Development Director

Job Description

Job Description

About BRITE
Join BRITE, a growing team of passionate individuals from diverse backgrounds advancing the advanced energy economy. We rapidly innovate, develop, deploy, and maintain our operations and services to meet the demand for our programming that connects clients to capital and customers. If you're looking to make a meaningful impact while growing both professionally and personally in a fast-paced, supportive environment, we invite you to apply for our Development Director position.

Summary
The Development Director leads BRITE’s corporate fundraising strategy, securing sponsorships and corporate donations at the $10,000–$100,000+ level. This role focuses on building a strong pipeline of corporate partners, fostering long-term relationships, and maximizing revenue generation to support funding BRITE’s existing programs and services. While BRITE has some existing corporate relationships, this role will require heavily building out a new sponsorship pipeline with an emphasis on outbound relationship development and strategic donor cultivation. This position will require collaborating closely with internal staff. The Development Director role will not cover other Strategic Partnership functions like grant writing, membership, or events . Marketing and collateral support will be provided and coordinated through internal resources and external contractors as needed.

Responsibilities
Corporate Fundraising and Relationship Management (70%)

• Build and manage a pipeline of corporate prospects, focusing on sponsorship and partnership opportunities of $10,000 to $100,000+.
• Implement strategies to identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward corporate donors, maximizing engagement and revenue.
• Develop customized partnership opportunities aligned with corporate branding, marketing, and employee engagement goals.
• Organize and lead meetings and calls with potential and existing corporate sponsors with tangible next steps where possible to move the pipeline
• Lead corporate stewardship activities, including impact reporting and recognition initiatives.

Data Management and Reporting (20%)

• Maintain accurate and timely donor records in Notion (our custom-built CRM/relationship management system) or an equivalent CRM.
• Track prospect and donor engagement activities, ensuring up-to-date and actionable information.

Cross-Functional Collaboration (10%)

• Collaborate with leadership to ensure corporate partner visibility aligns with sponsorship agreements.
• Coordinate with internal teams and external contractors for collateral development as needed.
• Attend and support BRITE events to enhance corporate partner engagement.

Success Measures

• Secure new corporate sponsorships at $10k+.
• Retain and upgrade existing corporate donors.
• Build a high-value pipeline toward $100k-level sponsorships.
• Contribute to strong cross-functional collaboration aligned with BRITE’s development goals.

Qualifications

• 6–10 years of fundraising or corporate business development experience, with some non-profit experience preferred.
• Proven track record securing five- and six-figure monetary gifts.
• Demonstrated proficiency managing work and relationships in CRM and project management platforms (e.g., Notion, Asana, or equivalent systems); technology fluency is a core requirement.
• Preferred industry experience: economic development, chamber of commerce, and university corporate relations.
• Strong relationship-building, communication, and strategic sales skills.

Preferred Traits

• Results-driven, resourceful, and able to work independently.
• Highly organized self-starter with the ability to source and build relationships from scratch.
• Collaborative team player committed to organizational success.
• Knowledge of energy and industrial transition technologies, venture capital, and/or start-up growth stages a plus

Compensation and Benefits

• Salary: $90,000 – $105,000 annually, commensurate with experience and qualifications.
• For more information on benefits , please click Here.

LOCATION: HYBRID - Our organization is headquartered in Warren, OH. Cleveland-based hires are expected to work from our Cleveland office at least two days per week. Candidates located elsewhere in Ohio may work remotely, with occasional in-person meetings or events as needed.

BRITE Core Values:
At BRITE, we’re driven by Impact , fueled by Curiosity , grounded in Integrity , committed to being People-First , and energized by Fun . We prioritize meaningful outcomes, embrace continuous learning, act with transparency, support each other’s growth, and celebrate our work together.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: BRITE is an equal opportunity employer. BRITE is committed to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity and inclusion. The collective sum of the individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, innovation, self-expression, unique capabilities and talent that our stakeholders invest in their work represents a significant part of not only our culture but our reputation and organization’s achievement as well. We embrace and encourage clients’, entrepreneurs’ and the public’s differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make everyone unique.

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