Director of Development
$150,000–$150,000 year
On-siteSan Francisco, California, United States
Job Summary
Director of Development at Big Art Loop is a hands-on, build-from-the-ground-up role reporting to the CEO. The position owns the engine that supports and expands fundraising across major gifts, corporate partnerships, foundation and institutional giving, donor stewardship, gift operations, and the growth of the major gifts pipeline. Responsibilities include building and running the major gifts pipeline in partnership with the CEO, preparing for cultivation moments, leading end-to-end corporate partnerships and sponsorships, guiding foundation and institutional giving, designing donor stewardship programs, running development operations (CRM hygiene, gift processing, pledge tracking, reporting), coordinating donor-focused events, supporting the board on giving, and laying groundwork for a possible capital campaign. The successful candidate will be a builder with 7+ years in development, a proven closer, cross-trained across multiple gift channels, a polished communicator, and a trusted operator with discretion and strong project management. Additional valued experiences include CRM proficiency, arts/civic nonprofit background, capital campaign experience, an established San Francisco Bay Area donor network, and a passion for the arts and philanthropy. Location is San Francisco with in-person donor engagements. The description emphasizes scale of the mission, collaboration with the CEO, civic leaders, and corporate partners, and the opportunity to shape philanthropy for a high-visibility public art project.
Required Qualifications
- The right person will be a builder with deep development fundamentals and genuine comfort working close to a civic mission:
- Proven closer: 7+ years in development, with demonstrated success closing five- and six-figure gifts and managing relationships at the seven-figure level.
- Builder: a track record building or substantially scaling a development function, ideally in a lean or early-stage environment.
- Cross-trained: experience across at least two of individual major gifts, corporate partnerships, or foundation/institutional giving.
- Sharp communicator: polished written and verbal communication, including direct donor correspondence and proposal writing.
- Trusted operator: high discretion and judgment handling confidential donor and financial information; strong organization and project management, comfortable owning complex work without close supervision.
- This role spans several domains, and we're particularly excited about candidates who also bring some combination of:
- Comfort with CRM systems (Salesforce, Raiser's Edge, or similar) and Google Workspace.
- Active use of Claude and other AI tools to accelerate work.
- Experience in arts, cultural, civic, or public-facing nonprofit organizations.
- Capital campaign experience.
- An established donor and corporate network in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Experience supporting an organization through fiscal sponsorship transition or nonprofit formation.
- Genuine interest in the arts, philanthropy, or the civic life of San Francisco.
- Benefits
Hiring someone like this?
Get your role in front of qualified candidates on Sorce.