Director of Development

Job Description:

Campus: District Office

Position Purpose

The Director of Development is an administrative position reporting to District, College, or auxiliary leadership. The incumbent provides strategic leadership for the District's resource development program, including spearheading significant fundraising campaigns aimed at securing substantial financial support for student success, academic initiatives, and capital projects.

General Description

The Director of Development designs, directs, and executes multi-year fundraising campaigns, planned giving programs, and major donor initiatives that align with institutional priorities. The incumbent manages a complex portfolio of high-value donors, philanthropic relationships, and prospects with measurable revenue and engagement goals. The Director of Development leads cross-departmental collaboration and leverages alumni, faculty, staff, retirees, volunteers, and community partner relationships for fund development success. The incumbent serves as a key advisor to District, College, or auxiliary leadership on strategic fundraising direction and donor engagement strategies and provides management and mentorship to development staff and volunteers.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Duties and Responsibilities are representative and not intended to cover all duties the incumbent performs. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the scope of work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to this class.

District and Community Leadership

• Works in partnership with District, College, or auxiliary leadership and the entity's advisory body to create, develop, and implement the strategic fundraising plan, including the multi-year campaign, planned giving program, and major donor initiatives.
• Offers industry expertise on philanthropic trends, donor demographics, giving patterns, and financial data to inform the entity's and the District's strategic planning and reporting.
• Inspires cross-department collaboration to ensure engagement and involvement of District and College leadership in major campaigns and other fundraising initiatives.
• Builds and leverages relationships with civic, corporate, foundation, and nonprofit leaders to enhance the District, Colleges, and auxiliary entities' visibility and fundraising success.

Donor Cultivation, Solicitation, and Stewardship

• Leads major gift efforts by developing and stewarding relationships with high-value donors to ensure ongoing support, recognition, and involvement in the planned giving program.
• Identifies, cultivates, and solicits major gift prospects, developing tailored approaches that resonate with each donor's interests and charitable goals.
• Facilitates donor visits, prepares proposals, and delivers presentations to secure commitments.
• Expands the fundraising program by proactively implementing innovative research tools and strategies to identify new donors and prospects.
• Tracks and reports relationship management activity using the constituent relationship management system, including identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of prospective and current major gift donors.

Fundraising Campaigns

• Designs and implements a comprehensive plan for the multi-year fundraising campaigns, including goals, target audiences, timelines, and key messaging.
• Develops communication strategies to generate awareness and excitement about the campaign among faculty, staff, retirees, alumni, donors, and the community.
• Establishes and implements standards of accountability to measure progress of the campaign against dollar and activity goals.
• Leads cross-functional campaign teams and other stakeholder bodies, ensuring effective communication, resource allocation, and accountability among participants.
• Seeks and applies for grant funding and corporate partnerships that align with campaign goals, securing additional support for specific initiatives.

Management and Supervision

• Leads with a donor-centric approach that fosters a positive and innovative culture that motivates individuals to capitalize on their strengths.
• Supervises development staff, student workers, and volunteers; provides coaching, training, and performance evaluations.

Compliance and Reporting

• Monitors campaign and grant budgets, deliverables, and compliance requirements.
• Prepares reports for the entity, College, District, and other stakeholders on fundraising performance.
• Ensures compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, ethical standards, and District policies.

Employment Standards (acquired through education, training, and/or experience)

Knowledge of:

1. Principles, techniques, and best practices in fundraising, donor cultivation, and stewardship.
2. Major gift solicitation, planned giving, and corporate/foundation relations.
3. Campaign planning, event management, and grant writing.
4. Higher education funding models, priorities, and philanthropic trends.
5. IRS nonprofit regulations and ethical standards in fundraising.
6. Strategic planning and implementation.
7. Nonprofit governance practices and board relations.

Skills and Abilities:

1. Entrepreneurial with the ability to work in a small and collaborative team environment.
2. Establish and maintain effective and cooperative working relationships with those encountered in the course of work.
3. Highly developed interpersonal skills, including a propensity to express gratitude, patience, tact, and courtesy with stakeholders.
4. Tenacity to identify errors and pursue excellence.
5. Strong attention to detail with commitment to accuracy.
6. Strong organizational skills with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks effectively and efficiently.
7. Strong communication skills, both verbally and in writing, with the ability to articulate complex ideas to a variety of stakeholders.
8. Maintain utmost confidentiality in handling sensitive financial and donor information and in interactions with leadership, staff, and donors.
9. Develop and implement successful fundraising strategies.
10. Plan, implement, and evaluate comprehensive fundraising programs.
11. Represent the District, Colleges, and auxiliary entities with professionalism, integrity, and diplomacy.
12. Lead, motivate, and develop professional staff and volunteers.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in nonprofit management, business administration, communications, public relations, or related discipline OR an equivalent combination of education and experience
• Five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in fundraising, development, or advancement, with demonstrated success in major gift solicitation and multi-year fundraising campaigns
• Demonstrated cultural competence, sensitivity to, and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, ethnic, neurodivergent, and LGBTQIA+ backgrounds of community college students, faculty, and staff

Desired Qualifications

• Master's degree in nonprofit management, business administration, communications, public relations, or related discipline
• Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) Certification
• Experience in fundraising within a higher education or nonprofit foundation

Additional Information:

FLSA Status: Exempt

Safety: to promote a safe working and learning environment employees must report any unsafe working conditions or practices, as well as any near-miss incident to their supervisor.

• Position is designated as a Mandated Reporter under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act
• Position is a Responsible Employee under the Equity in Education Act and Title IX

Work Demands

The environmental, physical, and mental demands described here are representative of those that an employee must meet to successfully perform the essential functions of this class. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.


Environmental: typical on-site office environment; in-person work expected with potential to participate in the District's telework program, as available.

• Frequent hearing and speaking to exchange information in person and online
• Comprehend speech at normal levels
• Upper limb dexterity to operate computers and peripheral equipment
• Vision sufficient for daily and frequent use of computers, databases, and written materials
• Sitting for extended periods of time
• Frequent bending at the waist
• Frequent travel on and off-sites of the District and San Mateo County
• Physical presence at on-site locations
• Lifting and carrying objects up to 20 pounds
• Communicate and interact with others; compose oral and written communications and reports
• Observe and interpret people and situations
• Learn and apply new information or skills
• Perform highly detailed work on multiple concurrent tasks
• Use math/mathematical reasoning
• Perform highly detailed work under changing priorities and deadlines on multiple concurrent tasks
• Work with frequent interruptions
• Self-regulate emotion and behavior

Benefits: Benefits include paid holidays, vacation and sick leave. The District pays all or a portion of monthly medical plan premiums (depending on the coverage) and pays all of the monthly dental and vision plan premiums for employees and eligible dependents. Additional paid benefits include life insurance, salary continuance insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program. Classified employees participate in the Public Employees' Retirement System, a defined-benefit retirement plan through the State of California. Optional tax-deferred 403(b) and 457 retirement plans are also available.


EEO Statement: San Mateo County Community College District is an Equal Opportunity, Title IX, and Section 504 employer. We prohibit discrimination and harassment based on race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, or any other protected status under federal, state, or local law. We seek to employ individuals who reflect our community's diversity of cultures, languages, and abilities.


Our EEO Plan, grounded in Title 5 regulations, is developed and monitored by an EEO Advisory Committee, reviewed at least every three years, and supported by regular training for all members of selection and screening committees. We collect and analyze recruitment and retention data to measure progress and identify barriers.


Annual Security Report


San Mateo County Community College District's (SMCCCD) 2025 Annual Security Report (ASR), required by the Clery Act, includes statistics for the previous three years (2022-2024) concerning reported crimes that occurred on campus; in certain off-campus buildings owned or controlled by SMCCCD; and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from SMCCCD. The 2025 Annual Security Report also outlines various campus safety and security policies concerning crime reporting, prevention and response to sexual and gender violence, alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, emergency response and evacuation procedures, and other matters. The Annual Security Report also includes important tips to help every community member remain safe and avoid becoming a victim of crime. The 2025 Annual Security Report is now available on the Public Safety website. You can also obtain a copy of this report by contacting the Department of Public Safety at the District Office or any of the three Campuses View phone number on click.appcast.io. The report includes information about criminal activity on our campuses, emergency procedures, and resources.



Application Instructions:

Conditions of Employment

Before employment, the selected candidate will be required to complete the following:

1. Submit official transcripts (applies to all faculty or educational administrative positions). Foreign Education completed outside of the United States must be deemed equivalent to that gained in conventional/accredited U.S. education programs in order for it to be considered for the satisfaction of minimum qualifications. Foreign transcripts must be translated and evaluated by a U.S.-based credentials evaluation service. The District currently accepts evaluations from agencies approved by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
2. Submit verifications of employment.
3. Satisfactory references
4. Successfully being cleared for employment through the background check process. In addition to background checks, the District may review publicly available information. If a candidate becomes aware of inaccurate information on the Internet, the candidate is welcome to address the issue with the Office of Human Resources.
5. Disclose whether they have received a final administrative determination or final judicial decision determining that they have committed sexual harassment within the last seven years.
6. Present original documents for proof of eligibility to work in the United States
7. Approval of your employment by the SMCCCD Board of Trustees
8. Provide a certificate of Tuberculosis exam for initial employment.
9. Have fingerprints taken by a Live Scan computer (Clearance must be received prior to the first day of employment). Please note that the California Education Code requires, in part, that community college districts shall not employ or retain in employment persons in public school service who have been convicted of certain felonies, a misdemeanor drug charge (including alcohol offenses) or misdemeanor moral turpitude (sexual offense) crime. However, consideration may be given to those whose drug convictions occurred more than five years ago. A conviction for other crimes may not necessarily disqualify you from the job for which you may be applying.

All applicants are required to submit:

1. A completed Employment Application (available during the online application process).
2. Resume
3. Cover letter of no more than 3 pages that addresses the applicant's qualifications as they relate to the requirements, knowledge, skills, and abilities listed in this announcement and cultural competence, sensitivity to, and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, ethnic, neurodivergent, and LGBTQIA+ backgrounds of community college students, faculty, and staff.

Candidates for interview will be selected from those who most closely meet the requirements and possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities. Meeting the minimum qualifications does not guarantee an interview. As part of the interview process, candidates may be asked to demonstrate job-related knowledge and skills.

Reasonable accommodations will be provided to candidates with verified disabilities. Accommodation requests should be made as soon as practical by contacting Jennie Elizalde at View email address on click.appcast.io or View phone number on click.appcast.io in the Office of Human Resources.

The District and/or College reserves the right to extend time limits and/or repost or restart recruitments at any time.

The District requires all work to be conducted in California.

SMCCCD is not a TN or H1B sponsoring employer.