Associate Director, Campaign Strategy

Organizational Summary:

Playwrights Horizons is a writer’s theater committed to the advancement of bold and visionary contemporary playwrights. We carry out this mission through the development and production of daring new work and the education of future theatermakers. In a city rich with cultural offerings, Playwrights Horizons’ 55-year-old mission is unique among theaters of its size; the organization has distinguished itself by a steadfast commitment to centering the voice of the playwright. It’s a mission that is always timely, and one that’s necessary in the ongoing evolution of theater in this country. By expanding the U.S. theater canon with a wider range of voices, Playwrights Horizons aims to be a home for the exploration of playwriting and an anti-racist center of curiosity, dialogue, and artistic risk.

Reports to:

Director of Development

Supervises:

Individual Giving & Board Relations Associate, Development Operations Coordinator

Position Summary:

Playwrights Horizons, an award winning off-Broadway theater located in the heart of Manhattan, seeks an Associate Director, Campaign Strategy to sit at the intersection of research, prospect strategy, and frontline fundraising.

This is a position for a data-driven fundraiser who will play a major role in Playwrights Horizons' upcoming campaign while holistically supporting Individual Giving across the organization. The ideal candidate should be able to translate goals into an actionable pipeline, combining deep ownership of campaign and fundraising systems with meaningful direct donor relationships. This position also oversees two full-time direct reports and plays an active role in their mentorship and growth within the organization.

Responsibilities:

Campaign Strategy & Management

• Serve as strategic lead on campaign planning and execution, supporting the campaign roadmap, phasing, and prospect-to-goal modeling.
• Refine and maintain the case for support, gift-range chart, and campaign reporting frameworks.
• Track campaign progress against goal, forecast performance, and surface risk and opportunity to the Director and campaign leadership ahead of time.
• Manage a portfolio of 40–75 campaign prospects and donors, personally moving them through identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship toward five and six-figure campaign commitments.
• Carry primary solicitor responsibility for the mid-major gift tier, conducting face-to-face asks independently and as part of solicitation teams with the Director, Managing Director, and campaign leadership.
• Develop and execute individualized cultivation and solicitation strategies for each portfolio prospect, setting and meeting annual visit, ask, and dollar targets.
• Project manage the Director, leadership, board members, and campaign co-chairs on their solicitations while independently owning asks within their own portfolio.
• Secure and steward campaign gifts to completion, including pledge documentation, recognition, and ongoing engagement across the pledge period.

Prospect Research & Pipeline Development

• Conduct and oversee prospect research (wealth screening, biographical research, capacity/affinity ratings) to identify and qualify new major and campaign-level prospects
• Maintain prospect research standards, documentation, and ethical use guidelines across the department
• Maintain moves management tracking in Asana/CRM for campaign and board prospects, ensuring data integrity and consistent stage definitions
• Ensure Tessitura/CRM data supporting campaign and board work is accurate and reconciled against outside tracking documents

Board Relations Support

• Support board prospect cultivation strategy, including research, briefing materials, and moves tracking for board recruitment prospects
• Support board committee logistics and calendar coordination in partnership with the Director and Board Liaison

Team Supervision

• Directly supervise the Individual Giving Associate & Board Liaison and Development Operations Coordinator
• Serve as a mentor and professional development resource for both direct reports
• Coordinate workload across research, board relations, and operations functions to match campaign and department cycles

About You:

• 5–7 years development experience, including direct experience on a capital campaign
• Demonstrated success meeting or exceeding fundraising goals in a prior role
• Strong data and systems orientation
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to build and maintain timelines involving multiple stakeholders (staff, volunteers, committee members)
• Ability to synthesize data from multiple sources (wealth screening, giving history, personal relationships) into a coherent donor strategy
• Comfortable presenting information and recommendations to senior staff and/or board-level audiences
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with experience drafting donor-facing and board-facing materials
• Strong interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to build trust quickly with donors and colleagues

Bonus If You Have:

• Familiarity with or existing relationships in the NYC arts/theater community
• Direct experience with Tessitura (CRM)
• Familiarity with prospect research tools (e.g. DonorSearch, iWave, Lexis)
• Built or improved a moves management system from scratch
• Managed or mentored early-career development staff

Benefits & Compensation

Benefits:

Playwrights Horizons is committed to supporting the well-being of its staff and offers a comprehensive benefits package including 15 days of vacation, four personal days, 10 sick days, and many paid Holiday office closures. Employees have access to individual medical, dental, and vision coverage, with various plan options available through Oxford Health Plans. Playwrights Horizons partially subsidizes health and dental insurance and provides vision insurance at no charge to employees. Our benefits package further includes life insurance policy, a 403b retirement plan, and flexible spending accounts for medical, dental, and dependent care expenses. Other perks include an employee assistance provider (EAP), health reimbursement account, pre-tax transit benefits for transportation expenses, and complimentary and staff-rate tickets to our productions.

Salary:

The salary range for this position is between $75,000 - $100,000 per year, commensurate with experience.

Values Statement:

Playwrights Horizons is committed to building a more just future for everyone by employing a broad spectrum of voices that will enrich the quality and vitality of our work. Playwrights Horizons is an equal opportunity employer with a strong institutional commitment to inclusive practices.

The organization is interested in receiving applications from people with a wide variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.

The facilities at Playwrights Horizons are fully accessible and ADA compliant.

To Apply:

Qualified candidates are encouraged to submit a cover letter and resume to Kathleen Burke, Director of Development via our application portal HERE. No phone calls please

Full link to application; https://form.asana.com/?k=zexrqx3USc-gTCB9U-S2nw&d=17022989146991.

Priority Consideration Deadline: Friday, September 18, 2026 (applications received by this date will be reviewed first and guaranteed equal consideration). After September 18, applications will be accepted but considered only on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

We expect first round interviews to begin Mid-September. Semi-finalists will meet with Kathleen Burke, Director of Development, along with other members of the Development team, approximately late September or early October; with a final round aiming to be in mid to late October with the Managing Director Casey York, along with members of the staff, and Board. An offer is expected to be made by the beginning of November with an ideal start date of November 16, 2026.

Benefits:

Playwrights Horizons is committed to supporting the well-being of its staff and offers a comprehensive benefits package including 15 days of vacation, four personal days, 10 sick days, and many paid Holiday office closures. Employees have access to individual medical, dental, and vision coverage, with various plan options available through Oxford Health Plans. Playwrights Horizons partially subsidizes health and dental insurance and provides vision insurance at no charge to employees. Our benefits package further includes life insurance policy, a 403b retirement plan, and flexible spending accounts for medical, dental, and dependent care expenses. Other perks include an employee assistance provider (EAP), health reimbursement account, pre-tax transit benefits for transportation expenses, and complimentary and staff-rate tickets to our productions.