Senior Director, Development

Join MENTOR in shaping the future! We're seeking a passionate Senior Director, Development to fuel our mission of leading, expanding, and strengthening the mentoring movement, building capacity to make high-quality relationships accessible to all young people.

About MENTOR

MENTOR was created 35+ years ago to expand opportunity for young people by building a youth mentoring field and movement, serving as the expert and go-to resource on quality mentoring. The result — a more than 10x increase in young people in structured mentoring relationships, from hundreds of thousands to millions.

Today, we activate a movement across diverse and broad sectors that seeps into every aspect of daily life. We are connecting and fueling opportunity for young people everywhere they are, from schoolsto workplaces and beyond.

About the position

The Senior Director, Development (SDD) is a senior organizational leader responsible for setting and executing MENTOR’s comprehensive fundraising strategy and leading a development program that generates approximately $6–8 million annually. Reporting to the Chief Impact Officer and working closely with the CEO and executive leadership team, the SDD leads MENTOR’s institutional and individual giving strategies, oversees the development team, and builds enduring relationships with foundations, corporations, individual donors, and other funding partners.

The SDD will set clear revenue goals and priorities, strengthen and diversify MENTOR’s funding portfolio, and ensure disciplined execution across institutional giving, individual giving, donor engagement, grants management, and development operations. They will directly manage and develop the leaders responsible for institutional and individual giving, fostering a high-performing, collaborative team with clear accountability for results.

As a senior external representative of MENTOR, the SDD will personally cultivate and steward key funders and prospects, partner with the CEO and Board to expand MENTOR’s philanthropic relationships. The SDD will also collaborate across MENTOR to connect fundraising strategy with the organization’s broader priorities and strengthen fundraising capacity across the MENTOR Affiliate network.

Key responsibilities: Development Strategy & Revenue Growth

• Develop and lead MENTOR’s comprehensive fundraising strategy, establishing annual revenue goals and priorities to generate approximately $6–8 million annually and build a diverse, sustainable funding portfolio.
• Partner with the Executive Leadership Team to align fundraising strategy with organizational priorities and identify opportunities to grow and diversify revenue, including multi-year commitments and fee-for-service revenue.
• Set the strategic direction for the individual giving and major gifts program, managing the Manager, Individual Giving to strengthen the donor pipeline, deepen relationships, and grow individual giving.
• Set the strategic direction for institutional giving, managing the Manager, Institutional Giving to grow and diversify foundation and corporate portfolio, increase multi-year commitments, and expand sponsorship revenue, including for the National Mentoring Summit.
• Partner with MENTOR Affiliate leadership to deepen collaboration, align strategies, and strengthen Affiliate fundraising capacity through coaching, peer learning, professional development, and other resources.

Donor & Funder Relationships

• Lead the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of key institutional and individual donors and prospects, while ensuring thoughtful and differentiated stewardship strategies across giving levels.
• Build and maintain a strong prospect pipeline that expands philanthropic relationships and creates opportunities for long-term revenue growth.
• Partner with the CEO, Executive Leadership Team, and other organizational leaders to develop and advance relationships with priority donors, funders, and prospects.
• Engage MENTOR’s Board of Directors in fundraising strategy and support board members in opening doors, cultivating relationships, and leveraging their networks on behalf of MENTOR.
• Partner with External Affairs to ensure donor-facing communications, proposals, reports, and other materials clearly and compellingly communicate MENTOR’s work, priorities, and role in advancing the mentoring field.

Team & Organizational Leadership

• Lead, manage, and develop a high-performing development team spanning individual and institutional giving, donor engagement, grants management, partnerships, and development operations, establishing clear goals and accountability for results.
• Build development operations, systems, and processes to support effective pipeline management, revenue forecasting, data-informed decision-making, and team performance.
• Build a strong culture of philanthropy across MENTOR, equipping colleagues to participate meaningfully in cultivating and strengthening external relationships.
• Represent MENTOR with funders, philanthropic leaders, and other external stakeholders at strategic meetings, conferences, and events.
• Identify and advance opportunities to deepen the philanthropic sector’s engagement in mentoring and MENTOR’s broader field-building work.

Key qualifications

There are innumerable ways to learn, grow, and excel professionally. We respect this when we review applications and want to get to know you and the unique strengths and experiences you will bring. This said, we are most likely to be interested in your candidacy if you can demonstrate the majority of the qualifications and experiences listed below:

• 8+ years of experience with demonstrated success leading and growing the development function in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial nonprofit organization and creasing the use of technology
• Demonstrated experience leading a multi-million-dollar fundraising program, setting ambitious but achievable revenue goals, managing forecasts and pipelines, and holding teams accountable for results.
• Exceptional relationship-building skills. Success creating, stewarding, and expanding relationships with individual donors, corporations, and foundations
• Demonstrated success cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major individual, foundation, and corporate donors, including experience engaging senior executives, philanthropic leaders, and other high-level external stakeholders.
• Extremely collaborative and flexible approach, with an ability to both lead and support stakeholders’ efforts within a cohesive development plan
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to target a message to a variety of diverse stakeholders. Strong customer service orientation.
• Strong understanding of how marketing and development strategies work hand in hand to increase visibility and opportunity for organizations.
• Demonstrated success building or significantly expanding a major gifts program, including personally cultivating, soliciting, and securing individual gifts of $25,000 or more.
• Proven track record of growing unrestricted and general operating revenue, alongside restricted and program-specific funding.
• Experience partnering with board members and senior leadership to cultivate and solicit major donors, leverage networks, and advance strategic fundraising relationships.

MENTOR is a remote-first organization, prioritizing work-life harmony and flexible scheduling. Staff work virtually from any dedicated workspace with reliable internet, including our co-working space in Boston, Massachusetts. Occasional travel may be required for team meetings or company events, such as MENTOR’s annual National Mentoring Summit hosted in Washington, D.C. each January.

Compensation and benefits

The base salary for this Senior Director-level role ranges from $130,000 – $140,000, based on MENTOR’s salary bands established as a result of our latest compensation analysis. This salary range reflects our commitment to competitive compensation within the nonprofit sector, allowing opportunities for growth and advancement based on performance and experience. In addition to the base salary, MENTOR offers competitive benefits including health, dental, 403B, professional development fund, student loan repayment, vacation time, life and short- and long-term disability insurance, and more. The summary of the benefits can be found here.

Applying for this position

Please complete the application form with a cover letter, resume, and writing sample. We look forward to reviewing and responding to all applications received. We hope to have phone interviews in November 2026 with select candidates, followed by virtual interviews with the Chief Impact Officer. Select finalists will have interviews with other staff and leadership at MENTOR National, followed by a thorough reference check process and background check. This position is expected to start in January 2027.

If you have any questions, please contact info@mentoring.org.

Apply here: https://mentornational.teamwork.com/app/public/forms/01x4gRMCL35gO5OxmaQ9