Director of Development

HYBRID STATUS: 90% virtual or travel/10% Headquarters Office

TRAVEL: 40% with Donor Visits, Board Events, and staff events.

RESIDENCY:
Moving to NC not required; ability to travel regularly and easily in USA required.

COMPENSATION:
The salary range for this position is $95,000–$130,000, commensurate with experience and qualifications. Candidates with demonstrated development experience, major donor experience, and strong Wesleyan denominational relationships preferred. Candidates transitioning from denominational or ministry leadership into development will be considered based on relational capacity, mission alignment, communication ability, and growth potential. Benefits are provided in addition to salary.

Position Summary

The Foundation for Evangelism seeks a Director of Development to oversee and strengthen the Foundation’s full development program. This position will help FFE grow philanthropic support for its ongoing work in evangelism through theological education, leadership training, local church grants, and its emerging strategy of larger, focused grants to denominations and aligned parachurch ministries.

The Director will lead major donor development, annual giving, recurring giving, donor communications, stewardship, development operations, and campaign readiness. The role requires a hands‑on development leader who can build relationships, manage systems, collaborate with other staff, supervise assistant, work closely with the President, and prepare FFE for a major campaign within approximately three years.

Primary Responsibilities

• Develop and implement an annual development plan with clear goals for major gifts, annual giving, recurring giving, donor retention, new donor acquisition, and campaign readiness.
• Supervise the part‑time development assistant and ensure timely execution of donor records, acknowledgments, mailings, reporting, and follow‑up tasks.
• Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward major donors and prospective major donors.
• Manage a portfolio of current and prospective donors capable of significant annual, campaign, endowment, or planned gifts.
• Coordinate closely with the President on donor strategy, including shared donor visits, briefing materials, proposals, meeting notes, and follow‑up.
• Collaborate with the entire staff to integrate development into FFE’s overall workflow.
• Maintain excellent systems for gift acknowledgment, donor recognition, pledge reminders, and stewardship touchpoints.
• Lead development preparation for a major campaign within approximately three years.
• Oversee the donor database and ensure accurate donor records, gift histories, pledges, restrictions, segmentation, and prospect tracking.
• Use Moves Management to track cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship activity.

Qualifications

• At least five years of development experience, preferably including major gifts, annual giving, donor communications, campaign preparation, or nonprofit advancement.
• Demonstrated ability to cultivate donor relationships and participate in gift solicitation.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to lead and execute in a small organization.
• Commitment to Christian mission and respect for the Wesleyan/Methodist tradition.
• Bachelor’s degree, graduate education or certificate(s) in development, leadership, business, or related fields.

Preferred Experience

• Experience with Christian nonprofits, theological education, denominations, seminaries, foundations, or church‑related institutions, especially within the Wesleyan tradition.
• Experience preparing an organization for a capital, endowment, or comprehensive campaign.
• Experience growing recurring giving, broad‑based annual giving, or mid‑level donor programs.
• Experience working with a President/Director, board members, and high‑capacity donors.
• Experience in a supervising role.
• Relationally mature and comfortable with donors, trustees, laity denominational leaders, clergy, and ministry partners.
• Able to ask for gifts clearly and appropriately.
• Theologically grounded and able to communicate FFE’s mission in accessible, compelling language.
• Organized, persistent, and attentive to follow‑through.
• Independent self‑starter who can drive development activity while remaining in close conversation with the President.
• Comfortable contributing to a collaborative work environment.