Director, Donor Services

Director, Donor Services  

The external/working title for this position is Director, Donor Services while the internal title for position classification is Manager, Donor Services. This position is responsible for a wide range of asset development and donor services activities with the primary goal of securing financial support for the Community Foundation, including current and planned gifts, and the ultimate goal of building permanent endowment for the region. The position interacts primarily with current and prospective donors, current and prospective nonprofit endowment partners, professional advisors, and other constituents as needed to steward these relationships for long-term growth opportunities for the Community Foundation. 

About the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan (CFSEM): 
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is a dynamic, full-service philanthropic organization dedicated to creating lasting, positive change across Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Washtenaw, Livingston, and St. Clair counties. Since its founding in 1984, CFSEM has distributed over $1.4 billion through more than 85,000 grants, supporting initiatives in education, health, the arts, economic development, and more. As a trusted convener and advisor, the Foundation builds endowments, fosters collaboration, and champions equitable access to opportunity—ensuring Southeast Michigan is a place where everyone can thrive 

Responsibilities: 

• Identify, research, cultivate and secure five- and six-figure gifts to meet established asset development goals. 

• Exercise sound judgment in securing gifts and managing existing relationships to meet the objectives of the donor while supporting the mission and operations of the Community Foundation. 

• Market a full range of gift vehicles and programs for major gift acquisition, including current and planned gifts. 

• Contact and meet with assigned donors to ensure satisfaction with services provided by the Community Foundation and secure additional gifts. 

• Serve as a partner in the Community Foundation’s annual giving campaign, leading efforts related to affiliate foundations.  

• Lead the fundraising, stewardship, and community engagement efforts, as well as the communication strategy for the Chelsea Community Foundation, and the Community Foundation for Livingston County. 

• Manage assigned events and engagement opportunities that expand the public’s awareness of the Community Foundation to attract new donors. 

• Participate in the life of the Community Foundation by attending appropriate events and programs, maintaining membership in key organizations, and participating in activities to expand the public’s awareness of the Community Foundation. 

• Perform other duties as assigned including participation in other activities as assigned by the Associate Vice President, Donor Services or Vice President, Donor Services. 

Qualifications: 

• A commitment to providing quality stewardship to all constituents, and the ability to develop positive working relationships with staff, trustees, donors, contractors, and community stakeholders.  

• Minimum of seven to ten years of experience in development with non-profit organizations or senior marketing experience. Knowledge of donor advised funds is a plus as is experience with endowment fundraising. 

• Strong technical proficiency and digital literacy required. Overall comfort with an ever-evolving technology landscape is a must. Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite is a plus as well as project management systems.  

• Experience in utilizing a CRM database for documenting, reporting and managing tasks is required. Experience with Salesforce is a plus. 

• Strategic and creative thinking  

• Exceptional written and verbal communications skills.  

• Strong people skills: ability to collaborate and work as part of a team.  

• Outstanding organizational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple deadlines and priorities. The ideal candidate is adaptable to changing priorities and able to drive progress despite ambiguity. Comfortable managing a diverse portfolio of projects with competing deadlines. 

• Passion, strong work ethic, self-motivated drive, and love of connecting resources to needs and opportunities.  

• Working knowledge of charitable gift planning techniques and willingness for continued learning of such techniques. Experience with Charitable Gift Annuities is a plus. 

• Desire to build a rapport with co-workers and a commitment to building deep knowledge of CFSEM, its constituents, lines of business, and stakeholders. 

• The ability to work a flexible schedule with some nights and weekend travel is required.  

 Core & Leadership Competencies:  

 Core Competencies: 

• Customer Focus - Prioritizes understanding and addressing the needs and expectations of our community and stakeholders. Demonstrates active listening, empathy, and responsiveness, with a consistent commitment to delivering exceptional service. 

• Plans and Aligns - Invests time in planning, discovery, and reflection. Engages in active mindfulness to identify and adjust mental shortcuts and assumptions. Seeks out diverse perspectives and experiences to test thinking, proactively anticipates reactions and multiple outcomes, and plans for potential issues and industry trends. 

• Collaborative - Works effectively with others—within the team and cross functionally—to achieve individual, departmental, and organizational goals. Values diverse input, shared accountability, and partnership as essential to producing strong outcomes. 

• Decision Making & Problem Solving - Simplifies complex challenges using critical thinking and sound judgment. Gathers and evaluates relevant information, incorporates multiple perspectives, identifies root causes, and determines practical, effective solutions. Applies an audience centric approach by considering the needs of stakeholders when making decisions and implementing solutions. 

 Leadership Competencies: 

• Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people up, down, across, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport with peers and leaders; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.  

• Leadership Professionalism: Exercises good judgement of what should be said to whom, where, and how.  Maintains confidentiality. Stamps out rumor mills. Contributes to constructive solutions. Encourages peers and staff to deal with challenges and opportunities head-on. Models the behavior we expect. Expresses views in the right rooms with the right people, avoids undermining decisions of others with words, actions, or body language. 

• Managerial Courage: Provides current, direct, complete and actionable feedback to others; Adroitly diagnoses people, process, practice, policy issues, and exercises good judgement in owning and addressing each in the right place and time. 

• Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams where needed, irrespective of reporting lines; creates strong morale and spirit within and across teams; shares wins and successes; creates a feeling of belonging; Presses in to understand the 'why' of decisions, then helps craft and own go-forward plans. 

 Benefits & Salary:  

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan offers a robust total compensation package The targeted salary for those entering this role is $83,000 - $104,000.  In addition to a competitive base salary, benefits include but aren’t limited to flexible schedule including a 4 ½ day work week, 20 days of vacation accrued monthly, 5 personal days, 11 holidays, 9 sick days accrued monthly, paid parental leave, and employer paid short/long term disability. 

The Community Foundation also offers a pension retirement program after 1 year of service which contributes 10% of salary. 

How to Apply

Internal applicants will be reviewed before external applicants and the deadline for all applicants is Friday, March 10, 2026 and those received before that deadline will take priority in our review process. 

Please send your cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to careeropportunities@cfsem.org. 

To provide equal employment opportunities to all individuals, employment decisions will be based on merit, qualifications and abilities without regard to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, height, weight, political or union affiliation, disability or any factor prohibited by law.