Senior Vice President of Development (Fundraising)

Job Description

Job Description

Senior Vice President of Development (Fundraising)

Location: Dallas, TX (Hybrid)
Job Type: Full-Time
Reports to: Chief Financial Officer

HR Media & Co. is seeking a Senior Vice President of Development (Fundraising) for our client, a national foundation, to build and lead a high-performing, sustainable development function.

This is a unique opportunity for an accomplished fundraising executive who is energized by building, not simply inheriting an established fundraising program .

The Senior Vice President will develop the strategy, donor pipeline, systems, team discipline, and relationships needed to create a diversified, sustainable philanthropic program with a credible pathway toward $5M+ in annual unrestricted revenue .

Working closely with the President & CEO, CFO, Board of Directors, and senior leadership, the Senior Vice President will combine strategic leadership with hands-on fundraising, personally cultivating relationships, making significant asks, closing gifts, and creating the infrastructure necessary for long-term growth.

What You'll Lead

Fundraising Strategy & Revenue Growth

• Develop and execute a comprehensive fundraising strategy with a pathway toward $5M+ in sustainable annual unrestricted philanthropic revenue .
• Build diversified revenue across major gifts, individual giving, corporate philanthropy, foundations, sponsorships, and other appropriate channels.
• Personally cultivate, solicit, close, and steward significant philanthropic gifts.
• Establish fundraising targets, forecasts, performance measures, and pipeline expectations.

Major Gifts & Donor Pipeline

• Build a qualified pipeline of major donors and high-capacity prospects.
• Develop and manage a personal portfolio of prospective and current donors.
• Establish disciplined prospect identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, renewal, and re-engagement practices.
• Create strategies to acquire new donors, deepen existing relationships, increase giving, and build long-term philanthropic support.

Development Operations & Infrastructure

• Assess the current development operation and establish the systems required for sustainable fundraising growth.
• Strengthen CRM utilization, moves management, donor segmentation, prospect research, portfolio management, stewardship, proposal tracking, and reporting.
• Develop dashboards and reporting to track pipeline, fundraising activity, commitments, forecasts, and results.
• Ensure donor relationships, institutional knowledge, and next steps are documented and maintained within organizational systems.

Team, CEO & Board Partnership

• Lead, coach, and develop an approximately five-person development team.
• Establish clear roles, goals, portfolios, performance expectations, and accountability.
• Partner with the President & CEO to develop and advance a focused portfolio of high-value prospects.
• Engage Board members strategically in introductions, cultivation, relationship development, and solicitation.
• Create the structure and follow-through necessary to turn organizational relationships into qualified philanthropic opportunities.

What We're Looking For

The ideal candidate is a proven fundraising builder and major-gift fundraiser who knows how to create momentum where significant fundraising infrastructure and donor pipelines are still being developed.

• 10+ years of progressive fundraising and development experience , including senior-level leadership responsibility.
• Demonstrated success personally cultivating, soliciting, and closing major gifts.
• Experience building, rebuilding, or significantly scaling a development function or fundraising program .
• Track record of personally contributing to substantial philanthropic revenue growth and leading against multimillion-dollar fundraising goals.
• Experience building qualified donor pipelines and developing new philanthropic relationships.
• Experience with major gifts, individual giving, corporate philanthropy, and foundation fundraising.
• Strong knowledge of CRM systems, moves management, prospect research, forecasting, stewardship, and fundraising performance measurement.
• Experience leading and developing fundraising teams.
• Demonstrated ability to engage CEOs, senior executives, and Board members effectively in fundraising.
• Strong executive presence, communication, judgment, relationship-building, and organizational skills.
• Ability to operate effectively in an entrepreneurial environment while simultaneously building structure, systems, and accountability.

Strongly Preferred

• Experience building, scaling, or materially contributing to a development program generating $5M+ in annual philanthropic revenue .
• Experience significantly increasing unrestricted fundraising.
• Experience building a development operation rather than solely inheriting an established fundraising program.
• Formal fundraising or development training and/or professional certification.
• Experience engaging major individual donors, corporations, foundations, and family offices.
• Experience fundraising across multiple geographic markets.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means creating both fundraising momentum and sustainable infrastructure .

During the first year, the Senior Vice President will be expected to establish a qualified donor pipeline, strengthen development operations and systems, activate CEO and Board relationships, build team accountability, advance significant cultivation and solicitation opportunities, and demonstrate meaningful progress toward a sustainable $5M+ annual fundraising program .

This is an opportunity for a development executive who wants to leave a lasting mark by building the people, pipeline, systems, relationships, and fundraising discipline required for long-term philanthropic growth.

Travel

Periodic overnight travel is required for donor meetings, prospect cultivation, Board engagement, fundraising events, and relationship-building activities in Dallas, Atlanta, and other markets as appropriate.