Vice President of Development

Vice President Of Development

Founded in 1891 by a group of visionary volunteers, The Trustees of Reservations (The Trustees) is Massachusetts' premier conservation and preservation organization. The Trustees' preserves, for public use and enjoyment, properties of exceptional scenic, historic, and ecological value in Massachusetts. Our properties are open to all, and we thrive by involving as many people as possible in all that we do. We aim to protect special places for future generations to enjoy in perpetuity, and have helped protect more than 50,000 acres, including 27,000+ acres on more than 120 reservations that are open to the public. As a non-profit conservation organization, we are funded and supported entirely by our visitors, supporters, volunteers, and our 85,000 member households.

Salary: $183,750-$215,250

Hours per week: 40

Job Classification: Full-time, exempt

Job Type: Hybrid

Location: Boston, MA

Your Impact:

The Trustees is in a transformational chapter through For Everyone, Forever, our bold strategic plan to save, steward, and share Massachusetts' special places for generations to come. As Vice President of Development, you will help translate that vision into fundraising execution leading the people, portfolio discipline, donor strategies, and performance culture that turn philanthropic opportunity into sustained mission impact.

This role will play a critical part in advancing The Trustees' new and historic campaign, the largest fundraising effort in the organization's history. Working in close partnership with the Chief Development Officer, you will help ensure that campaign priorities are translated into clear donor strategies, strong portfolio movement, timely solicitations, and meaningful stewardship. You will help build the fundraising momentum needed not only to meet campaign goals, but also to strengthen the donor relationships, team culture, and fundraising practices that will sustain The Trustees well beyond the campaign.

This role is central to helping The Trustees move from primarily project-based giving toward broader, impact-centered philanthropy that connects donors' passion for special places to the full scope of our statewide mission.

The Role:

As Vice President of Development, you will serve as the senior fundraising execution leader, partnering closely with the Chief Development Officer to advance The Trustees' comprehensive fundraising strategy and $350M+ campaign. You will lead frontline fundraising performance, donor pipeline development, portfolio discipline, and team accountability, while partnering closely with the Director of Development Operations to ensure the team has the systems, reporting, research, and data insights needed to meet ambitious annual and campaign goals.

You will serve as an integrator across major giving, foundation and government giving, corporate giving, and planned givingbringing these programs together and ensuring donor strategies are coordinated to achieve fundraising targets. You will oversee donor engagement, portfolio strategy, and team performance while personally managing a portfolio of high-capacity donors and prospects. You will also translate organizational and campaign priorities into compelling philanthropic opportunities and ensure donors experience meaningful, mission-centered engagement and stewardship throughout their relationship with The Trustees.

This role is not the operational systems owner; rather, it is the senior leader responsible for turning fundraising strategy, campaign priorities, data, and donor insight into disciplined frontline execution and measurable philanthropic results.

Specifically, you'll:

• Partner closely with the Chief Development Officer to translate enterprise fundraising strategy and $350M+ campaign priorities into annual operating goals, portfolio expectations, solicitation timelines, and measurable fundraising outcomes.
• Lead frontline fundraising execution across major gifts and donor engagement, ensuring fundraisers have clear goals, strong donor strategies, and consistent accountability for portfolio movement, campaign progress, and revenue results.
• Manage, coach, and develop fundraising staff, fostering a culture of collaboration, preparation, accountability, professional growth, and shared ownership of Development and campaign goals.
• Personally manage a portfolio of high-capacity donors and prospects, with a focus on significant campaign, unrestricted, and impact-centered giving opportunities.
• Partner with the Chief Development Officer, President & CEO, and senior leaders to prepare for donor meetings, shape campaign solicitation strategies, and ensure thoughtful follow-up and stewardship.
• Partner with the Director of Development Operations to use pipeline reports, forecasting tools, prospect research, and Salesforce data to assess campaign progress, identify opportunities, and guide fundraising strategy.
• Set expectations for timely and accurate Salesforce documentation by frontline fundraisers, ensuring donor activity, proposals, next steps, and portfolio strategies are captured and used to advance donor relationships and campaign milestones.
• Drive prospect identification, qualification, and moves management to continuously strengthen and expand the major gifts pipeline in support of annual and campaign goals.
• Partner with programmatic, property, regional, and functional leaders across the organization to shape mission-driven priorities into compelling campaign and philanthropic opportunities.
• Help advance The Trustees' fundraising approach toward storytelling and impact-centered engagement, ensuring donors understand how their support advances both the places they love and the broader statewide mission.
• Ensure events, stewardship, and donor communications are aligned with major gift cultivation, campaign priorities, and long-term donor engagement.
• Support Board and volunteer fundraising efforts in coordination with the Chief Development Officer and President & CEO, ensuring leaders are prepared, informed, and effectively deployed in donor relationships and campaign activity.
• Collaborate with Annual Giving, Planned Giving, Institutional Partnerships, Corporate Philanthropy, Membership, Events, Marketing and Communications, Finance, and Development Operations colleagues to ensure donors experience a coordinated and donor-centered relationship with The Trustees.
• Represent The Trustees externally at donor meetings, property visits, cultivation opportunities, campaign events, and other engagement activities across Massachusetts; some evening and weekend availability required.

This is a full-time, non-exempt position (40 hours/week) reporting directly to the Chief Development Officer.