Development and Events Director

The Organization

As Washington D.C.’s premiere contemporary ballet company, Chamber Dance Project brings together soloist-level professional ballet dancers during their lay-off periods from major professional companies with our string quartet and other D.C.-based guest musicians.

Chamber Dance focuses on new and contemporary works and collaboration between dancers, musicians, designers, and guest artists across a wide spectrum of the arts. Their dancers come from nationally recognized companies such as Atlanta Ballet, Boston Ballet, BalletMet, Charlotte Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and The Washington Ballet. Their string quartet of distinguished DC-based musicians also performs with The National Symphony Orchestra, Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Wolf Trap Orchestra, Washington Concert Opera, and chamber ensembles.

Chamber Dance’s interactive programming includes pre-performance artist chats, open rehearsals, onstage workshops, evenings with the artists, film screenings, and educational programming.

Essential Responsibilities

Washington’s premier contemporary ballet company seeks a proactive, creative, personable and highly organized Development & Events Director to lead our fundraising and events initiatives. This 20-hour-per-week role requires outstanding interpersonal relations and a proven track record of fundraising with individual, corporate, government and foundation donors as well as extensive non-profit grant writing and reporting. This is an outstanding opportunity for an experienced professional looking for a high-impact role in the arts. 

Reporting to the Artistic Director, the Development & Events Director will:

• Fundraising Leadership: Develop, update and execute a comprehensive annual Development Plan, including individual, corporate, government, and foundation donor solicitation.
• Donor Communications Strategy: Overseeing the creation of “case for support” materials and ensuring a consistent voice across all development-related collateral.
• Membership Campaigns: Create and lead membership and other campaigns and the annual April gala and smaller programmatic events between September and June.
• Grant Management: Manage the full grant lifecycle, including research, grant writing, and reporting.
• Event Management: Plan and lead the annual April Gala, as well as smaller programmatic events from September–June.
• Prospecting & Stewardship: Work closely with the Artistic Team and Board to cultivate new Board members, lead our robust membership program, maintaina strong donor prospect list; cultivate new relationships, and enhance stewardship of existing donors to increase retention and giving level. Management of our CRM and oversight on staff working in it.
• Financial Management: Responsibility for creating and managing the annual development budget and projecting future revenue and analyzing fundraising trends to inform the Producing Artistic Director.
• Gift Processing Policies: Overseeing protocols for gift acceptance, processing, and acknowledgment, and ensuring the accuracy of donor records and the segmentation of lists for targeted appeals.
• Performance Metrics: Defining specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), such as donor retention rates and cost-per-dollar-raised, to measure success.
• Board & Staff Collaboration: Work closely with the Artistic Team, Marketing Director, Board Members and staff to educate on effective fundraising, and building a “culture of philanthropy” across the organization.
• Ethical Compliance: Ensuring all fundraising activities adhere to local, state, and federal regulations, as well as the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Code of Ethical Standards.

Qualifications, Skills and Knowledge Required:

The ideal candidate is a strategic leader who combines fundraising knowledge with exceptional relationship-building and leadership skills. They will be confident working with senior stakeholders, comfortable managing complexity, and passionate about driving results.

• Four-year college degree preferably in a related area
• Outstanding, compelling and personable personality in developing relationships with donors, board, community partners staff. Excellent speaking skills
• Three or more years of proven success in nonprofit fundraising, including at least one year in a leadership role
• Exceptional grant writing, reporting and stewardship abilities
• Substantial experience planning major events
• Passion for the performing arts (experience in dance or music preferred)
• Self-starter able to work autonomously in a hybrid environment

This is a Washington DC-based hybrid position, budgeted for an average of 20 hours each week for 48 weeks per year, typically in-office Tuesday through Thursday. Attendance at event openings, industry events, and business engagements is expected.