Coro New York Leadership Center develops leaders who are committed to strengthening New York City’s civic life and addressing the complex challenges facing our communities and institutions.
For more than four decades, Coro has provided rigorous, experiential leadership development programs that bring together leaders from government, nonprofit, business, philanthropy, and community-based organizations. Through programs including the Fellows Program in Public Affairs, Leadership New York, Neighborhood Leadership, Immigrant Civic Leadership Program, Workforce Systems Leadership Program, and customized leadership initiatives, Coro equips leaders with the skills, relationships, and perspectives necessary to lead effectively across differences, organizations, and sectors.
Coro’s extensive alumni network includes thousands of leaders working throughout New York City’s public, private, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors.

Coro seeks an experienced, strategic, and results-oriented Director of Development to lead and significantly expand the organization’s individual giving and major gifts program.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Director of Development will develop and execute strategies to increase contributed revenue, expand Coro’s donor base, strengthen alumni philanthropy, develop corporate partnerships and sponsorships, and build a sustainable pipeline of major donors.

A central priority will be significantly expanding individual giving. The Director will manage a portfolio of approximately 75–100 major donors and prospects, with an emphasis on gifts of $10,000 and above, and will be expected to build Coro’s individual major gifts program to generate at least $1 million annually within three years.

This is a senior, frontline fundraising position requiring both strategy and execution. The Director must be comfortable building relationships, making direct solicitations, developing donor strategies, engaging Board members and alumni, and being accountable for ambitious fundraising goals.

Major Gifts & Individual Giving

• Develop and execute a comprehensive individual and major gifts strategy aligned with Coro’s annual and long-term fundraising goals.
• Manage a portfolio of approximately 75–100 major donors and prospects.
• Identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward individuals capable of making gifts of $10,000 and above.
• Personally conduct donor meetings and major gift solicitations.
• Develop customized strategies based on donors’ interests, relationships with Coro, philanthropic priorities, and giving capacity.
• Increase the number of new, renewed, and upgraded major gifts.
• Build a sustainable pipeline of five-, six-, and ultimately seven-figure prospects.
• Develop compelling proposals, cases for support, donor communications, and stewardship materials.

Prospect Development & Alumni Philanthropy

• Build a qualified major gift pipeline of at least $2 million during the first year.
• Identify and qualify new prospects through Coro’s alumni, Board, corporate, civic, and community networks.
• Develop a comprehensive strategy for increasing philanthropic participation among Coro alumni.
• Identify high-capacity alumni and create pathways for them to become annual, leadership-level, and major donors.
• Leverage alumni and Board relationships to generate introductions to prospective donors and corporate partners.
• Create meaningful opportunities for donors and alumni to engage with Coro’s programs, participants, leadership, and impact.

Corporate Partnerships & Sponsorships

• Develop and expand relationships with corporate partners aligned with Coro’s mission and programs.
• Identify sponsorship opportunities connected to Coro programs, events, convenings, and organizational initiatives.
• Cultivate relationships with corporate executives who may become partners, sponsors, donors, or connectors to prospective supporters.
• Develop sponsorship proposals and customized corporate engagement opportunities.
• Partner with the Executive Director and Board to leverage corporate relationships and networks.

Executive Director & Board Partnership

• Serve as the Executive Director’s primary strategic partner on individual fundraising and donor development.
• Prepare donor research, briefing materials, solicitation strategies, and recommended next steps for high-priority prospects.
• Partner with Board members to identify and cultivate prospective donors within their networks.
• Equip Board members to make introductions, participate in donor cultivation, and support solicitations.
• Provide regular reports on fundraising performance, pipeline development, revenue projections, and opportunities.

Development Operations & Stewardship

• Establish disciplined prospect-management and moves-management practices.
• Maintain accurate donor information, activity, projections, and next steps in Coro’s CRM.
• Track key performance indicators, including revenue, donor meetings, qualified prospects, solicitations, retention, upgrades, and pipeline value.
• Develop regular fundraising forecasts and reports for the Executive Director and Board.
• Create effective donor cultivation and stewardship strategies, including events, program experiences, leadership conversations, and personalized communications.
• Strengthen the systems and infrastructure necessary to support Coro’s long-term fundraising growth.

Fundraising & Performance Goals

The Director of Development will have clearly defined annual financial and performance goals.

First-Year Priorities

• Generate approximately 500,000–750,000 in new, renewed, and increased major gifts, with a $1 million stretch goal.
• Establish a qualified major gifts pipeline of at least $2 million.
• Build and actively manage a portfolio of approximately 75–100 qualified donors and prospects.
• Identify and qualify at least 40 new major gift prospects.
• Secure approximately 10–15 new donors at the $10,000+ level.
• Maintain an annual major donor retention rate of at least 85%.
• Establish an alumni philanthropy strategy and significantly increase Board participation in fundraising.
• Strengthen Coro’s development systems, forecasting, and donor-management practices.

Three-Year Goal

The Director will be expected to build Coro’s individual major gifts program to generate at least $1 million annually, supported by a qualified pipeline of approximately 3–4 million or greater and a growing base of donors at the $10,000, $25,000, $50,000, $100,000+ and transformational-gift levels.

The Director of Development will be eligible for an annual performance-based incentive of up to 10% of base salary, subject to individual performance, Coro’s overall financial performance, and approval by the Executive Director and/or Board as appropriate.

Performance will be evaluated through a balanced scorecard that considers revenue generated, portfolio and pipeline growth, new and upgraded donors, donor retention, alumni philanthropy, corporate partnerships, Board engagement, and development infrastructure.
Performance incentives will not be calculated as a percentage of individual contributions or gifts raised.

Required

• Minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in nonprofit development, fundraising, advancement, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success developing and executing fundraising strategies and achieving ambitious revenue goals.
• Proven experience managing a portfolio of individual donors and prospects.
• Demonstrated success cultivating, soliciting, and closing five-figure major gifts.
• Experience developing individual giving, major gifts, corporate partnerships, sponsorships, or related contributed-revenue strategies.
• Experience partnering with executive leadership and Board members on fundraising and donor engagement.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships with high-net-worth individuals, senior executives, civic leaders, Board members, alumni, and other senior stakeholders.
• Strong knowledge of major gifts, prospect development, moves management, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Exceptional written, verbal, organizational, and relationship-management skills.
• Experience with CRM systems, prospect research, fundraising reporting, and pipeline management.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.

Preferred

• Demonstrated success securing six-figure individual gifts.
• Experience building or significantly expanding a major gifts program.
• Strong knowledge of New York City’s nonprofit, corporate, philanthropic, government, and civic sectors.
• Experience developing alumni giving programs, corporate partnerships, sponsorships, or fundraising events.
• Familiarity with leadership development, civic engagement, workforce development, economic development, or community-based organizations.

Coro New York Leadership Center is an equal opportunity employer. Coro is committed to maintaining an inclusive workplace and considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Submit your resume and your cover letter, including salary requirements, what interests you in the position at this point in your career, and what you hope to learn from working at Coro, via email to people@coro.nyc.