Director of Resource Development

Reports To: Executive Director

Supervises: Grants Manager, Communications Associate

Work Days and Hours: Full-Time-Exempt, 40 hours a week

Work Location: Hybrid/Onsite

Compensation: $110,000 - $130,000

About Life Pieces To Masterpieces

Life Pieces To Masterpieces (Life Pieces, LPTM) is a high-impact nonprofit in the DC metro area, with national and international recognition. Since 1996, Life Pieces has been dedicated to unlocking the full potential of Black young men and boys living in DC’s Wards 7 and 8, with the goal of developing young leaders who will impact their community and contribute to positive change in the world. LPTM’s intensive out-of-school-time programming fosters young men’s creative, academic, social-emotional, physical and civic development from age 3 through college and beyond. At Life Pieces, they find a safe haven in which to discover and activate their innate creative ability to turn life challenges into opportunities for self-determination, resilience, and success.

Position Overview

Life Pieces To Masterpieces (LPTM) is in search of a Director of Resource Development. This position will report to and work closely with the Executive Director, as well as supervise the Grants Manager, Communications Associate, development consultants/contractors as needed, and, within the next 12-18 months, will add an Individual Giving Manager direct report. The Director will work collaboratively across departments (executive, finance, communications, and program) to plan and execute Life Pieces’ comprehensive revenue strategy, including both contributed and earned revenue sources. Additionally, as LPTM embarks on a capital campaign within the next 12 months, the Director will play a key role in planning the campaign, determining additional resource needs, and managing the process and team to drive its success.

This position is both strategic and tactical, as it is responsible for updating and managing LPTM’s annual development plan, as well as executing that plan. The ideal candidate is a development generalist with a clear grasp of all core components of non-profit development, including individual contributions and stewardship, annual and online giving campaigns, corporate partnerships/funding, special events, and grant writing for funding opportunities from private foundations and government agencies. This role requires experience managing development operations, ranging from data management in the CRM, to gift-processing, to financial projection and reconciliation. This position manages the Grant Manager and works closely with them to assess funding prospects, strategize grant applications, and provide final edits to applications.

The ideal candidate has strong leadership skills that they bring to working externally with donors and partners as well as internally as a member of the LPTM leadership team. They also have strong experience in writing, development operations, and donor relationship management. This individual is excited to deepen connections with current donors and to engage new ones. They communicate effectively across all platforms, understand and implement the detailed work of gift-tracking, and they attend carefully to all that contributes to meeting and exceeding financial goals.

Candidates who have a shared identity and/or lived experience with the young people we serve will be prioritized.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Leadership and Development Strategy (25%)

• Collaborate with and support LPTM’s leadership as a member of the leadership team.
• Supervise and support the Grants Manager and Communications Associate (and an Individual Giving Manager to be added in the next 12-18 months). Provide clear direction, mentorship, and performance management to ensure individual and team success.
• Plan and lead regular team meetings, ensuring clear communication, alignment on priorities, and accountability for task assignments through consistent follow-up.
• Manage and execute LPTM’s development and stewardship plans to achieve annual revenue goals.
• Update existing development and stewardship plans with new ideas, industry best practices, and data-driven analysis.
• Ensure a robust gift pipeline that is substantial enough to achieve annual revenue goals by actively managing prospective and current donors, foundations and other funders solicited via proposals, grant applications, multiple appeals, and other fundraising activities.
• Participate in strategic planning for LPTM to ensure development plans align with and are in service of evolving organizational goals and programmatic outcomes.
• Serve as the staff leader and liaison to the Board of Directors’ Development Committee, providing biweekly updates and quarterly reports on development progress.

Individual Giving (25%)

• Lead the strategy for major gifts, including identifying prospects and setting portfolios for leadership team members and managing a portfolio directly to cultivate and solicit individual donors for major gifts.
• Project manage the ED’s fundraising work, directing her where and how best to spend her time and efforts on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis.
• Conduct prospect research on new and existing donors in order to set goals and relationship plans for donors accordingly.
• Lead strategy, execution, and evaluation of all annual direct response campaigns focused on developing new donors and retaining existing mid-level and smaller dollar donors.
• Manage and grow the community of monthly donors.
• Manage the execution of LPTM’s donor stewardship plan and update it annually with new and meaningful ways to connect donors and foster a sense of community.

Institutional Funding (10%)

• Work with the Grants Manager to ensure LPTM has a robust pipeline of philanthropic and government grant opportunities to pursue to meet the annual budget goal.
• Identify and pursue relationships with potential corporate partners.
• Work closely with the Grants Manager to finalize compelling grant proposals and accurate interim and final reports, ensuring adherence to the annual proposal and reports calendar of deadlines.

Event Fundraising (20%)

• Lead all revenue components of the organization’s signature annual event, Courage on Canvas, including sponsorships, ticket sales, major donor solicitations, and connected cultivation opportunities.
• Work with the Executive Director to determine the best strategic mix of annual cultivation and stewardship events to support program and organizational goals.
• Create and execute pre- and post-event constituent cultivation plans.

Communications (10%)

• Work closely with the Communications Associate to draft an annual communications plan that ensures strategies across the organization, including development and earned revenue strategies, are coordinated.
• Work with the Communications Associate to develop creative and mission-focused fundraising messaging that effectively articulates the special role and impact of LPTM in the community.
• Partner with program staff to effectively share their expertise, vision, and impact with donors.
• Serve as a collaborator and editor for regular communications and marketing materials.

Fundraising Planning, Tracking, and Operations (10%)

• In partnership with the ED, establish and monitor annual and long-term revenue goals and budgets. Design and update regular progress-to-goal reports and the development dashboard.
• Serve as key liaison with LPTM’s accounting team, working together to ensure accurate reporting and coding of all revenue.
• Coordinate and oversee moves and task management for all open funding opportunities.
• Work with Data and Evaluation Manager to maintain accuracy for all donor and prospect records in Salesforce (LPTM’s CRM).
• Ensure high-quality gift processing and revenue tracking, to ensure accurate and thorough documentation of all development activities.
• Serve as a resource to the Data and Evaluation Manager as they complete the weekly gift processing and acknowledgement letter mail merges.

Qualifications

We encourage applications from strong candidates, even if your experience in development does not exactly match with the position description. We are looking for someone with relevant skills and experience, not a checklist that exactly matches the job description. We want to help you grow and in return, you to help us grow into a stronger, more inclusive organization.

• An advocate for elevating underrepresented youth
• At least 10 years of nonprofit development experience
• Experience managing staff in a nonprofit environment
• Experience working from, and preferably writing, a development plan
• Demonstrable experience as a fundraising generalist, with hands-on practice at institutional giving/grant writing, major gifts, annual giving, corporate partnership building, special events, and online giving campaigns
• Outstanding verbal and written communication
• Enthusiasm to propose fresh ideas without prompting by leadership, openness to feedback on those ideas, and persistence to bring those ideas to life
• Experience managing and improving development operations, ranging from CRM management to budget monitoring to gift processing
• Skills in developing and maintaining thoughtful personal relationships
• Masterful project management skills utilized to work on multiple simultaneous projects with different deadlines, with a sharp eye on details, quality, and accuracy
• Must pass pre-employment background check

Compensation and Benefits

• Salary range $110,000 - $130,000, commensurate with experience
• A flexible work environment. This position requires 3 days a week on-site at our office at Drew Elementary School, but otherwise operates remotely, with flexible work hours to be determined between the employee and their manager. A hybrid schedule is critical for ensuring that all staff maintain a consistently up-to-date picture of the successes, needs, and goals of LPTM’s daily on-the-ground programming. Flexibility for remote days provides an environment conducive for completing detail-oriented proposals and reports.
• In addition to financial compensation, Life Pieces To Masterpieces offers a robust benefits package that includes full health insurance, vacation days, and holidays.

Life Pieces To Masterpieces Dress Code

At LPTM we are striving to not only provide a space of love, security, and expression but to also create community for our Apprentices through how we show up. To that end, all LPTM staff follow a dress code that includes wearing LPTM-provided polo shirts, bottoms that are free of rips or tears, wearing closed-toed shoes, and not having visible tattoos (LPTM can provide sleeves for cover if necessary). The full dress code expectations will be shared and discussed with candidates as part of the interview process.

Access, Equity, and Inclusion

Life Pieces To Masterpieces provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, disability, or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Life Pieces To Masterpieces complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in Washington, DC.