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Park is a college-preparatory day school for students in Pre-kindergarten through grade 12. Through a rigorous and progressive curriculum, our attention to whole child development instills in our students an inquisitiveness that builds essential skills and leads to success in college and beyond.
Park is an equal-opportunity employer and welcomes applications from all qualified professionals regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, gender, marital status, disability, religious or political affiliation, age, or sexual orientation.
Current Openings
- Director of DevelopmentExpand for MoreJob Type: AdministrationStart Date: 07/01/2025
Apply NowDescription: The Director of Development
The Park School of Buffalo is a college-preparatory day school for students in Pre-kindergarten and Montessori through Grade 12. Through a rigorous and progressive curriculum, our attention to whole-child development instills in our students an inquisitiveness that builds essential skills and leads to success in college and beyond.
Park is an equal-opportunity employer and welcomes applications from all qualified professionals regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, gender, marital status, disability, religious or political affiliation, age, or sexual orientation.
The Director of Development manages the School’s fundraising efforts and is responsible for planning and implementing a strategic fundraising plan to raise funds for the annual operations of the school. They work to increase revenue through grants and sponsorships, plan fundraising events, interact with former donors to encourage ongoing contributions and seek out opportunities for financial support, working closely with the Head of School and President of Park’s Foundation. The Director of Development provides support for capital campaigns and the School’s frontline fundraisers as they engage with major donors.
They also work with leaders from different areas of the school, developing and tracking strategies that can be used to secure funding and sponsorships. The successful candidate must possess exquisite organizational, record keeping, administrative and reporting skills. At the same time, they must be able maintain and cultivate positive relationships with donors as well all constituents of the school community. The Park School’s academic program instills a lifelong love of learning, growth and problem solving in its graduates. The Director of Development will be expected not only to be able to speak to this mission but also authentically embody it as a role model.
Requirements: Responsibilities:
- Collaborate with The Park School administrative team to develop and execute a fundraising plan that aligns with the Park’s organizational and strategic goals;
- Establish annual budgets and drive annual fundraising objectives for the short-term, long-term, and beyond
- Manage all aspects of the fundraising process, including capital campaign efforts and personnel selection
- Event planning, including organizing fundraising events such as the school’s annual auction, meat raffle, bingo, trivia night,, etc.
- Maintain positive relationships with donors and steward them to encourage continued contributions;
- Research and cultivate new and lapsed donors;
- Produce fundraising literature for donors and the public, and write, edit, and proofread other materials;
- Lead quantitative and qualitative evaluations of fundraising outcomes to inform future strategies
- Annual Fund: coordinate all aspects of the Annual Fund campaign based on a thorough, thoughtful plan to include creation of appeal materials (writing/graphic design), implementation of plans, personal appeals, working with volunteers to make appeals, tracking donations and statistics, and acknowledgement process;
- Gift/Pledge Acknowledgement Process: Ensure donors are thanked for their contributions in a timely manner with a personalized, gift-appropriate letter;
- Giving Day: plan and carry out Park’s Giving Day and all associated follow-up;
- Stewardship: devise a stewardship plan for each Leadership Donor and Leadership Prospect to be carried out throughout the year; assign, carry out, and track activities
- Serve as a liaison to the Board of Trustees, provide reports and analysis of fundraising progress, and work with Board members to raise money for Park
- Manage Raiser’s Edge (soon to be Veracross) database for the Development Office including gift/pledge entry, data updates, queries, lists, and reports;
- Monitor fundraising results and report progress to leadership;
- Serve as a trusted and positive partner to the Head of School and Foundation President;
- Manage other members of the Development Office so that they personally succeed and contribute to the overall success of the Park School.
Please send resume and the phone numbers of three references to:
Lisa Conrad, Head of School, at lconrad@theparkschool.org.