Director of Development

Director of Development

Brooklyn, NY | Full-Time | 110,000–115,000

About Brooklyn Boatworks

Brooklyn Boatworks (BKBW) is a youth development nonprofit that uses the craft of wooden boatbuilding, hands-on STEM learning, sailing, and maritime exploration to help young people build confidence, develop new skills, and discover pathways for their futures.

For more than 20 years, Brooklyn Boatworks has transformed classrooms into workshops and New York City’s waterfront into a place for exploration and discovery. Each year, hundreds of students—many from under-resourced communities—build real, seaworthy boats, get out on the water, and connect what they are learning to future educational and career opportunities.

The Opportunity

Brooklyn Boatworks is looking for an experienced fundraiser and relationship builder to serve as our next Director of Development and help lead the organization into its next phase of growth.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Director of Development will lead and execute Brooklyn Boatworks’ fundraising strategy, with a particular focus on growing individual giving, major gifts, corporate partnerships, and institutional support.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who enjoys opening doors, meeting people, building relationships, making asks, and turning new supporters into long-term champions of an organization.

The Director of Development will inherit an established fundraising program and work closely with an engaged Executive Director, Board of Directors, and Resource Development Committee to expand Brooklyn Boatworks’ donor base and build a stronger, more diversified fundraising pipeline.

The Director will supervise a Development Coordinator, allowing them to focus significant time on the relationship-building and fundraising activities that drive revenue.

Brooklyn Boatworks has a $1.5 million revenue goal for FY2027, and the Director of Development will play a central role in achieving that goal and building the foundation for continued growth.

What You'll Own

Build Relationships and Grow Giving

• Build and manage a strong pipeline of prospective, current, lapsed, and major donors.
• Personally cultivate, solicit, and steward individual donors and major gift prospects.
• Identify new prospects and create strategies for turning introductions and initial interest into meaningful, long-term support.
• Develop strategies to increase donor retention, upgrades, and recurring support.
• Partner with the Executive Director and Board members on donor cultivation, meetings, solicitations, and stewardship.

Expand Corporate and Institutional Support

• Grow Brooklyn Boatworks’ network of corporate partners and sponsors.
• Identify and cultivate new corporate relationships that can lead to sponsorships, program support, employee engagement, and long-term partnerships.
• Oversee foundation, corporate, and government grant strategy, including prospecting, proposals, renewals, and reporting.
• Build and manage a strong institutional funding pipeline and calendar.

Lead Fundraising Strategy

• Develop and execute an annual development plan with clear goals, strategies, timelines, and accountability.
• Manage fundraising pipelines and forecasts across individual, corporate, foundation, government, event, and campaign revenue.
• Regularly assess progress toward revenue goals, identify gaps and opportunities, and adjust strategy accordingly.
• Bring new ideas and approaches to donor acquisition, engagement, stewardship, and revenue growth.

Engage the Board

• Partner with the Resource Development Committee and Board leadership to strengthen Board participation in fundraising.
• Give Board members clear and manageable ways to contribute through introductions, cultivation, stewardship, solicitations, and events.
• Prepare prospect strategies, fundraising updates, meeting briefings, and other materials that help the Board successfully engage donors.
• Help expand Brooklyn Boatworks’ network beyond existing relationships.

Drive Campaigns, Events and Donor Communications

• Lead fundraising strategy for annual appeals, campaigns, and fundraising events.
• Use events as opportunities to identify, cultivate, and steward donors and prospects—not simply as stand-alone fundraising activities.
• Develop compelling donor communications, appeals, proposals, sponsorship materials, and stewardship messages.
• Work with program staff to translate Brooklyn Boatworks’ impact, student stories, and outcomes into persuasive fundraising communications.
• Represent Brooklyn Boatworks with donors, funders, corporate partners, and other external stakeholders.

Build a Strong Development Operation

• Supervise and support the Development Coordinator, establishing clear priorities and opportunities for professional growth.
• Ensure the organization maintains strong systems for donor records, gift processing, acknowledgments, prospect management, pledge tracking, and follow-up.
• Maintain accurate and useful CRM data that supports relationship management and fundraising strategy.
• Work closely with finance, program, communications, and organizational leadership to ensure strong coordination across fundraising activities.

What Success Looks Like

During the first 12–18 months, the Director of Development will have:

• Built a clear, actionable fundraising strategy and pipeline tied to Brooklyn Boatworks’ revenue goals.
• Expanded the pipeline of individual and major gift prospects and personally moved relationships from cultivation to solicitation and stewardship.
• Developed new corporate relationships and increased corporate support.
• Strengthened relationships with existing donors while improving donor retention, upgrades, and engagement.
• Built a strong pipeline of institutional funding opportunities.
• Created clear and productive opportunities for Board members to participate in fundraising.
• Established consistent systems for tracking prospects, relationships, asks, and follow-up.
• Built an effective working partnership with the Executive Director and successfully managed and developed the Development Coordinator.

Who We're Looking For

We are looking for someone who is energized by both building relationships and building a development program.

The strongest candidates will bring:

• 5–8+ years of progressive nonprofit fundraising experience.
• A demonstrated track record of personally cultivating, soliciting, and closing individual gifts.
• Experience developing and managing a donor or major gift pipeline.
• Success in at least one additional fundraising area, such as corporate partnerships, foundation giving, government funding, or fundraising events.
• Confidence engaging donors, prospects, Board members, corporate leaders, and institutional funders.
• Strong writing and storytelling skills and the ability to translate organizational impact into a compelling case for support.
• Experience developing fundraising plans, setting revenue goals, and using data and pipelines to manage progress.
• Strong organizational and project-management skills with excellent follow-through.
• Experience using a CRM to support fundraising and relationship management.
• The ability to think strategically while also being willing to roll up your sleeves and execute.
• Experience supervising or mentoring development staff is strongly preferred.
• A genuine commitment to youth development and Brooklyn Boatworks’ mission.

We recognize that strong candidates may not bring every qualification listed above. If you are an experienced fundraiser who is excited about Brooklyn Boatworks’ mission and believe you can help us grow, we encourage you to apply.

Work Authorization: Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States. We are unable to provide visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Why Brooklyn Boatworks?

This is an opportunity to have a meaningful role in shaping the future of a distinctive, established New York City nonprofit.

The Director of Development will have significant ownership of Brooklyn Boatworks’ fundraising strategy and the opportunity to work directly with organizational and Board leadership to grow the network of people and institutions invested in our mission.

You will join an organization with more than 20 years of impact, a powerful hands-on program model, an engaged community of supporters, and significant opportunity to expand individual, corporate, and institutional giving.

Most importantly, the resources you help raise directly support opportunities for New York City young people to build something real, discover what they are capable of, and imagine new possibilities for their futures.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary: 110,000–115,000

Brooklyn Boatworks offers a comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) with employer match, and paid time off.

This is a full-time position based in Brooklyn, New York. Some evening and weekend work is required for donor meetings, events, and other organizational activities.

Brooklyn Boatworks is an equal opportunity employer and encourages candidates from diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply.

How to Apply

Please send a resume and cover letter to inquiries@brooklynboatworks.org.

In your cover letter, we encourage you to tell us briefly about a fundraising relationship or opportunity that you personally helped cultivate and grow.

Please do not apply through application portals.

Applications will be reviewed as they are received, and early applications are strongly encouraged.

Brooklyn Boatworks offers a comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) with employer match, and paid time off.