Head of Development (Remote)

For almost 60 years, WLC has been on the front lines of civil rights litigation in the region, and today its $5 million philanthropic portfolio is the engine behind that work. This is a genuine opportunity for an entrepreneurial development leader to step into an organization at an inflection point: a dynamic and supportive Executive Director, a committed board of directors, a small but experienced development team eager for strong leadership, and an active investment already underway to modernize WLC's donor database and reporting infrastructure.

WLC's legal team brings decades of precedent-setting litigation and deep relationships across the region's civil rights community, giving you a stellar, credible story to tell donors and a program team that is genuinely invested in partnering with development, sharing their expertise, their client stories, and their time with donors and funders. And you'll have an engaged board of directors with members who are ready to open doors within their networks.

Right now, the most urgent need is a leader who can put fundraising best practices and infrastructure in place and execute reliably, with strategy and growth building from that foundation.

The Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC) works to create legal, economic, and social equity through litigation, client and public education, and public advocacy. For almost 60 years, WLC has been on the cutting edge of civil rights advocacy in the region, bringing precedent-setting litigation to address discrimination in housing, employment, the criminal legal system, education, and public accommodations. Our in-house legal team and network of pro bono law firm partners bring deep expertise and a track record of impactful, precedent-setting work, giving the Development Director a genuinely compelling program story to bring to donors. We partner with individuals and communities facing discrimination and with the legal community to achieve justice.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Development Director is the lead strategist and project manager for growing WLC's philanthropic revenue. This person will lead, manage, and coordinate all fundraising efforts across individuals, law firms, corporations, foundations, and government contracts — identifying, cultivating, and soliciting major donors, executing signature fundraising events, and building the systems and team that let WLC fundraise at the scale its mission deserves. Above all, this role is the executor who puts core development infrastructure in place: visible deadlines, clean data, coordinated budgets, while building a strategy for future growth.

Systems, Data & Development Operations

Own data integrity in WLC's CRM (Raiser's Edge): ensure campaigns, funds, appeals, and gift records are structured and used the way the system is designed to work

Partner with the COO and outside database consultants on the CRM clean-up already underway, and put guardrails in place — documentation, standard operating procedures, and training — so the data stays reliable going forward

Build and maintain a shared development and grant calendar, visible to program, finance, and leadership

Maintain a robust pipeline of local, regional, and national grant opportunities, with a calendar tracking every upcoming application and report

Partner with the COO and program leadership to build grant budgets before proposals go out the door

Build a regular progress-to-goal report and a probability-weighted pipeline dashboard — covering individual giving, board giving, and foundations — for the Executive Director, COO, and Board Finance Committee

Leadership & Development Strategy

Develop, manage, and execute WLC's development and stewardship plans to hit annual revenue goals

Refresh existing plans with new ideas, industry best practices, and data-driven analysis

Build and manage a gift pipeline robust enough to meet annual revenue goals across individual donors, law firms, corporations, and foundations

Partner with the Executive Director on non-philanthropic revenue streams, including government grants/contracts, attorneys' fees, and other fee-for-service opportunities

Partner with an engaged, fundraising-minded board of directors, working with individual board members to build development goals based on their unique networks, and serving as the team's point of contact for board engagement on fundraising

Expand prospect research capacity, using wealth-screening, psychographic, and other donor data already gathered to sharpen segmentation and identify new major-gift and event prospects

Support the Executive Director's fundraising time, helping to guide where and how she spends her efforts

Development Communications

Lead creative, mission-driven fundraising messaging that captures WLC's role in the racial justice movement

Coordinate with the communications team on a shared calendar so program and development milestones reinforce each other

Grow fundraising through digital and social channels, and serve as an informed, decisive partner to WLC's outside digital marketing team

Produce fundraising events, including the annual Branton luncheon and donor house parties, with direct ownership of event revenue and budget targets

Help negotiate vendor and venue contracts, and build the pre- and post-event stewardship plans that turn one-time attendees into long-term donors

Partner with the Events Associate to right-size and target guest lists using donor data and prospect research

Team Leadership & Staff Development

Act as a thoughtful liaison between the development team and organizational leadership

Enhance onboarding and training plans for new development hires, including structured CRM training

Champion professional development, including conference attendance and peer learning, for the development team

Lead WLC's adoption of AI and other emerging technology across development — prospect research, drafting and messaging support, data analysis, and CRM-adjacent tools — to increase efficiency and free up time for relationship-building work

A seasoned development professional and project manager with a knack for working backward from a deadline to build a plan

Comfortable running multiple projects with different deadlines at once

Comfortable partnering with attorneys and litigators, and translating complex legal work into language that resonates with donors and funders

A creative thinker willing to test new ideas — and a systems developer committed to excellence and best practices

A minimum of 7 years of nonprofit development experience, including direct staff supervision

Hands‑on fundraising generalist experience: institutional giving/grant writing, major gifts, donor‑advised funds (DAFs), annual giving, corporate partnerships, special events, and online giving

Deep, hands‑on fluency with a major donor CRM — Raiser's Edge preferred — including how campaigns, funds, and appeals should be structured; candidates from other CRMs (e.g., Salesforce) are welcome if they understand sound database architecture

Experience building or improving fundraising systems and processes, including grant tracking and close coordination with finance and program staff on budgets

DonorSearch, iWave, Foundation/corporate research tools)

Enough digital fundraising fluency (email, paid social, analytics) to direct and approve strategy from an outside marketing partner

Experience building onboarding or training programs for a small team, preferred

Working knowledge of the Washington, DC funder community, preferred

Experience working alongside attorneys or in a legal/litigation environment, preferred

Must reside in DC, Maryland, or Virginia, within commuting distance of downtown DC.

Hybrid schedule: in‑office Tuesday–Thursday, telework option Monday/Friday

Employer-provided health and dental insurance

Group life, AD&D, short-term disability, and long-term disability coverage

Flexible Spending Account

Retirement plan

Diversity is an essential component of the Committee, and we encourage all qualified persons to apply. Applicants are accorded an equal opportunity for selection without regard to actual or perceived race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, age, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.

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