Do you need a development director?

When organizations grow to the point that the executive director can no longer handle fundraising needs, the board often comes to the conclusion that it’s time to hire a development director.

The instinct is a good one, but let’s back up a bit and really map out the specific tasks that need to be taken off the executive director’s plate.

I find that most organizations just starting to consider the addition of dedicated development staff really need help with the administrative burden associated with fundraising and sometimes with labor-intensive specialized tasks like event production and grant writing.

Most nonprofits at this point in their development do not have a systematic, professional major gifts or planned giving program. The executive director is meeting with a handful of special donors, but there is no moves management infrastructure. They may have a section in their annual reports to acknowledge legacy society donors, but estate gifts are mostly passively acquired.

In my opinion, a development director isn’t really a development director unless he or she is performing advanced fundraising tasks with solid management skills needed to lead a core department. If you hire a development director with a less advanced skill set, what happens when you grow into a position of needing a higher-level professional? Will this new person be the development master? The development super director?

Of course not. You need to hold that title for the real deal. And, more likely than not, you’re just not there yet.

If what you really need is a development assistant, call the position Development Assistant and offer an entry level pay rate. If what you really need is a development associate, call the position Development Associate and offer a mid-level salary.

I know what you’re thinking. “My agency can’t afford a competitive salary so we pad the package with things like flexibility and an attractive title that looks prestigious on LinkedIn.”

That just doesn’t reflect the long-term needs of the organization. Don’t do that.

So let’s think it through. Does your executive director need someone to maintain a grant proposal/reporting schedule, hunt down community needs statistics online, do data entry and pull CRM reports, send thank you letters, make social media posts, and assist with the thousand-and-one random event production tasks? That’s a development assistant.

Does your executive director need help with the above plus grant writing/research, direct mail/email appeal production, fundraising materials creation, and event management? That’s a development associate.

In the time between hiring this person and the day when you need a real development director, get yourself ready to retain a development director. It’s harder than you probably think. The turnover for this position is shockingly high—and it’s usually because the board and executive director have no idea how to properly integrate this function into organizational leadership.

The development director is a unique animal with unique needs. We’ll save this topic for another article—but for now, suffice it to say that there is a learning curve for most organizations, and I don’t want you to learn the typical way—which is the hard way . . .and the expensive way.

Regardless of what level of fundraising staff you decide to hire, remember to include contracted services into your development planning. If you mostly need assistant-level skills, but also know that an upcoming federal proposal or anniversary event will push your executive director over the edge—you can contract for these remaining puzzle pieces.

If you are doing solid work in the community and managing a tight ship, you will grow. Make sure you hire with this long-term vision in mind.