Development Director

About the Role

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Development Director is the lead strategist and project manager for growing WLC's philanthropic revenue. This person will lead, manage, and coordinate all fundraising efforts across individuals, law firms, corporations, foundations, and government contracts — identifying, cultivating, and soliciting major donors, executing signature fundraising events, and building the systems and team that let WLC fundraise at the scale its mission deserves.

Above all, this role is the executor who puts core development infrastructure in place: visible deadlines, clean data, coordinated budgets, while building a strategy for future growth.

• Own data integrity in WLC’s CRM (Raiser's Edge): ensure campaigns, funds, appeals, and gift records are structured and used the way the system is designed to work
• Partner with the COO and outside database consultants on the CRM clean-up already underway, and put guardrails in place — documentation, standard operating procedures, and training — so the data stays reliable going forward
• Build and maintain a shared development and grant calendar, visible to program, finance, and leadership
• Maintain a robust pipeline of local, regional, and national grant opportunities, with a calendar tracking every upcoming application and report
• Partner with the COO and program leadership to build grant budgets before proposals go out the door
• Build a regular progress-to-goal report and a probability-weighted pipeline dashboard — covering individual giving, board giving, and foundations — for the Executive Director, COO, and Board Finance Committee
• Provide accurate, timely revenue reports to the Board Finance and Executive Committees
• Establish and monitor annual and long-term revenue goals and projections

• Develop, manage, and execute WLC’s development and stewardship plans to hit annual revenue goals
• Refresh existing plans with new ideas, industry best practices, and data-driven analysis
• Build and manage a gift pipeline robust enough to meet annual revenue goals across individual donors, law firms, corporations, and foundations
• Partner with the Executive Director on non-philanthropic revenue streams, including government grants/contracts, attorneys' fees, and other fee-for-service opportunities
• Partner with an engaged, fundraising-minded board of directors, working with individual board members to build development goals based on their unique networks, and serving as the team’s point of contact for board engagement on fundraising
• Plan for compelling 60th anniversary events and engagement activities

• Design moves-management plans for major individual donors and corporate partners
• Manage and grow appeals and campaigns that acquire new donors and steward existing ones
• Expand prospect research capacity, using wealth-screening, psychographic, and other donor data already gathered to sharpen segmentation and identify new major-gift and event prospects
• Support the Executive Director's fundraising time, helping to guide where and how she spends her efforts

• Lead creative, mission-driven fundraising messaging that captures WLC's role in the racial justice movement
• Partner with program staff so their expertise and impact come through clearly to donors
• Coordinate with the communications team on a shared calendar so program and development milestones reinforce each other
• Grow fundraising through digital and social channels, and serve as an informed, decisive partner to WLC's outside digital marketing team

• Set the strategy for which events best support program and revenue goals, and design new ones as needed
• Produce fundraising events, including the annual Branton luncheon and donor house parties, with direct ownership of event revenue and budget targets
• Help negotiate vendor and venue contracts, and build the pre- and post-event stewardship plans that turn one-time attendees into long-term donors
• Partner with the Events Associate to right-size and target guest lists using donor data and prospect research