POSITION OVERVIEW
Reporting to the President and CEO and working in close partnership with the Director of Communications and the Chief of Staff (who holds Strategic and Corporate Partnerships), the Director of Development (DoD) leads Mamatoto Village's entire development function, individual giving, institutional and foundation giving, and campaign-level giving, during a pivotal stage of organizational growth. This is a strategic and tactical leadership role, responsible for updating, managing, and executing Mamatoto's full development plan across a scaling portfolio.
The ideal candidate brings substantial experience and connections in both individual major-gift fundraising and institutional/foundation giving, with the judgment to run both disciplines at once and the leadership presence to represent Mamatoto directly to funders at every level, from a first-time individual donor to a multi-year institutional partner. The DoD leads a team of three: the Individual Giving Manager, the Grants Manager, and the Senior Development Associate, and manages Mamatoto's relationship with its contracted grant-writing firm, ensuring that external capacity and internal ownership work together rather than as two disconnected efforts.
This role also carries a significant institutional-advancement mandate: owning direct relationships with Mamatoto's key foundation funders, preparing the organization for a potential future capital campaign, and ensuring that the leadership team's time, particularly the CEO's, is invested where it matters most across a growing and increasingly complex funding portfolio.
ATTRIBUTES OF A COMPETITIVE CANDIDATE
- At least 10-12 years of nonprofit development experience, spanning both individual/major gifts and institutional or foundation giving.
- The ability to readily connect the dots between fundraising, communications, programs, and advocacy, and inspire colleagues to see those connections.
- Direct experience managing a grants portfolio of $2M or more annually, including work with contracted or outsourced grant-writing capacity.
- An appreciation of structure and systems, and a belief that they make the work easier and better.
- Comfort operating inside a nonprofit lifecycle transition - moving an organization from growth stage into institutional maturity - ideally with experience in a similarly-scaled organization.
- They must value storytelling and data in equal measure.
- A considerate listener who believes that the community voice must be centered.
- A creative thinker and patient team member willing to test out new ideas.
- An understanding and application of interdependence and self-motivation in a work setting.
- A history of working with a diverse population in a mutually respectful manner, using a strengths-based approach.
- Engages in critical inquiry to promote self-awareness and accountability and implement liberatory frameworks within personal and team objectives and deliverables.
2. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty and responsibility satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. Other duties may need to be assigned to meet organizational needs.
Strategy and Leadership
- Contribute positively to the organization and reflect Mamatoto's values.
- Own and execute Mamatoto's full development plan for individual giving, institutional/grants giving, and campaign-level giving to achieve annual revenue goals across every stream.
- Update the existing development and stewardship plans with new ideas, industry best practices, and data-driven analysis.
- Use data and metrics to achieve fundraising goals, including identifying and developing a pipeline of major gift and institutional prospects.
- Monitor and report monthly on development plan progress, confirmed revenue, active pipeline, and unidentified needs, providing actionable analysis for the CEO and Board.
- Project-manage the CEO's fundraising time, directing where and how best to invest her effort weekly, monthly, and quarterly, particularly around top institutional relationships.
- Foster a culture of philanthropy across the organization.
- Lead development team meetings, collaborating with team members to design agendas and manage the flow of the meeting.
- Partner closely with the Director of Communications and the Chief of Staff so that development, communications, and partnerships operate as one coordinated strategy.
Individual Giving Relationship Management
- Research and design move-management plans for all mid-level and major donors. Lead a portfolio of donors and support the CEO in executing those plans.
- Energetically and proactively cultivate and nurture relationships between Mamatoto's donors, prospects, volunteers, and other key constituents, serving as the main point of contact for major donors.
- Conduct prospect research on individual donors to grow the organization's donor community.
- Prepare meeting briefs for Mamatoto's leadership team ahead of donor meetings and events, including agendas and communication collateral.
- Work with the Individual Giving Manager and Senior Development Associate to manage incoming donor inquiries.
- In partnership with the Individual Giving Manager, manage the execution of Mamatoto's donor stewardship plan and update it annually.
- Lead planning and execution of donor cultivation events at the Mamatoto Village office and/or in partnership with community hosts.
Institutional Giving & Foundation Relations
- Own and manage Mamatoto's institutional grants portfolio and calendar - currently a multi-million-dollar annual target scaling significantly over the next two years - in active partnership with the organization's contracted grant-writing firm.
- Own the relationship with the contracted grant-writing firm directly: set priorities on which prospects to pursue, review and edit proposals for voice, strategic accuracy, and fit before submission, negotiate scope and deliverables, and ensure all deadlines and compliance requirements are met. This vendor relationship stays with the Director and is not delegated.
- Directly own and steward relationships with Mamatoto's key institutional and foundation funders - cultivation, renewal conversations, site visits, and reporting, recognizing that funders expect this relationship work from internal staff, not a contracted vendor.
- Direct the Grants Manager in implementing the institutional giving plan, including proposal writing for a defined subset of grants, compliance execution, and reporting, while retaining ownership of contractor management and top-tier funder relationships.
- Prepare and present funder-facing materials, in partnership with the Communications team, for foundation asks, renewals, and multi-year commitments.
- Support the CEO directly in preparing for and following up on major foundation meetings and asks, including briefing materials and follow-up correspondence.
- Track and report monthly on the health of the institutional funding pipeline - confirmed, in active pipeline, and not yet identified to the CEO and Board.
Other Revenue Opportunities
- Partner with the Chief of Staff, who holds Corporate and Strategic Partnerships, to align corporate sponsorship and cause-marketing opportunities with the broader development plan and overall revenue targets.
- Lead the revenue-generating elements (tickets, sponsorships, on-site ask, etc.) of standing annual events (Black Maternal Health Week events, Black Philanthropy Month events, Community Fill a Bag Day) coordination with the Chief of Staff's corporate partnerships work and the Communications-Development team's event planning.
- Serve as the organization's internal point of contact and manager for the contracted grant-writing firm, ensuring foundation prospecting efforts are prioritized, resourced, and aligned with strategy.
Annual Appeals and Communications
- Become a Mamatoto "expert" and excel at telling our story. Act as a spokesperson for the organization as needed to attract funding and engage donors and prospective supporters.
- Lead the design, creation (including copywriting), and project management of annual fundraising appeals, including analyzing campaign results and creating reports for future appeals.
- Work with the Director of Communications to develop creative, mission-focused fundraising messaging that articulates Mamatoto's special role in the community.
- Use donor communications best practices to originate content, review design, and partner with the Communications team on all donor communications and marketing, including monthly emails/newsletters, website donation pages, and program-focused one-pagers.
Development Operations and Revenue Tracking
- Monitor annual and long-term revenue goals and budgets across individual, institutional, and campaign-level giving.
- Work with the Individual Giving Manager, Grants Manager, and Senior Development Associate to regularly update dashboard reports covering the full development portfolio.
- Manage development-focused data input and ensure accuracy in all records and development reports in the organization's CRM.
- Work closely with the Senior Development Associate to ensure data integrity across the donor and grants database.
Capital Campaign Readiness
- Begin building internal readiness for a future capital campaign, including early feasibility conversations with funders who have expressed interest in supporting Mamatoto's next stage of growth.
- Partner with the CEO and Board to assess the timing, scope, and structure of a potential capital campaign as Mamatoto matures organizationally.
3. SKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS TO FOSTER SUCCESS
Education & Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Nonprofit Management, Business Administration, or a related field.
- At least 10-12 years of nonprofit fundraising experience, spanning both individual and institutional giving.
- 4+ years as a people manager in a leadership and decision-making role.
- Demonstrated experience managing a grants portfolio of $2M+ annually, including oversight of contracted or outsourced grant-writing capacity.
- Experience writing and working from a development plan.
- Strong familiarity with human rights, reproductive justice, and/or maternal and infant health content.
- Demonstrated experience with individual giving, including major gifts, email campaigns, annual fund, and/or related tasks.
Technical Skills
- High level of skill with Google Drive, iOS, Canva, and MS Office applications.
- Expert knowledge of CRM best practices; Bloomerang experience preferred.
- Ability to analyze and use data and metrics to shape goals, strategies, and tactics.
Interpersonal Skills
- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to develop trusting relationships with diverse constituencies and communities.
- Superb verbal and written communication skills, with experience tailoring messages to suit intended audiences and compel readers to act.
- Excellent project management skills; demonstrated ability to prioritize and plan across multiple projects, use time efficiently, follow instructions, and respond to management direction.
- Enthusiasm to propose fresh ideas without prompting from leadership, openness to feedback on those ideas, and persistence to bring those ideas to life.
- Must be able to work with sensitive and protected information in a confidential manner.
- Absolute professionalism when representing the organization to external stakeholders.
- Ability to receive constructive feedback.
- Past success working with communities, with the ability to cultivate existing relationships and establish new ones.
4. JOB COMPETENCIES
COMPETENCY
DESCRIPTION
Development Strategy & Leadership
Sets and executes an integrated, multi-year development plan spanning individual giving, institutional/grants revenue, and campaign-level giving; translates organizational growth goals into a coherent, achievable fundraising strategy.
Major & Individual Gift Cultivation
Builds and manages a portfolio of major donors through the full moves-management cycle - identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship - with measurable year-over-year growth.
Institutional & Foundation Relations
Owns key foundation relationships directly, manages a contracted grant-writing firm's output for strategic fit and voice, and ensures grants compliance and reporting are handled with the rigor major funders expect.
Data-Informed Fundraising
Uses donor and pipeline data to segment audiences, set KPIs across every revenue stream, and make evidence-based calls on where to invest cultivation time.
Storytelling & Donor Communications
Partners with the Director of Communications to translate Mamatoto's mission and impact into compelling, accurate donor-facing narrative across appeals, decks, and stewardship materials.
Cross-Functional Partnership
Works in close coordination with the Director of Communications and the Chief of Staff (who holds Strategic and Corporate Partnerships) so development, communications, and partnership work move as one coherent strategy rather than three parallel efforts.
People Management & Team Development
Supervises and develops the Individual Giving Manager, Grants Manager, and Senior Development Associate, building a team capable of sustaining growth beyond any one person's individual effort.
Capital Campaign Readiness
Assesses organizational readiness for a future capital campaign, including early feasibility conversations with funders who have signaled interest, in partnership with the CEO and Board.
