Senior Director of Development

Location: Remote U.S. Central High Plains (CO, KS, NE)

Delta Waterfowl is The Duck Hunters Organization, a leading conservation group founded in 1911. We work to produce ducks through intensive management programs and conservation of breeding duck habitat. Delta conducts vital waterfowl research and promotes and protects the continuing tradition of waterfowl hunting in North America.

Our Mission is to produce ducks and secure the future of waterfowl hunting.

Our Vision is abundant waterfowl and endless opportunities for hunters.

Deltas international headquarters is located in Bismarck, North Dakota. Currently, our dedicated team consists of almost 100 employees, of which about half work within our headquarters office and the other half work remotely throughout the US and Canada. Our organization has experienced tremendous growth over the last few years, and this is expected to continue. This is an exciting time for Delta as we look to the future, and we are looking for talented and skilled individuals who have a passion to perform meaningful work to join our team!

We are seeking a seasoned, major gift fundraising professional with experience prospecting, cultivating, soliciting and stewarding a relationship-based portfolio of 100 125 individuals, foundations, and corporate supporters. This position will focus on securing gifts and multi-year commitments of $10,000 - $1,000,000 to support Deltas 4 Pillars of: Duck Production, Habitat Conservation, Research & Education and Hunter Recruitment and Retention (Hunte R3). Additionally, this position will be responsible for actively identifying and securing planned/estate gifts in partnership with other Delta staff.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

1. Actively cultivate, solicit, and steward a major gift portfolio of 100-125 donor prospects to reach annual dollar and activity goals.
2. Identify and recruit new major donors/gift prospects to help support Deltas organizational mission.
3. Engage donors in conversations about their planned/estate gifts to reach annual Planned Giving goals.
4. Embrace the prescribed team donor moves management protocol following donor life cycle best practices.
5. Actively maintain constituent contact information and dynamic opportunity (solicitation) pipeline.
6. Record and update the daily prospecting, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship activities.
7. Annually create and follow relationship and solicitation maps for Top 20 major gift prospects.
8. Build deep, lasting relationships and trusted reputation through individual engagement and proper participation in community organizations, events, and other positive visibility opportunities.
9. Provide timely communications to major donors/prospects including research, program, and annual report updates as well as proper stewardship and acknowledgement activities.
10. Collaborate, share information, and support the work of fellow major gift solicitors.
11. Actively participate in development meetings, portfolio strategy meetings, and donor assignment meetings.
12. Engage Senior Leadership and (when appropriate) Board Members to best position the most appropriate and fulfilling donor solicitations.
13. Partner closely with others to best utilize and support the Chapter and banquet system network.
14. May take on additional responsibilities related to regional staff management and training, while continuing to manage a strong and active portfolio of supporters.
15. Work with development writers to draft written solicitations, proposals, gift agreements, and stewardship collateral as needed, as well as other duties as assigned.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

To perform this job successfully, the successful candidate must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. The successful candidate must be an initiative-taker who can work independently as well as part of a team and is driven to succeed. Familiarity with planned giving, experience with comprehensive fundraising campaigns, relationships in and a working knowledge of the regions philanthropic community, and an interest in outdoor conservation activities are also desired. The selected candidate should have the desire and ability to travel extensively within the state/ region and will be expected to live in a mutually agreed upon location (home office) within the assigned work area. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

1. Bachelors degree in Marketing/Business, Communications, Wildlife Science or related field and three or more years experience in major, planned, and principal gift fundraising and/or high net worth sales experience, focused on 1: 1 relationship-based close of gifts/sales of $10,000 to $1,000,000+.
2. Ability to identify major giving prospects, creatively secure face-to-face donor interactions, nurture the relationship to a solicitation and successfully move the relationship to a closed gift.
3. Innate, initiative-taking ability to help build and execute a donor portfolio management plan in a remote, matrixed working environment.
4. General knowledge and experience with estate planning and securing planned gift agreements.
5. Strong face-to-face presentation skills with individuals and small groups of sophisticated donors.
6. Ability to construct, articulate, and implement fundraising strategies and reports.
7. Strong written development communication skills, including proposal and grant preparation.
8. Excellent computer skills, including MS Office and donor CRM database experience.
9. A strong understanding of the giving pyramid moves management and how best to position timely solicitations for greatest benefit of both the donor and Delta will be important to the success of this position.
10. Must be able to travel and work evenings and weekends as needed.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES:

Please submit the following documents to jobs@deltawaterfowl.org:

• Cover Letter
• Resume
• Three Professional References

Application reviews will begin on October 17, 2025, and continue until we find a qualified candidate.

Delta Waterfowl Foundation is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

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