Director, Prospect Development

This position can be based in Washington, DC, Yarmouth, MA or US remote

Staff work a hybrid schedule with 2 days/week in the office

The Director of Prospect Development is a strategic architect and key leader within IFAW’s global major gifts and legacy fundraising program. This role drives prospect intelligence and research strategy to ensure a robust pipeline of high-net-worth donors, fueling transformational growth in philanthropic revenue. 

As a trusted advisor to senior leadership, the Director delivers data-driven insights and portfolio optimization strategies that empower gift officers to engage the right donors at the right time. The position oversees a disciplined system for donor prioritization, portfolio replenishment, and performance analysis, ensuring alignment with IFAW’s bold fundraising goals—including scaling individual major giving from $3M to $10–$20M annually to advance critical conservation and rescue initiatives worldwide. 

The Director also guides organizational change and leads a high-performing team of two professionals (Prospect Research Coordinator and Senior Development Coordinator) to build internal capacity and deliver best-in-class prospect development services.

Role and Responsibilities 

• Architects and directs a high-performing global prospect research function for IFAW, setting vision and standards for excellence. Champions collaboration with Major Gifts and Planned Giving teams while strategically advising Institutional Giving and Mid-Level teams as needed. Consults across legacy, mid-level, and digital teams to optimize donor assignments and enhance lifetime value.
• Designs and drives prospect strategies to achieve ambitious revenue and budget goals; partners with the DVP to optimize gift officer territories and prioritize high-value prospects for maximum fundraising impact.
• Leads oversight of prospect/donor research, pipeline development, and portfolio management for major and planned gift officers; implements continuous portfolio optimization strategies
• Ensures seamless lifecycle management of prospects from identification and qualification through cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Evaluates, selects, and governs research tools, subscriptions, and systems to maintain GDPR compliance and deliver best-in-class prospect management globally.
• Facilitates strategic prospect review sessions to co-create solicitation plans for priority donors and drives accountability for achieving ask and close targets.
• Serves as a trusted advisor to senior leadership and gift officers, aligning donor strategies with institutional priorities, accelerating pipeline growth, and enabling data-driven decision-making across all phases of donor engagement.
• Builds and monitors a robust prospect pipeline, recommends upgrades and referrals, and proactively sources new high-potential prospects to sustain long-term fundraising success.
• Develops and maintains the donor pyramid to ensure sufficient prospect depth for meeting organizational revenue goals.
• Partners with events teams to identify new leads, define guest list criteria, and ensure strategic post-event follow-up.
• Analyzes and refines trend and performance reports; oversees the design of dashboards to track research activities, workflows, and outcomes.
• Manages vendor and consultant relationships, ensuring delivery of high-quality custom research and reports aligned with organizational standards.
• Directs end-to-end wealth screening processes, including criteria development, CRM integration, and dissemination of actionable insights to stakeholders.
• Champions innovation in prospect research by staying ahead of industry best practices; conducts annual audits of tools and subscriptions, recommends enhancements, and streamlines systems for global efficiency.
• Mentors and develops two direct reports through tailored growth plans to strengthen in-house expertise and amplify research impact on fundraising.
• Conducts comprehensive research using public records, databases, media, and proprietary resources to uncover actionable intelligence on donors and prospects.
• Develops a broad awareness of IFAW’s programs to support the identification of individuals and institutions whose philanthropic interests align with our work.
• Produces strategic mapping tools (heat maps, territory maps) to inform gift officer deployment and future planning.
• Generates targeted prospect lists for donor visits and events to maximize engagement opportunities.
• Designs and delivers training programs to embed new processes and elevate prospect research capabilities across the organization.
• Partners with the Gift Processor to assess incoming co