Development Manager
What started as a small garden in a vacant lot in this little inner-city neighborhood, quickly turned into the City of Dallas’ first urban farm. The original farm is 1.25 acres boldly situated in the South Dallas community of Bonton, an area ravaged by generational poverty, crime, and classified by the USDA as a food desert. In 2016, a local family, the Treffingers, were inspired by the mission of Bonton Farms and generously donated 20 acres of land located about 10 miles from the original farm. They loved it so much that when another 20 acre plot adjacent to the original one became available, they purchased it and donated it for further expansion of Bonton Farms. That 40 acre site is what we call "The Bonton Farms Extension". It happens to be one of the largest urban farms in the Unites States. In this unlikely setting, we are cultivating a sustainable and vibrant urban farm with the mission to restore lives, create jobs and ignite hope.
- Competitive salary
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Overview of Role:
- Develop and execute annual and multi-year fundraising strategies aligned to organizational revenue goals.
- Build, manage, and grow a qualified donor pipeline across:
- Individual giving
- Corporate partnerships
- Faith-based partnerships
- Mid-level and major donors
- Institutional opportunities
- Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward prospective and existing donors to increase philanthropic investment.
- Leverage knowledge of the Dallas philanthropic community to identify high-potential donor prospects, partnership opportunities, and strategic relationship pathways.
- Maintain awareness of philanthropic trends, funding priorities, community influencers, and giving patterns across the Dallas nonprofit sector.
- Develop targeted engagement strategies that position Bonton Farms within key donor circles, corporate philanthropy networks, faith communities, and mission-aligned funding conversations.
- Represent Bonton Farms externally in professional settings where relationship-building can lead to strategic philanthropic opportunities.
- Lead revenue-generating donor strategies designed to strengthen recurring support and long-term giving relationships.
- Create measurable fundraising plans with clear benchmarks for pipeline movement, solicitations, renewals, and donor retention.
- Support annual campaign planning, sponsorship development, and targeted giving initiatives.
- Build authentic, trust-based relationships with donors, funders, business leaders, pastors, executives, and philanthropic stakeholders.
- Develop strategic donor engagement plans that move supporters from awareness to investment.
- Lead donor visits, presentations, tours, cultivation meetings, and follow-up engagement.
- Ensure excellent donor stewardship through timely communication, impact reporting, gratitude strategies, and meaningful connection points.
- Partner internally to create strong donor experiences through volunteerism, events, tours, and mission exposure.
- Support customized donor strategies tied to organizational priorities and giving capacity.
- Coordinate donor campaigns from planning through completion, including annual giving efforts, seasonal campaigns, targeted appeals, and strategic fundraising initiatives.
- Build campaign calendars, timelines, donor segmentation strategies, outreach plans, and follow-up schedules.
- Draft campaign messaging in partnership with marketing to ensure consistency and strong calls to action.
- Monitor campaign performance, donor response, and revenue progress.
- Recommend campaign adjustments based on engagement and results.
- Lead the planning, coordination, and execution of fundraising events from start to finish.
- Oversee event development including:
- Concept planning
- Sponsorship strategy
- Donor invitations
- Vendor coordination
- Internal planning meetings
- Run-of-show development
- Guest engagement strategy
- Post-event stewardship
- Ensure events are financially aligned and strategically tied to donor cultivation goals.
- Coordinate with internal departments to align events with mission storytelling and operational readiness.
- Manage donor-facing experiences connected to farm visits, volunteer events, dinners, tours, and special engagements.
- Expand and strengthen relationships with corporations, churches, and community partners that align with Bonton Farms’ mission.
- Develop partnership opportunities that include:
- Sponsorships
- Volunteer engagement
- Employee giving
- Faith-based campaigns
- In-kind support
- Mission experiences
- Create compelling partnership proposals and presentations that clearly articulate impact and opportunity.
- Maintain accurate donor records, engagement activity, projections, and fundraising metrics within CRM systems.
- Track pipeline movement, solicitation outcomes, stewardship actions, and revenue forecasting.
- Prepare regular reports for development leadership outlining progress toward goals.
- Ensure strong follow-through on donor communications, commitments, and internal coordination.
- Provide day-to-day guidance and accountability to development support staff, including Development Coordinator responsibilities tied to volunteer and donor support.
- Support training, prioritization, and performance accountability within the development function.
- Strengthen departmental systems that improve responsiveness, donor experience, and internal coordination.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with leadership, marketing, programs, and operations to align fundraising strategy with mission delivery.
- Strong fundraising presence
- High emotional intelligence
- Strategic thinking
- Excellent follow-through
- Confidence in external relationship building
- Ability to drive results in a growing nonprofit environment
- Bachelor’s degree required; nonprofit management, communications, business, public administration, or related field preferred.
- Minimum 4–6 years of progressive fundraising or nonprofit development experience.
- Demonstrated success in donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
- Experience managing donor portfolios and advancing fundraising pipelines.
- Strong presentation and proposal-writing skills.
- Experience engaging corporate and community partners.
- Knowledge of CRM systems and donor tracking tools.
- Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
- Strong organizational discipline and ability to manage multiple priorities.
- Ability to work independently while collaborating across teams.
- Demonstrated knowledge of the Dallas philanthropic community, including donor behavior, foundation priorities, corporate giving trends, and key relationship networks.
- Existing professional connections within Dallas philanthropic, nonprofit, faith-based, or corporate giving communities strongly preferred.
- Ability to strategically navigate donor environments and translate mission impact into compelling investment opportunities.
- Strong understanding of how to build credibility and influence within philanthropic spaces to advance fundraising goals.
- Major gifts fundraising
- Faith-based donor engagement
- Corporate sponsorship development
- Campaign planning
- Volunteer-to-donor conversion strategy
- Event-related fundraising support
We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Our Mission
Transform lives by disrupting systems of inequity, laying a foundation where change yields health, wholeness and opportunity as the norm.
Vision
The change in Bonton becomes the change in the World.
Core Principal
Our values are bathed in our Christian faith, born out of a passion for people and guide how we put them into action.
What is Bonton?
For the last 200 years, racial injustice and systemic oppression prevented opportunities in Bonton, a community in South Dallas, that were a given elsewhere. People here experienced higher rates of diabetes, stroke and cancer, and 48% of residents lived in poverty. Residents have been denied access to the seven human essentials that are necessary to survive and thrive - health & wellness, economic stability, safe and affordable housing, transportation, a sense of belonging, education and access to fair credit. Today, the community is transforming, and healing is coming from within.
Who We Are
Bonton Farms is on a mission is to transform lives by disrupting systems of inequity, laying a foundation where health, wholeness, and opportunity are the norm for all people. While many nonprofits work to solve one issue, Bonton Farms focuses on place-based interventions to build community capacity for long-term change. As the ecosystem of community resources improves, the neighbors in Bonton use these resources to build successful, self-sufficient lives, ultimately interrupting the impact of decades of disenfranchisement. Bonton Farms’ programs focus on the all of the seven human essentials that the community has been denied for so long. We invite you to come and join us in the transformation!
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