Description

Organization Summary: Sci-Tech Discovery Center is a nonprofit children’s STEAM museum located in the Frisco Discovery Center. The 14,500 sqft facility hosts over 40,000 guests annually and outreach/community programs boost the number served to over 65,000. Sci-Tech has experienced exponential growth over the last five years along with significant program success. The organization is now looking to support the increasing program opportunities by growing development with a focus on major gifts along with corporate sponsorships, the Discovery Fund, and grants.

Job Summary: The Director of Development is responsible for developing, leading and executing the museum’s comprehensive fundraising and advancement strategy. The position will have a primary focus on major gift fundraising along with individual and corporate giving, assisting with grant writing/tracking, and supporting membership growth/retention.

Essential Duties:

Major Gifts and Prospect Development:

• Build and grow major gifts program including portfolio development and management
• Identify and cultivate potential new donors with support from other development and operations staff for research, identification, prospecting, and stewardship
• Establish and evaluate giving levels, benefits, recognition opportunities, and engagement strategies to increase donor participation, retention, and support

Other Fundraising and Membership Support:

• Create and implement mission-based, donor-centric appeals distributed through a variety of channels, including personal contacts, direct mail, social media, newsletters, etc.
• Integrate the newly created Discovery Fund (an unrestricted fund that underwrites free and low-cost programs) into the overall development strategy
• Assist the Deputy Director in research of grant opportunities, application writing, tracking and reporting
• Serve as staff support for a board-run large-scale annual fundraising event and other small gatherings
• Collaborate with the Director of Operations to develop strategies to increase year-over-year membership numbers including retention rates as well as the conversion to individual donors

Development Management:

• Work with the Executive Director and Deputy Director in the development and execution of a comprehensive fundraising strategy in collaboration with the Board Development Committee
• Create and manage an annual development budget
• Utilize data to prepare development reports for board meetings, donors, and the broader community
• Collaborate with Sci-Tech leadership team to further refine and develop all systems needed to support fundraising data management, including but not limited to: database management, gift tracking, recognition, etc.
• Serve as primary oversight of monetary and in-kind donation processing and tracking
• Research local/regional/national funding sources and trends in fundraising to implement best practices
• Attend networking events to increase Sci-Tech connections within the local and corporate communities
• Other responsibilities as assigned

Requirements

Skills/Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in Development/Fundraising, Nonprofit Management, or other relevant fields
• Proven track record of major donor portfolio management and meeting annual fundraising goals
• Experience building, maintaining, and growing connections with donors/members, key community leaders, and STEAM industry professionals
• Knowledge of fundraising strategies, annual campaign management, gift processing, database management, and donor relations required
• Experience with capital campaigns and using innovative technology to support fundraising highly desired
• Grant writing, report creation, budgeting, and graphic design are a plus
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Sharepoint), Google Drive, and Canva
• Comfortable around an active work environment with children and noise as well as technology, machines, scientific tools, and animals including reptiles & arthropods
• Ability to move up and down stairs and carry up to 40 pounds is beneficial
• Bi- or Multi-lingual is a plus (English required, Spanish, ASL, Vietnamese, Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, or Mandarin preferred)

Key Competencies:

• Manage multiple tasks with limited oversight consistently
• Positive attitude, initiative, collaborative spirit, and reliability
• Ability to develop and refine systems
• Adaptable day-to-day and under pressure
• Passionate about nonprofits and community engagement
• Effective and professional communicator and presenter
• Cultural competency and knowledge of working with broad audiences

Status: Full-Time, Exempt, Approximately 40 hours/week
Reports to: Executive Director
Work Schedule: Primarily Monday through Friday, with occasional nights/weekends as needed for events/programs
Location: Hybrid with occasional local travel for programming or meetings
Compensation: Base Salary of $70,000, Medical/Vision/Dental Benefits, Flexible Schedule, Unlimited/Flexible PTO, Performance-based Bonus Pay
Other: Candidates are required to pass a basic background check and must have reliable transportation.