Director/Associate Director of Development

Position Title: Director/Associate Director of Development

Reports To: Executive Director

Hours: Full-Time-Exempt, Typically Monday – Friday, 9am – 6pm (with exceptions)

Work Location: Hybrid/Onsite

Date of Announcement: Feb 3, 2025*

• Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

About Dance Loft on 14

Dance Loft on 14 is a performing arts center in Ward 4 in Washington, DC. Guided by the belief in dance as a powerful means for cultural and social transformation, we catalyze and expand access to the arts. We envision a city where local performing artists thrive, homegrown performances are showcased, and dance is fully accessible. To serve this goal, our organization operates two interrelated initiatives: our Dance Loft on 14 arts center and its associated programs, and our professional MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet company. We serve artists and audiences through classes, programs, and accessible and affordable rehearsal and performance space, catalyze and commission new dance work, and promote broad and diverse access to performing arts and arts education for all.

Further, Dance Loft is a visionary organization helping to create a sustainable and inclusive DC. Dance Loft is planning a future redevelopment of its space into a net-zero energy performing arts complex that will include 100 units of affordable housing here in DC.

About the Role

The Director/Associate Director of Development is a new role on the Dance Loft team and is responsible for bringing implementation and expansion to Dance Loft’s growing number of fundraising and communications activities. (The candidate’s prior experience will determine the title of Associate Director or Director). This position is both strategic and tactical, as it is responsible for updating, managing, and executing Dance Loft’s annual Development, Stewardship, and Communication plans. The ideal candidate has a clear grasp of all core components of development, including individual contributions and stewardship, annual and online giving campaigns, corporate partnerships/funding, special events, and grant writing. This role requires experience managing development operations, including CRM management, budget-building, and gift-processing.

This position will provide day-to-day supervision to the Development and Community Engagement Manager. The position reports to and works closely with the Founder and Artistic/Executive Director. These three positions together make up the Development Team at Dance Loft. The new hire will also partner across the full Dance Loft team to promote an organizational culture of philanthropy.

This position is a full-time, 40 hour per week job with a hybrid location – remote and on-site at the Dance Loft each week. The salary range for this position is $62,000 - $72,000 per year. Prior experience will determine the title of Associate Director or Director, and the salary within this range.

The Director/Associate Director of Development should have availability evening and weekend hours for monthly performances and external engagements. Typical hours are M-F from 9-5 or 10-6.

The Director/Associate Director of Development can expect his/her/their work to include:

Leadership and Strategy:

• Manage and execute Dance Loft’s Development Plan and Stewardship Plan to achieve annual revenue goals. Update these plans yearly with new ideas, industry best practices, and data-driven analysis. Ensure these Plans align with and are in service of evolving organizational goals.
• Ensure a robust gift pipeline big enough to hit annual revenue goals by actively managing prospective and current donors, foundations and other funders solicited via proposals, grant applications, multiple appeals, and other fundraising activities.
• Envision, draft, and finalize strong and focused Cases for Support. Actively engage with and gather stories from/about Dance Loft community members for use in development communications.
• Develop creative and mission-focused fundraising messaging that effectively articulates the special role and impact of Dance Loft in the community
• Project manage the ED’s fundraising work, directing her where and how best to spend her time and efforts on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis
• Lead development team weekly and monthly meetings.

Individual Fundraising, Donor Relations and Stewardship

• Lead design, execution, and evaluation of all annual direct response campaigns focused on developing new donors and retaining existing mid-level and smaller dollar donors.
• Lead strategy, execution, and evaluation of Dance Loft fundraising events, including building out specialized sponsorship models that appeal to both individuals and corporations.
• Serve as the primary contact for mid-level individual donors.
• Work closely with leadership to determine moves management plans for mid-sized and major funders.
• Ensure consistent and creative donor stewardship.
• Manage the execution of Dance Loft’s donor Stewardship Plan, and update it annually with new and meaningful ways to connect donors and foster a sense of community.
• Collaborate with the Marketing Manager on the optimal design and content for a donor-focused annual report, and donor-specific email newsletters.

Grant Opportunities

• Manage Dance Loft’s grants calendar, adding new opportunities regularly.
• Craft thoughtful, tailored, and strategic grant requests, working with in-house teams to ensure punctual submission. This may also include managing a contracted grant writer.
• Conduct prospect research to ensure that Dance Loft has a robust pipeline of local, regional, and national grants to pursue. Draft outreach for ED to cultivate new foundation funders.
• Track all grant work in Dance Loft’s CRM to ensure all grant opportunities and tasks are current and well-detailed

Development Operations and Revenue Tracking

• Create a regular progress-to-goal report and development dashboard
• Guide Development Manager as she conducts weekly gift processing and acknowledgements
• Work with the Development Manager and Dance Loft on fundraising data input and ensure accuracy in development records in Dance Loft’s CRM
• Routinely update how-to documentation to codify and safeguard systems

Skills and Requirements to Foster Success

• 4-7 years of experience working in nonprofit development with a track record of leading increases in philanthropic revenue year-over-year.
• Experience working from, and preferably writing, a development plan
• Outstanding verbal and written communication
• Demonstrable experience as a fundraising generalist, with hands-on practice at institutional giving/grant writing, major gifts, annual giving, corporate partnership building, special events, direct mail, and online giving campaigns
• Masterful project management skills and with a knack for working backwards from a deadline to create a plan. Accustomed to working on multiple projects with different deadlines simultaneously.
• Enthusiasm and ability to work quickly and efficiently, diving into each week’s tasks with a genuine desire to get things done and the gusto to pursue and achieve ambitious results.
• While some delegation to others is expected in a team environment, this position will undertake the bulk of the development work mentioned above, not simply delegate to others.
• A strong self-motivator. This position requires the integrity to hold oneself accountable for adherence to the processes, steps, and deliverables that will achieve the development goals.
• Experience undertaking and improving development operations, ranging from CRM management to budget monitoring to gift processing
• Enthusiasm to propose fresh ideas without prompting by leadership, openness to feedback on those ideas, and persistence to bring those ideas to life
• Engaging, inquisitive, and thoughtful style of interpersonal relationships, including with donors, potential donors, and colleagues
• A stickler for details and quality
• A caretaker of sensitive information about donors, Dance Loft members, etc.

Preferred requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree preferred
• Supervisory experience
• Enthusiasm for dance and the arts
• Enthusiasm for affordable housing, climate policy, and/or renewable energy

About Compensation and Benefits

• Salary range $62,000 - $72,000, commensurate with experience
• Unlimited access to Dance Loft Classes, Events and Workshops
• Full health benefits, including dental and vision
• 401(k) retirement plan and match
• Vacation policy

To Apply:

Interested applicants should send an email to hiring@danceloft14.org with “Director/Associate Director of Development” in the subject line and include:

• A cover letter that includes available start date
• Resume
• Individual-giving focused writing sample solely authored by the candidate, such as an appeal or acknowledgement letter

Dance Loft does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, gender, marital status, disability, or status as a US veteran.