Development Director

Saint John Institute About Saint John Institute

The Saint John Institute is a nonprofit Catholic organization with a vision to become the premier center for Catholic leadership formation for business professionals and families in the United States. Through its ministries, the Institute exists to inspire, equip, and engage Christians to lead their family, business, and culture with courage, conviction, and faith.

Core values:
Vision. Daring. Grit.

Position Title:

Development Director

Reports To:

Chief Operating Officer

Location:

Remote - Toledo or Cincinnati, OH

The Development Director is a senior leader responsible for building, strengthening, and leading the Saint John Institute's development engine.

This is not simply a donor stewardship role. It is a build-and-lead role.

The right person will help the Institute move from a development model that has been highly founder-driven into a more structured, durable, and scalable development program. This person will work closely with the President and senior leadership to create greater clarity around fundraising strategy, donor pathways, campaign structure, development operations, reporting, and long-term growth.

The Development Director must be able to bring both judgment and authority. This person should be capable of stepping in, assessing what exists today, recommending what needs to change, and helping install a development program that can grow beyond any one personality.

For fiscal year 2026, this role is expected to help drive at least $150,000 in new giving growth, while also improving the systems, structure, and donor strategy required to sustain that growth over time.

The Institute has meaningful donor goodwill, an important mission, and strong leadership. What it now needs is a more institutionalized development function.

That means this role exists to:

• Strengthen and formalize the overall development program
• Build donor support around the mission, not only around personal loyalty to the founder
• Create a more repeatable and visible system for development planning, donor movement, and fundraising execution
• Improve the Institute's ability to grow giving in current and future markets, including Denver
• Help leadership make stronger, clearer development decisions backed by process, reporting, and sound fundraising strategy

In the first 6 months, this person must:

• Gain command of the current development landscape, donor history, systems, campaigns, and relationships
• Learn and organize the donor knowledge currently held by internal team members, especially through transition from Lisa and prior donor management practices
• Build greater clarity around donor segmentation, giving tiers, stewardship, and annual development priorities
• Improve structure around development reporting, donor tracking, CRM usage, and process discipline
• Strengthen the year-end and annual giving approach through better messaging, planning, segmentation, and execution
• Clarify the structure and benefits of the President's Circle giving program
• Help shape the 2026 development strategy, budget assumptions, and travel plan
• Assess the current case for support and improve how the Institute communicates why donors should invest in the mission

In the first 12 months, this person must:

• Help generate at least $150,000 in new giving growth for fiscal year 2026
• Strengthen the Institute's annual giving program and donor upgrade strategy
• Build clearer donor pathways for annual, mid-level, major, and pillar-level giving
• Create stronger development infrastructure that gives leadership visibility into donor pipeline, giving progress, stewardship activity, and future opportunities
• Reduce over dependence on informal or personality-based giving by building a stronger institutional development model
• Help create and support a development game plan for Denver and other priority growth opportunities
• Improve long-term readiness for future staffing, campaign growth, grant support, and major donor expansion

The Development Director will be expected to own the following outcomes:

• A stronger, more formal development operating system
• Clearer annual fundraising strategy and execution
• Measurable year-over-year giving growth
• Better donor segmentation and upgrade strategy
• A stronger case for support tied to the mission of the Institute
• Better integration between development, communications, leadership, and business office functions
• Greater confidence in donor reporting, donor movement, and…