Development Director

The Development Director is part of the Executive Management Team and is responsible for planning, developing, leading and maintaining a comprehensive and successful fundraising program on behalf of the Legal Aid Society of San Diego (LASSD). The Development Director will focus on increasing unrestricted, private funding for the organization.

About the Organization:

Legal Aid Society of San Diego (LASSD), the largest poverty law firm serving San Diego County since 1953, strengthens our communities by redressing our clients’ legal problems, empowering our clients to access and effectively participate within the legal, governmental, and social systems, and encouraging self-empowerment in the fight against poverty and injustice. LASSD continues to be a proud, committed, and compassionate group of people dedicated to providing equal access to justice for San Diegans through aggressive, quality legal services.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Develop a five-year plan for achieving a high level of donor support, with quantifiable monetary goals.
2. Build a diverse corporate sponsorship and philanthropy program, expand LASSD’s successful foundation grant funding program, and increase its unrestricted funding to create a consistent revenue source.
3. Manage a portfolio of individual, foundation, and corporate prospects and donors by actively engaging in prospect and donor identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
4. Lead direct response fundraising strategies, including direct mail, online giving, social media fundraising, and crowdfunding.
5. Build a robust individual annual fund, leadership annual giving, major gifts, and planned/legacy giving program.
6. Oversee and manage LASSD’s annual fundraising event, including solicitation of sponsors, production of materials, and logistics.
7. Oversee fundraising operations, including data and information management and constituent record-keeping; prospect and donor research, qualification, and relationship management; gift and pledge processing; donor acknowledgment and recognition; donor stewardship and accountability; performance reporting and compliance.
8. Maintain and oversee a master annual calendar of solicitation and stewardship efforts for individuals, corporations, and foundations.
9. Partner with and help guide the Executive Director, Leadership Team, and Board of Directors in their fundraising activities.
10. Work with the Outreach and Community Relations Manager and Media Consultant to elevate LASSD’s reputation and boost community and donor awareness of LASSD and its services.
11. Oversee the content of portions of LASSD’s website, social media, and newsletters related to fundraising in collaboration with the Executive Management Team, Media Consultant, and Program Staff.
12. Participate in Executive Management and Leadership meetings as appropriate.
13. Participate in annual and long-term budget and financial planning processes, including managing the annual budget for development work and annual development strategic plan objectives, and tracking and reporting results to the Executive Management Team.
14. Meaningfully report on all the above to the Board of Directors monthly or as appropriate.
15. Other tasks may be assigned by the Executive Director.

Requirements Qualifications:

1. Bachelor’s Degree and 7-10 years’ experience in non-profit or academic fundraising, at least 3 of which must be as a Development Director, Chief Development Officer, or equivalent position.
2. Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate excitement about and passion for LASSD’s mission.
3. Track record of success in front-line fundraising solicitation, stewardship, donor recognition, prospect research, grant proposal writing, gift administration, and development policies and procedures.
4. Prior experience planning and executing highly successful fundraising events.
5. Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
6. Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build relationships with a broad range of constituents.
7. Understanding of relationship-based fundraising strategies and prior experience working with donors.
8. Proven track record of developing excellent working relationships in dynamic, fast-paced work environments.
9. Attention to detail and emphasis on accuracy.
10. Demonstrated ability to think strategically, problem solve, and manage multiple tasks concurrently.
11. Demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a team.
12. Proficient in MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and ability to use existing technology to achieve desired results.
13. Ability to work occasional evenings and weekends.
14. Must have reliable transportation.

Desired Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

1. Familiarity with local philanthropic network and channels.
2. Graphic design experience is highly desirable.
3. Prior experience with donor database management preferred.
4. Demonstrated commitment to serving low-income people.
5. Ability to work successfully with people from diverse backgrounds.

Salary and Benefits:

The Development Director position is an exempt position with a salary range of $88,000-132,000 per year, with a starting salary of $110,000. In addition, there is a bilingual pay increase of 2% for passing an oral test and 2% for passing a written test for threshold languages other than English.

LASSD offers a generous benefits package, a 35-hour workweek, paid vacation leave and sick leave and 100% employer-paid medical premium, 50% employer-paid premium for dependents under LASSD health plan, as well as dental, vision, and life benefits. Staff also have the option to participate in a 403(b)-retirement plan and dependent and health flex savings accounts (FSA). LASSD has its own law school loan repayment program and is an eligible nonprofit employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program.

Diversity and Inclusion:

It is vitally important to LASSD that we represent the community that we serve. LASSD is a signatory to the San Diego County Bar Association’s Diversity Pledge. We pledge to promote diversity and inclusion through hiring and retention, promotion and leadership, engagement of outside counsel, and participation in legal community diversity initiatives. We strongly encourage applicants of diverse backgrounds to apply.

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