We're hiring a Development Director

Location: Durham, NC

Salary: $100,000 + Full Benefits

Reports to: Executive Director

Type: Full-Time, Exempt



To apply:

Send your resume, three references, and a brief note (not a cover letter) that genuinely answers: what is it about this moment at Hayti that makes this the right role for you right now?


Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. We are moving quickly. Send materials to info@hayti.org with Development Director in the subject line.


About Hayti

Hayti Heritage Center is Durham's living cultural memory. Housed in a 135 year-old National Historic Landmark, we are the arts and culture arm of the St. Joseph's Historic Foundation, the institute that has held the line in the Hayti District for fifty years.



We center Black artists. We pay artists for their work, every time. We produce programming that honors Black life as memory, imagination, critique, and joy. We are building toward an endowment, a transformed Fayetteville Street corridor, and a 2029 World University Games moment that will bring an international audience to our doorstep.



This is not a building that used to matter. This is an institution that matters now more than ever.



The Role

We are in the most ambitious development period in the organization's history, and we are building the infrastructure to match. The Development Director will own the major gift portfolio, lead individual donor cultivation and stewardship, and serve as the primary relationship manager for the donors and prospects who will share Hayti's next chapter.


This is a major gifts role at its core. We need someone genuinely adept at cultivation: identifying, qualifying, soliciting, and stewarding high net-worth individuals, family offices, and corporate partners who want to invest in what Hayti is building. If your strength is relationships and the discipline of moving a donor from first conversation to transformational gift, this is your role.


You will own the development function around you: the grant calendar, the 1975 Membership program, and the systems that keep it all moving. You will not do this alone. A Development Associate supports your research and gift operations. A Finance Director handles grant financial reporting. Marketing and Programming have defined roles in the work you lead. The Executive Director will be your primary co-steward on every relationship at $50K and above.


What you build from here is yours to shape.


What You Will Own

Major Gifts

  • A major gift portfolio of active relationships with documented contact history and a moves management calendar
  • All individual donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship for gifts of $25K and above
  • Pipeline development: identifying new prospects, qualifying them, and moving them through a disciplined cultivation process grounded in genuine relationship
  • A leadership role in the Hayti Fund's founding donor campaign: introducing the endowment narrative in major gift conversations and supporting the first multi-year commitments
  • Event-based cultivation: leveraging the gala, season programming, membership events, and board-hosted gatherings as development touch points, not just revenue events


Donor Engagement & Stewardship Structure

  • You acknowledge and steward all gifts of $25K and above personally
  • The Executive Director co-signs and stewards all gifts of $50K and above, in partnership with you
  • The Board Chair is engaged on all gifts of $100K and above, coordinated through you and the ED
  • Every major donor interaction is documented in our internal system within 24 hours


Grants

You own the grant function as a manager and strategist. This is not a grant writing role. Your job is to own the calendar, set the strategy, and ensure submissions are strong and on time, not to sit and draft applications.

  • Own the master grant deadline calendar and the overall grant strategy
  • Direct the Development Associate, who conducts prospect research and assembles application materials
  • Coordinate with the Artistic Director, who contributes programming content for arts and culture grants
  • Partner with the Finance Director on grant financial reporting
  • Own the final submission and the relationship with the funder


1975 Membership Program

  • Own the 1975 Membership program end to end: strategy, structure, and execution
  • Build and maintain the program's Neon CRM backend: membership tiers, benefits, profile questions, notifications, and email campaign sequences
  • Ensure Marketing and Programming complete their components on schedule: you own the overarching process they operate inside of
  • Report membership performance to the Fundraising Committee monthly


Development Operations

  • Own all donor relationships and donor data in Neon CRM
  • Oversee gift documentation, acknowledgment workflow, and reporting to the board's fundraising committee
  • Direct the Development Associate on gift processing, prospect research, and sponsorship fulfillment tracking



How you work with others

Development sits at the center of Hayti's growth. You will lead a small team and coordinate across every department.


The Executive Director

The Executive Director is your primary co-steward on every relationship at $50K and above, and is out in the community building the relationships that feed your pipeline. You meet weekly to review the pipeline, upcoming asks, and stewardship. You brief the ED before every major donor interaction.


The Development Associate

The Development Associate is your support engine: prospect research, gift processing, acknowledgment workflow, grant material assembly, and sponsorship fulfillment tracking. You direct the work; they implement it.


Marketing & Programming

You determine the content and cadence of donor communications; Marketing ensures brand alignment before anything goes out. Programming delivers the 1975 membership experiences and Marketing drives member communications, both operating inside the process you own.



Qualifications

You are, first and foremost, a major gift cultivator. You have at least three years of nonprofit development experience with meaningful major gift work, and you re not at the beginning of your career. You are actively building your network, portfolio, and fluency in navigating high net-worth relationships. You want to build something, not manage something that already exists.


  • Demonstrated major gift cultivation and solicitation experience, with gifts at $25K and above
  • A network that is actively growing
  • Strong interpersonal fluency in high net-worth spaces
  • CRM discipline and a genuine commitment to documentation
  • Ability to hold complexity: Hayti' story spans 157 years of history, a highway that cut through a community, 50 years of resilience, and a long-horizon vision for what this institution becomes next. You need to be able to carry that story and deploy it with precision for different audiences
  • Mission alignment: you understand what it means to center Black artists and the Black community, and you are not looking for a role that requires you to explain that to your employer


Experience in arts and culture organizations is a plus. HBCU background is a plus. Durham or Triangle ties are a plus. None of these are requirements.



Compensation & Benefits

Salary: $100,000 annually

  • Full benefits package, including health insurance and PTO


Performance Bonus: Tied to major gifts closed, multi-year commitments, and active portfolio depth. The structure is transparent, documented, and reviewed annually. Full details are shared during the interview process.