of the Leadership Team and is critical to strengthening acquisitions, deepening engagement, advancing donor retention, upgrading annual donors, building a strong major donor pipeline, and cultivating major gifts, bequests, and grants to secure long-term revenue growth and sustainability.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Currently supervise one full-time employee (Membership Operations Manager) and fundraising volunteers. Supervision of up to 2 more roles may be required as fundraising capacity grows.
• Provide guidance, training, and performance feedback to employee(s) to ensure donor stewardship and operational excellence.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

Fundraising and Donor Engagement

• Lead and enhance fundraising initiatives to deepen donor relationships and improve retention.
• Plan and execute multiple annual fund drives, including scripting on-air messages, sustainer campaigns, and matching gift challenges.
• Research, write, and track grant proposals in alignment with organizational priorities, in collaboration with leadership and program staff.
• Develop and manage structured membership systems, including segmented acknowledgments, impact reports, and recognition programs.
• Maintain a portfolio of donors for personalized engagement through calls, notes, and visits.
• Oversee the thank-you pipeline and multi-tiered stewardship program supporting renewals and upgrades.
• Analyze donor trends to identify and execute upgrade and re-engagement strategies.
• Support major giving efforts by assisting with proposals, briefings, and cultivation plans.
• Collaborate across teams to integrate sustainer, mid-level, and major donor strategies and launch new initiatives such as peer-to-peer and Next-Gen campaigns.
• Partner with social media and Marketing teams to improve digital engagement, evaluate trends, and share impact stories.
• Organize and coordinate member incentives, premiums, testimonial campaigns, and workplace giving outreach.
• Work with digital and marketing teams to deliver targeted email, social, and retargeting campaigns that acquire, retain, and upgrade donors.
• Manage donor communications and collateral, including newsletters, upgrade messaging, welcome materials, impact updates, and appreciation events.

Engage and Cultivate Major Donors

• Develop an annual plan for the cultivation and solicitation of major gifts including an appropriate budget for the program.
• Direct research to identify major gift prospects and obtain information concerning financial capability, special interests, history and current connections with the institution, close friends and advisors, and financial contributions to other causes.

Operations & Collaboration

• Manage donor data, tracking, and reporting in CRM (Allegiance).
• Collaborate with leadership to build the major donor pipeline.
• Communicate fundraising activities and results to the Board of Directors and Fund Development Committee.
• Support donor and community events and represent PBS…