Development Manager

A Development Manager works as part of a team that raises money for a museum, a wildlife conservation institute, a scholarship program, or some other organization or cause. If you’ve ever sold Girl Scout cookies or raised money for an AIDS walk, you’ve been involved in the development process. Many nonprofit organizations and foundations hire people to manage these fundraising efforts.

As a Development Manager you might focus on one type of fundraising, such as online donations, membership, or grants. There’s always something to do to attract more funding, and your days as Development Manager may involve work such as analyzing trends from a database of donors, planning the content for a year-end email campaign, or setting up a program to encourage corporate giving.

A big part of your job is working with people. You may need to schmooze with potential donors or join in on meetings with the board of trustees. You may also find yourself supervising development staff or volunteers, strategizing with people in other departments, or acting as the Development Director ’s right hand man.

Although your position is one of the most important in the organization—the programs really can’t run without any money—you may not get tons of credit since you’re not as directly involved in carrying out the organization’s mission as some other staff members might be. Forget your ego, because in this job you’ll spend a lot of time singing the praises of other departments of your organization, thanking donors profusely, and wooing potential funders, so that your cause can keep marching on.