Development Manager

BJC, a national, faith-based organization that educates and advocates for everyone’s faith freedom, seeks a motivated development professional to join its team. The Development Manager is a full-time position responsible for strengthening and growing BJC’s fundraising efforts by building and managing relationships with key donor constituencies and managing the fundraising CRM.  

Reporting to the Director of Development, this position will work closely with the communications team to create meaningful engagement opportunities for monthly and micro-level donors while identifying and cultivating prospects in all donor segments. The position will play a critical role in donor retention and upgrade strategies, helping more supporters feel connected to the organization.  

Roles and Responsibilities 

Donor Acquisition and Retention – 65%  

• Entry Level Donors: Cultivate and steward a portfolio of donors who give less than $1,000 per year with personal outreach (i.e. calls, emails, visits, invitations) to deepen their connection to BJC. 

• Monthly Donors: Cultivate and steward a portfolio of donors who give monthly at all levels with personal and institutional outreach, including but not limited to:  

• Build and execute a strategy to increase the number of monthly donors and the total amount of funds raised by monthly donations. 

• Steward members of the FaithFULL community through phone calls and other personal communications on a regular basis. 

• Communicate to the FaithFULL community through a targeted monthly email communication.  

• Work with the Director of Development to coordinate contacts and messaging, and, as appropriate, to transition donors to major gift portfolios.  

• Assist the Director of Development in setting strategic direction for fundraising and donor stewardship. Specific duties may include helping create an annual calendar of fundraising activities, planning and coordination of the BJC Luncheon, development of departmental goals, and direction of the Religious Liberty Council. 

Gift Entry and Data Management – 25%  

• Gift Entry and Financial Recordkeeping 

• Enter all gifts into CRM (EveryAction) including but not limited to checks, online donations, electronic transfers, and stocks 

• Maintain donor tribute record-keeping for gifts made in honor of/in memory of individuals, including sending acknowledgements to the person or family honored.  

• Liaison with accounting contractors and ensure development financial information is up to date and accurate. Assist in the monthly reconciling of the donor database and the financial system. Work collaboratively with outside accountants to complete monthly financial bookkeeping. 

• Pull donation acknowledgments and transfer them to the Director of Development from the database weekly for signing and mailing to donors. 

• Produce and send annual gift statements to constituents who require them. 

• Develop process guides and ensure staff and intern training on database usage. Work with BJC staff to ensure their contacts with donors and prospects are recorded in the donor database. 

• Perform routine administrative tasks in EveryAction including but not limited to record updates, de-duping, and interaction updates. 

• Train staff and serve as an internal resource for EveryAction questions pertaining to development and fundraising.  

• Maintain and update the internal EveryAction manual to ensure clean data. 

Development Operations – 10% 

• Provide excellent customer service, anticipating and exceeding the needs of our customers: donors, volunteers, and staff. 

• Handle incoming and outgoing mail for the development team. 

• Participate in answering the phone line.  

• Work directly with the Director of Communications in setting, directing, and implementing digital marketing communications for fundraising purposes. These communication platforms may include email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok, as well as other new or innovative platforms. Particular focus will be on acquiring and sustaining support from smaller gift donors. 

• As needed, serve on cross functional teams. 

Qualifications/Requirements 

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience. 

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to build authentic relationships with donors and colleagues. Comfortable engaging supporters through written communications, phone calls, virtual meetings, and in-person interactions.  

• Strong technical proficiency with donor management software (EveryAction preferred), Microsoft Office, and Google products. Ability to use and interpret data to track donor activity, manage portfolios, and inform outreach strategies.  

• Exceptional organizational and project management skills, with a strong attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and donor relationships simultaneously. 

• Collaborative, creative, and solution-oriented approach to work.  

Preferred 

• 1-2 years of experience in a similar role, within a nonprofit organization 

Who We Are 

Rooted in a Baptist commitment to soul liberty, BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty) is building a movement toward a just society that cultivates and expands religious freedom for all.    

Now in our 90th year, BJC brings our uniquely Baptist perspective to protecting religious liberty for all and defending the separation of the institutions of religion and government. We advocate for faith freedom for all in some of the most contentious and complicated moral and legal challenges of our day. Our positions cannot be easily categorized as on the political “right” or “left.” Instead, the stand we take is the one that, we believe, best supports everyone’s religious freedom. BJC coordinates and leads the Christians Against Christian Nationalism initiative. The BJC Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation provides educational opportunities to collectively expand and deepen our understanding of religious freedom with a broader justice lens. 

BJC provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. 

Work Location 

This position is based in Washington, D.C. BJC is headquartered on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., with staff working across the country. BJC has a hybrid work culture, with D.C.-based employees working at least 1-2 days in the BJC headquarters, with remote work available on the other days. Travel required for BJC and BJC-partner events and to visit donors.  

Compensation and Benefits 

Starting salary will be based on BJC's base salary bands, which take into account experience and geographic working location. That band corresponds to a range of $62,000 to $80,000, for information purposes only. Eligible for all full-time staff benefits, which currently include platinum level health insurance plan and dental/vision insurance at no cost to employee and 50% cost for covered beneficiaries; participation in retirement savings plan with BJC contributing 13% of salary (no match required; fully vested on day one of employment); life insurance, long-term disability benefits, death-before-retirement payment, survivor’s annuity, and children’s allowance all provided at no cost; generous and flexible leave policy including paid annual, sick, and personal leave as well as all federal holidays paid.   

Hiring Timeline 

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, but preferred application submission date is by April 30. The preferred start date is no later than July 1, 2026.  

How to Apply 
To apply, please submit a resume and cover letter online via this page on BambooHR. If preferred, candidates may submit a video no longer than 2 minutes in place of a written cover letter. If you submit a video, create a hyperlink to the unlisted video and put that hyperlink in a PDF document. You will submit that document as part of your application. 

Reference requests will include, at minimum, 1 supervisor reference, 1 peer/colleague reference, and 1 service or hospitality reference.