Free Development Director Job Description Templates
Free development director job description templates for nonprofits: standard, solo, large org, education, and arts. Download 5 variations as one DOCX.
Development Director Job Description Templates
5 free templates for nonprofits, including a solo first-hire version. Download as DOCX.
The development director job description gets written by an executive director, board member, or operations lead at a nonprofit hiring its chief fundraiser, the person who will own fundraising strategy, major gifts, grants, and donor relationships. The templates on the big job boards hand you one thin generic block that ignores two things that matter most here: the title is easy to confuse with business development, software, and real estate roles that are entirely different jobs, and a small nonprofit hiring its first development director needs a very different posting than a large organization with a development team.
At FirstHR, we build tools that take a hire from job description through onboarding, and the five templates below cover what nonprofits actually hire for: a standard development director, a solo or first development director, a director of development for a large org, an education or advancement version, and an arts and culture version. Fill in the brackets and post. For the general principles behind any posting, the guide to writing a job description covers the fundamentals.
What Does a Development Director Do?
A development director is the senior fundraising leader at a nonprofit, owning the strategy and execution that grow philanthropic revenue, from major gifts and the annual fund to grants, events, and donor relationships, usually reporting to the Executive Director. The role connects to the fundraising occupational profile captured in the O*NET profile for public relations and fundraising managers, which covers planning, directing, and coordinating activities to solicit and maintain funds for organizations.
For the employer writing the posting, two facts shape everything. First, the title is ambiguous across industries, so the posting must make the nonprofit fundraising scope unmistakable. Second, the role scales sharply by organization size, from a solo first hire who builds the function to a director who leads a development team. The five templates on this page resolve both: they fix the nonprofit meaning and split by size and sector.
Director of Development vs Development Director
They are the same role. Director of Development and Development Director are interchangeable titles for a nonprofit's senior fundraising leader, used synonymously by job boards, nonprofit consultants, and candidates alike. The choice between them is local convention and what your candidates search for, not a difference in the job.
The distinction that does matter is meaning across industries. The nonprofit fundraising role this page covers is different from a business development director, who drives sales and partnerships, a software development director, who leads engineering teams, and a real estate development director, who manages property development. Those are separate jobs with their own markets and titles. As long as your summary makes the nonprofit fundraising scope clear, either title works, and you will attract fundraisers rather than candidates from unrelated fields.
Development Director Duties and Responsibilities
Development director duties and responsibilities center on strategy and revenue, donors and major gifts, grants and events, and systems and partners. The organization size shifts the balance, hands-on execution at a small nonprofit, team leadership at a large one, but these four categories hold across nearly every role. These are the duties grouped the way the templates use them.
A strong posting grounds these in your specifics: the budget, the fundraising programs, the reporting line, and whether the role is solo or leads a team. For a structured way to scope any role before posting, the guide to defining job responsibilities walks through the process.
Development Director Variations Compared
The development director role spans different scopes by organization size and sector, and naming the right one in the posting screens for the right candidates. This is how the variations differ.
| Factor | Solo / First | Standard | Large Org | Education / Arts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Org size | 5-15 staff | 10-50 staff | 50+ staff | Varies |
| Team | Solo | Small or none | Team of officers | Varies |
| Focus | Build the function | Run fundraising | Lead campaigns | Sector programs |
| Reports to | Executive Director | Executive Director | VP Development | Head / ED |
The practical takeaway: match the template to your size and sector. For the related nonprofit roles an organization often hires alongside a development director, the program manager job description templates cover an adjacent position.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template by organization size and sector. All five share the same skeleton, but the matched version sets the right expectations for scope, team, and fundraising programs. Use this guide to choose.
5 Free Development Director Job Description Templates
Download all five as a single Word document or copy individual templates. Each follows the same structure: job summary, key responsibilities, required and preferred qualifications, and compensation and how to apply. Fill in the brackets before you post.
Template 1: Development Director (Standard Nonprofit)
The balanced base: own fundraising strategy, the annual fund, major gifts, grants, and events, reporting to the Executive Director. For a nonprofit with 10 to 50 staff.
Template 2: Solo / First Development Director
The build-from-scratch version: one person owns the entire development function, sets up the CRM, and grows giving. This is the angle no competitor template offers.
Template 3: Director of Development (Large Org)
The team-leadership version: manage gift officers, lead capital and major-gift campaigns, and oversee planned giving, reporting to a VP of Development.
Template 4: Development Director (Education / Schools)
The advancement version: annual giving, alumni and parent engagement, the board of trustees, and advancement databases like Raiser's Edge.
Template 5: Development Director (Arts & Culture)
The arts version: membership, corporate sponsorship, galas, and grants for cultural organizations, alongside individual and major gifts.
Development Director Skills and Qualifications to Include
The skills that make a strong development director combine fundraising experience with relationship-building, writing, and the judgment to grow revenue, weighted by the scope of the role. The SHRM job description tools describe a good job description as a plain-language summary of a position's tasks, duties, and responsibilities, and for this role that means naming the fundraising programs and skills the scope actually requires.
| Area | What to look for | Typically required? |
|---|---|---|
| Experience | Nonprofit fundraising track record | Required |
| Major gifts | Donor cultivation and solicitation | Required for most |
| Certification | CFRE | Preferred |
| Systems | Donor CRM, fundraising tools | Required |
| Soft skills | Relationships, writing, communication | Required |
Weight the requirements toward the scope and sector of the role, and keep every line job-related and neutral, since the EEOC rules on job advertisements prohibit postings that express a preference based on protected characteristics.
How to Write a Development Director Job Description
A strong development director posting takes about fifteen minutes once you settle the scope, the sector, the programs, and the pay. Here is the process the templates are built around.
Development Director Pay
Development director pay depends heavily on the organization's size and budget, and federal data brackets the range from the individual-contributor level to the manager level.
These are the most recent confirmed federal estimates for the occupation. A development director at a small nonprofit often sits between the fundraiser and manager medians, while a director leading a team at a large organization sits toward or above the manager figure.
| Level | Annual wage anchor | Typical fit |
|---|---|---|
| Fundraiser median | $66,490 | Small nonprofit, solo role |
| Fundraising manager median | $123,480 | Established director |
| Manager top 10% | Over $216,660 | Large org, team and campaigns |
Those figures are the most recent confirmed federal estimates (as of May 2024). Nonprofit budgets vary widely and many small organizations are budget-constrained, so anchor the range on your actual budget and the scope of the role. State the range plainly, since several states require a pay range in postings and transparency improves applications.
Getting the Development Director Hire Right
The development director hire goes wrong in predictable ways: confusing the title with unrelated industries, a size mismatch between a solo role and a team role, or sector-blind duties. Here is how to avoid each.
After You Hire: Onboarding a Development Director
Onboarding a development director matters because the role needs donor relationships, systems access, and board context quickly to start raising money, so a fast, organized start pays off. The basics come first: the offer with the compensation and reporting line stated, the I-9, tax forms, and state new hire reporting, plus any confidentiality agreement given access to donor data, all collected per the new hire paperwork guide. The role-specific layer includes access to the donor CRM and financial reports, an introduction to the board and key donors, the current fundraising plan and calendar, and clear goals for the first year.
For a small nonprofit without an HR department, where the ED or COO handles hiring, a simple repeatable process helps. The documents around the hire follow the usual sequence: the offer letter template for the terms and a structured onboarding template for the first days. FirstHR fits this directly: e-signature for the offer and any confidentiality agreement, document management for tax forms and signed paperwork, task workflows and training assignments for the onboarding checklist, and an HRIS with an org chart that places the role under the Executive Director. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR; today the platform bridges your job description into onboarding once the candidate signs. The onboarding documents guide covers the full paperwork checklist.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a development director do?
A development director is the senior fundraising leader at a nonprofit, responsible for planning and growing the organization's philanthropic revenue. The core work includes developing and executing the annual fundraising strategy, managing a portfolio of major-gift donors, overseeing the annual fund and individual giving, leading grant research, writing, and reporting, planning fundraising events and campaigns, maintaining the donor database, and partnering with the Executive Director and board on fundraising goals. At a small nonprofit, the development director often does all of this personally as a one-person function. At a larger organization, the role leads a team of gift officers and runs capital campaigns. Across both, the job is to build relationships with donors and grow the funding that sustains the mission.
Is a director of development the same as a development director?
Yes. Director of Development and Development Director are interchangeable titles for the same nonprofit role: the senior fundraising leader who owns strategy, major gifts, grants, events, and donor relationships, typically reporting to the Executive Director. Job boards, nonprofit consultants, and search results all treat them as synonyms, so the difference is purely phrasing and local convention. When posting, pick whichever your candidates are more likely to search for. The more important distinction is the sector and meaning: both titles refer to the nonprofit chief-fundraiser role, which is entirely different from a business development director (sales and partnerships), a software development director (engineering leadership), or a real estate development director (property development). Make the nonprofit fundraising scope clear in your summary so you attract fundraisers rather than candidates from those unrelated fields.
What is the difference between a development director and an executive director?
They are different leadership roles. An executive director (ED) is the top staff leader of a nonprofit, responsible for overall operations, programs, finances, staff, and the board relationship. A development director leads fundraising specifically and usually reports to the executive director. At a small nonprofit, the ED often handles fundraising personally until the organization is ready to hire its first development director, at which point fundraising shifts to that role while the ED focuses on running the organization. The development director owns donor strategy, major gifts, grants, and events, while the ED owns the whole organization including but not limited to development. When a small nonprofit hires its first development director, it is making a deliberate investment in dedicated fundraising capacity, which is exactly the situation the Solo / First Development Director template on this page is written for.
How much does a development director make?
Pay depends on the organization's size and budget, and federal data brackets the range. Fundraisers, the broader individual-contributor category, earned a median annual wage of $66,490 as of May 2024, while fundraising managers, which better matches a senior development director, earned a median of $123,480, with the lowest 10 percent under $73,700 and the highest 10 percent over $216,660. In practice, a development director at a small nonprofit often sits between these figures, while a director at a large organization leading a team and major campaigns sits toward or above the manager median. Nonprofit budgets vary widely, and many small organizations are budget-constrained, so anchor the range on your actual budget and the scope of the role, state it in the posting since several states require it and transparency improves applications, and adjust for your local market.
Should a small nonprofit hire a development director?
Often yes, once fundraising outgrows what the executive director can handle alone. Many small and emerging nonprofits start with the ED leading fundraising personally, then hire their first development director when they are ready to invest in dedicated fundraising capacity, typically in the range of 5 to 25 staff. That first hire is usually not a team leader but a hands-on generalist who builds the entire development function from scratch: setting up the donor CRM, launching the annual fund, writing grants, and running events solo. The decision comes down to whether you have the budget for the role and enough fundraising potential to justify it. If you do, hire and be honest in the posting that this is a build-from-scratch solo role rather than a position with an existing team and infrastructure. The Solo / First Development Director template is written for exactly this situation.
What should I include in a development director job description?
A strong development director job description includes a short organization intro with your mission and budget, a clear job summary, six to ten specific duties covering fundraising strategy, major gifts, the annual fund, grants, events, and donor systems, and a requirements section with the experience, relationship skills, and CRM familiarity the role needs. State the scope clearly: whether this is a solo build-from-scratch role or a team-leadership role, and the sector, since standard nonprofit, education or advancement, and arts and culture roles emphasize different things. Name the reporting line (usually the Executive Director), the compensation range, and any preferred certification such as CFRE. Keep every requirement job-related and neutral to stay compliant with equal-opportunity rules. The five templates on this page handle all of this across standard, solo or first, large org, education, and arts and culture versions, so you can pick the closest match and fill in the specifics.
Is fundraising a growing field?
Yes, modestly, though the sector faces pressure. Federal data projects employment of fundraisers to grow 4 percent from 2024 to 2034, about as fast as the average for all occupations, while public relations and fundraising managers are projected to grow 5 percent, faster than average, with about 10,200 openings projected each year for each group. At the same time, donor numbers and retention have been under pressure, which makes skilled development leaders more valuable, not less, since organizations need stronger fundraising to offset softer giving trends. For an employer, this means there is steady demand for development directors and competition for proven ones, so a clear, sector-specific job description that names the scope and the fundraising programs precisely helps attract the right candidates. It also reinforces investing in a capable hire, since fundraising results depend heavily on the person in the role.
What happens after I hire a development director?
Once the candidate accepts, the hire moves into onboarding, which matters because a development director needs donor relationships, systems access, and board context quickly to start raising money. The first steps are the offer and paperwork: the offer letter with the compensation and reporting line stated, the I-9, tax forms, and state new hire reporting, plus any confidentiality agreement given access to donor data. The role-specific layer includes access to the donor CRM and financial reports, an introduction to the board and key donors, the current fundraising plan and calendar, and clear goals for the first year. For a small nonprofit without an HR department, where the ED or COO handles hiring, a simple repeatable process helps. FirstHR fits this directly: e-signature for the offer and any confidentiality agreement, document management for tax forms and signed paperwork, task workflows and training assignments for the onboarding checklist, and an HRIS with an org chart that places the role under the Executive Director. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR; today the platform handles onboarding once the candidate signs.