Director of Development

Organization Summary

Sci-Tech Discovery Center is a nonprofit children’s STEAM museum located in the Frisco Discovery Center. The 14,500 sqft facility hosts over 40,000 guests annually and outreach/community programs boost the number served to over 65,000. Sci-Tech has experienced exponential growth over the last five years along with significant program success. The organization is now looking to support the increasing program opportunities by growing development with a focus on major gifts along with corporate sponsor ships, the Discovery Fund, and grants.

The Director of Development is responsible for developing, leading and executing the museum’s comprehensive fundraising and advancement strategy. The position will have a primary focus on major gift fundraising along with individual and corporate giving, assisting with grant writing/tracking, and supporting membership growth/retention.

• Build and grow major gifts program including portfolio development and management
• Identify and cultivate potential new donors with support from other development and operations staff for research, identification, prospecting, and stewardship
• Establish and evaluate giving levels, benefits, recognition opportunities, and engagement strategies to increase donor participation, retention, and support

• Create and implement mission-based, donor-centric appeals distributed through a variety of channels, including personal contacts, direct mail, social media, newsletters, etc.
• Integrate the newly created Discovery Fund (an unrestricted fund that underwrites free and low-cost programs) into the overall development strategy
• Assist the Deputy Director in research of grant opportunities, application writing, tracking and reporting
• Serve as staff support for a board-run large-scale annual fundraising event and other small gatherings
• Collaborate with the Director of Operations to develop strategies to increase year-over-year membership numbers including retention rates as well as the conversion to individual donors

• Work with the Executive Director and Deputy Director in the development and execution of a comprehensive fundraising strategy in collaboration with the Board Development Committee
• Create and manage an annual development budget
• Utilize data to prepare development reports for board meetings, donors, and the broader community
• Collaborate with Sci-Tech leadership team to further refine and develop all systems needed to support fundraising data management, including but not limited to: database management, gift tracking, recognition, etc.
• Serve as primary oversight of monetary and in-kind donation processing and tracking
• Research local/regional/national funding sources and trends in fundraising to implement best practices
• Attend networking events to increase Sci-Tech connections within the local and corporate communities
• Other responsibilities as assigned

• 5+ years of experience in Development/Fundraising, Nonprofit Management, or other relevant fields
• Proven track record of major donor portfolio management and meeting annual fundraising goals
• Experience building, maintaining, and growing connections with donors/members, key community leaders, and STEAM industry professionals
• Knowledge of fundraising strategies, annual campaign management, gift processing, database management, and donor relations required
• Experience with capital campaigns and using innovative technology to support fundraising highly desired
• Grant writing, report creation, budgeting, and graphic design are a plus
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Sharepoint), Google Drive, and Canva
• Comfortable around an active work environment with children and noise as well as technology, machines, scientific tools, and animals including reptiles & arthropods
• Ability to move up and down stairs and carry up to 40 pounds is beneficial
• Bi- or Multi-lingual is a plus (English required, Spanish, ASL, Vietnamese, Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, or Mandarin preferred)

• Manage multiple tasks with limited oversight consistently
• P…