Email cover letter and resume to Info@nashuapal.com.
The Director of Development & Community Engagement serves as Nashua PAL’s lead relationship and opportunity builder, responsible for connecting people, resources, and ideas to advance PAL’s mission of Kids, Cops, & Community.
This position leads PAL’s overall fundraising and development activities, including individual giving, major gifts, corporate partnerships, sponsorships, donor cultivation, events, and stewardship. Just as importantly, the Director is responsible for expanding PAL’s network of relationships and turning those relationships into opportunities for PAL youth, programs, and the organization.
The Director will work across PAL’s programs, including youth programming, athletics, events, volunteer engagement, and community partnerships, to better connect the many people who interact with PAL to the larger organization and mission.
This is a highly relational position. The successful candidate will be someone who enjoys meeting people, opening doors, making connections, following opportunities, and helping others find meaningful ways to become part of PAL.
Reports To: Executive Director
Supervises: Events & Engagement Manager; Volunteer Coordinator; other assigned development/engagement staff
Salary: $75-100K
Benefits:
- Flexible paid time off for vacation and sick time, coordinated with your supervisor to ensure appropriate program and youth coverage.
- Individual Retirement Account IRA with an employer match of up to 3%.
- Work-from-home flexibility, based on an agreed-upon schedule and the needs of youth programming, meetings, and other in-person responsibilities.
- Short & Long-Term Disability.
Who is Nashua PAL?
Nashua PAL is not a quiet little nonprofit.
We’re a $2 million organization serving more than 2,500 young people every year, powered by an incredible mix of kids, staff, police officers, volunteers, donors, businesses, families, and community partners who believe young people deserve people in their corner.
On any given day, PAL might look like an afterschool program, a packed gym, a mentoring conversation, an officer shooting hoops with kids, a teenager finding their first job, a family getting connected to help, or a community coming together around something bigger than themselves.
That’s PAL. Kids. Cops. Community. And it works.
We’ve built something special in Nashua, and we’re not interested in standing still.
We have strong community support, successful fundraising events, generous donors, committed business partners, and a reputation built through decades of showing up for kids. We’re looking for a leader who can take all that energy and help us think bigger.
The Director of Development & Community Engagement will lead PAL’s fundraising and relationship building strategy outside of grants, strengthening the relationships we already have, opening doors to new ones, and helping more people discover why supporting PAL is one of the most rewarding things they can do in this community.
This is not a sit-behind-a-desk fundraising job. It’s a get out there, meet people, tell great stories, build real relationships, dream up big ideas, and invite people to be part of something awesome kind of job.
If you love people, aren’t afraid to ask, get energized by ambitious goals, and believe relationships can change the trajectory of a young person’s life, you might fit in pretty well around here.
Key Responsibilities
Fundraising & Development
- Lead and implement Nashua PAL’s overall fundraising and development strategy in partnership with the Executive Director.
- Develop and manage a year-round fundraising plan designed to meet PAL’s annual revenue goals and support long-term organizational growth.
- Build and maintain a strong pipeline of individual donors, major gift prospects, corporate partners, sponsors, and other supporters.
- Personally cultivate, solicit, and steward donors at all levels, including major gifts.
- Develop strategies to move supporters from initial involvement to deeper engagement and increased giving.
- Lead corporate giving, sponsorship, annual giving, donor stewardship, and other fundraising initiatives.
- Work closely with the Executive Director on PAL’s highest-level donor and community relationships.
- Help prepare the Executive Director and Board members for donor meetings, introductions, solicitations, and follow-up.
- Ensure consistent and meaningful donor stewardship throughout the year.
- Establish measurable fundraising goals and regularly report progress, opportunities, and challenges to the Executive Director.
Relationship & Opportunity Development
- Serve as one of Nashua PAL’s primary external ambassadors and relationship builders.
- Develop relationships with businesses, community leaders, donors, foundations, civic organizations, law enforcement partners, volunteers, alumni, families, and other potential PAL supporters.
- Actively seek out new relationships and opportunities that can bring funding, volunteers, expertise, programming, experiences, or other resources to PAL.
- Attend community events, networking opportunities, meetings, and other activities where PAL should have a presence.
- Maintain consistent follow-up with PAL contacts and ensure promising relationships continue to move forward.
- Create systems for tracking relationships, opportunities, donor activity, and next steps.
- Look beyond immediate fundraising opportunities to identify relationships that can create long-term value for PAL and PAL youth.
Events, Communications & Engagement Leadership
- Supervise and support the Events & Engagement Manager and fundraising committees.
- Establish overall strategy and priorities for PAL’s fundraising events and community engagement activities.
- Work with the Events & Engagement Manager to develop sponsorship strategies, increase event revenue, strengthen community participation, and create excellent experiences for donors and guests.
- Ensure PAL events support larger donor cultivation and relationship-building goals.
- Help identify compelling stories, people, programs, and results that demonstrate PAL’s impact.
- Coordinate with staff responsible for social media, newsletters, website content, press relations, and donor communications to maintain consistent messaging and engagement.
Athletics & Sports Engagement
- Build strong working relationships with PAL’s Volunteers, especially athletics (coaches, parents, and other athletic partners), with an eye on efficient growth and opening conversations of support.
- Identify sponsorships, volunteers, partnerships, fundraising opportunities, and community resources that strengthen PAL sports programs.
- Work with the Events & Engagement Manager to identify opportunities for athletics to play a greater role in PAL events, communications, social media, and community engagement.
- Help create opportunities for athletes, families, coaches, and sports supporters to become more deeply engaged with PAL.
- Support the growth of PAL athletics through relationship building and resource development while leaving day-to-day athletic operations with the Volunteer Athletic Director under the current structure.
Connecting PAL’s Community
PAL has many different entry points: afterschool programs, athletics, events, volunteers, police partnerships, businesses, donors, families, and community organizations. The Director will help ensure these groups are connected to the broader PAL mission.
- Develop strategies to deepen the relationship between PAL and people already participating in or supporting PAL programs.
- Work with staff and volunteer leaders to identify parents, coaches, alumni, volunteers, businesses, and community members who could become stronger PAL supporters.
- Create pathways for people to move from participant → volunteer → advocate → partner → donor, when appropriate.
- Help PAL programs identify and leverage community relationships that can benefit young people.
- Ensure that opportunities and relationships discovered in one part of PAL are shared across the organization.
Volunteer Engagement
- Supervise the Volunteer Coordinator and help establish priorities for PAL’s overall volunteer strategy.
- Develop opportunities to engage individuals, businesses, civic groups, law enforcement, alumni, parents, and other community members as volunteers.
- Help identify volunteers who may have the capacity or interest to become donors, sponsors, ambassadors, board prospects, or other long-term PAL supporters.
- Encourage strong coordination between volunteer engagement, events, athletics, fundraising, and PAL programs.
- Help create a volunteer experience that strengthens people’s connection to PAL and encourages continued involvement.
Team Leadership
- Provide leadership, coaching, direction, and accountability to the Events & Engagement Manager and Volunteer Coordinator.
- Establish clear goals and expectations while giving team members appropriate ownership of their areas.
- Support the professional growth and leadership development of team members.
- Maintain strong communication and collaboration among development, events, communications, volunteers, athletics, and program staff.
- Build a culture that values relationships, creativity, follow-through, teamwork, and opportunity.
Partnership with the Executive Director
The Director of Development & Community Engagement will work closely with the Executive Director as a partner in growing PAL’s relationships and resources.
The Executive Director will maintain key organizational, community, and major donor relationships, while collaborating to maximize opportunities for growth. Our goal is to expand PAL’s relationship network, develop new opportunities, maintain consistent cultivation and follow-up, and connect through intentional relationships when involvement can help move an opportunity forward.
The right candidate will demonstrate great talent to independently cultivate and solicit donors, including major gifts, while recognizing when a relationship or opportunity would benefit from the involvement of Board members and/or other PAL leaders.
What Success Looks Like
Success in this position means that:
- PAL meets or exceeds its annual fundraising goals.
- PAL’s donor base grows in both number and level of giving.
- New major donors, corporate partners, sponsors, and community relationships are consistently being developed.
- Existing donors receive meaningful and consistent cultivation and stewardship.
- PAL has a healthy pipeline of relationships and opportunities.
- PAL events increasingly produce both revenue and long-term relationships.
- Volunteers have clear pathways to become more deeply involved with PAL.
- PAL athletics are increasingly connected to PAL’s fundraising, communications, volunteer, and community engagement efforts.
- Opportunities discovered in one PAL program are shared and leveraged across the organization.
- The Development and Volunteer team members receive strong leadership and continue to grow professionally.
- More people throughout Greater Nashua understand PAL, feel connected to PAL, and want to become part of its mission.
Qualifications & Characteristics
The ideal candidate will:
- 5+ years of progressive nonprofit development/fundraising experience required, with Director-level or comparable leadership experience. Demonstrated experience in fundraising, development, donor relations, community engagement, sales, business development, nonprofit leadership, or a related field.
- Be a strong storyteller who can translate program impact into compelling donor communications, conversations, appeals, and presentations.
- Experience with Salesforce and BetterUnite preferred; comfort learning and using fundraising technology and data is essential.
- Be an exceptional relationship builder who genuinely enjoys meeting and connecting people.
- Be a team player who jumps in when help is needed.
- Be comfortable initiating conversations with prospective donors, businesses, and community leaders.
- Have strong communication, organization, and follow-through skills.
- Be able to see connections and possibilities that others may miss.
- Be comfortable supervising and developing staff, and be able to connect with people from diverse backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and working and learning styles.
- Be entrepreneurial and willing to create new opportunities.
- Understand that strong fundraising begins with strong relationships.
- Be comfortable representing PAL throughout the community, including occasional evening and weekend activities.
- Be comfortable working in a fast-paced, growing organization. Please note, our offices are located within an active youth afterschool program, so enjoying the energy and enthusiasm of young people is a must!
- Believe deeply in the potential of young people and PAL’s mission of Kids, Cops, & Community.
The Opportunity
This position is about more than raising money.
Nashua PAL has relationships throughout the community – kids, families, police officers, coaches, volunteers, businesses, donors, schools, nonprofits, and community leaders. The Director of Development & Community Engagement is responsible for helping connect those dots.
The goal is simple: bring more people into the PAL family, deepen those relationships, and turn those relationships into opportunities for kids and our community.
Interested Candidates should submit a resume and cover letter to nashuapal.com/jobs
Questions regarding the position can be sent directly to Nashua PAL Executive Director – Shaun Nelson, shaun@nashuapal.com. We all look forward to meeting the most qualified people for this position.
