Mission
To nurture and guide motivated young people in need to become well-educated, career-ready men and women for others.
About Us
Hope Ignites New York is a non-profit, college preparatory urban boarding program that is committed to helping academically capable and motivated students reach their potential by providing them with a stable living environment, academic enrichment, and support services to ensure their success through high school and beyond. Hope Ignites scholars are motivated young men and women who are demonstrated leaders and exhibit a genuine desire to succeed both in and out of the classroom. We partner with Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Job Summary
The Director of Development (DoD) is a full-time senior leadership position responsible for designing and executing a comprehensive, multi-year fundraising strategy to meet both the annual and long-term financial goals of Hope Ignites New York. Reporting directly to the Executive Director, the DoD will oversee all aspects of development including major gifts, institutional giving, donor relations, capital campaign execution, and fundraising infrastructure.
In this role, the DoD will:
- Drive the organization’s growth from a $3M to $6M+ annual budget to support the expansion of programs from 90 to 200 scholars and collegians by FY2028.
- Lead planning and implementation of a $15M capital campaign for the launch of a Residential Academy, beginning in FY2027.
- Serve as a key member of the senior leadership team, contributing to strategy, partnerships, and sustainability planning.
- Oversee donor stewardship systems, development communications, grants management, and special events.
- Act as the first line of contact for the Executive Director to identify major gift prospects and donors and create opportunities for the ED to engage more with the public, including but not limited to prospect profiling, identifying and suggesting key networking events, elevating the organization’s profile, and supporting a strong moves management program.
Quick Facts
Deadline: Open until filled
Status: Full-Time Exempt
Type: Non Supervisory Level/Professional
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Travel: As Needed
Key Responsibilities
Donor Relations
- Serve as the primary point of contact for the Development Department, triaging calls, emails, and inquiries; escalate major donor outreach to the Executive Director as needed.
- Coordinate donor mailings (e.g., appeals) and produce high-quality written communications (e.g., thank-you letters, updates).
- Assist the Executive Director in devising donor solicitation strategies, including campaigns and engagement opportunities.
- Develop, cultivate, and maintain strong relationships with individual donors, foundations, corporations, and board members.
- Oversee the grant strategy with the Development Associate, including identifying, applying for, and tracking all grants.
- Manage pledge collection and donor follow-up communications.
- Support donor profiling, gift forecasting, and ongoing prospect research.
- Collaborate with the program team to build compelling donor materials, including a comprehensive Case for Support, program impact reports, giving program overviews, and marketing materials to support annual fund campaigns, community fundraisers, and major donor engagement.
Capital Campaign Leadership
- In partnership with the Executive Director and Board, lead a $15M capital campaign for the organization’s future Residential Academy with a goal of FY29 as the program launch year.
- Guide quiet phase planning, major donor cultivation, campaign messaging, and the public launch.
- Build a campaign committee and develop a gift pyramid strategy targeting lead, major, and community donors.
- Track campaign progress and ensure reporting and donor recognition milestones are met.
Special Events
- Supervise the Development Associate, who will coordinate event logistics, communications, sponsorships, invitations, pledge follow-up, acknowledgments, and thank-you letters.
- Assist the Executive Director in event planning strategy and protocol improvement.
- Support on-site logistics and donor engagement during all major events.
Database & Reporting
- Maintain and manage Salesforce donor database to ensure accurate and up-to-date donor and prospect information.
- Oversee data integrity, donor recognition, gift acknowledgment, and reporting protocols.
- Collaborate with the National HQ accounting team and Executive Assistant on monthly revenue reconciliations.
- Provide regular reports and dashboards for internal stakeholders including campaign progress, donor pipelines, and fundraising goals.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree required; advanced training in nonprofit management, fundraising, or public administration preferred. CFRE certification is highly desirable.
- 10–15 years of progressively responsible fundraising experience, preferably in education or youth development.
- Proven success designing and leading multimillion-dollar fundraising campaigns.
- Experience managing staff and building a development department from early growth stages.
- Strong knowledge of donor development software (Salesforce preferred) and analytics tools.
- Familiarity with prospecting tools such as iWave or DonorSearch.
Additional Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- Exceptional verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills. Ability to effectively present information and respond clearly to inquiries from other staff members and scholars. Ability to draft reports and correspondence consistent with the duties of this job. An ability to interface effectively with scholars, staff, volunteers, stakeholders, donors, and community members.
- Strong reasoning skills. Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram or schedule form.
- Knowledgeable in Microsoft Office suite programs
- Comfort working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
- Demonstrated success development strategy and strong moves management skills.
- A “whatever it takes” mentality and willingness to adapt and problem solve for concrete outcomes.
- Zest, grit, hope, love, social intelligence, gratitude, and a sense of humor
- Articulate, professional demeanor with strong self-confidence and initiative.
- Ability to handle conflict professionally and productively.
- Commitment to Hope Ignites’ mission and vision of preparing students for life after high school and for being men and women for others.
- Schedule flexibility is a must as the position will entail some later evening and weekend hours as well as local and regional travel.
Physical Requirements
While performing this job, the individual is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, talk, hear, see, reach with hands/arms, stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl, push, pull, grasp, and use repetitive motions. Individuals may also frequently lift and/or move up to 50 pounds of materials. Specific vision abilities include close vision such as reading handwritten or typed material, or computer/device screens, and distance vision such as reading a projector screen, and the ability to adjust focus.
Work Environment
This position is in a residential home and includes serving the program’s scholars and advancing its mission. The position requires annual participation in continuing education, satisfied through in-house programs offered by Hope Ignites or third-party providers. The position will have at least an annual performance evaluation.
Acknowledgement
This job description is designed for compliance with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and is not an exhaustive list of the duties performed for this job. Additional duties are performed by the individual holding this job and additional duties may be assigned. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job.
Author
Jenny Starkey
Jenny Starkey is the Sr. Director of Marketing & Communications for Hope Ignites Network Headquarters.
