Senior Development Officer

Senior Development Officer

Hillel Ontario

Role Overview

The Senior Development Officer is an experienced fundraising leader and collaborative self-starter who is relationship-driven and will play a key role in growing Hillel Ontario’s philanthropic efforts. 

Reporting to the VP, Advancement, you will cultivate, solicit, and steward donors, support annual fundraising campaigns, and build meaningful relationships with donors and stakeholders. By connecting people to Hillel Ontario’s mission and impact, you will help ensure donors feel valued, engaged, and inspired to deepen their support.

If you thrive in a mission-driven organization, lead with care, creativity, and flexibility, and bring a genuine passion for community impact, this role is for you.

Key Responsibilities

Donor Portfolio Management, Cultivation & Solicitation

• Steward and solicit a portfolio of donors, conducting face-to-face cultivation, relationship management, and direct gift asks.
• Manage assigned campaign prospects and ensure timely and consistent follow-up. 
• Identify opportunities within the donor portfolio to increase annual giving and develop future major-gift prospects.
• Perform prospect research to prepare and execute on your own portfolio of donors.
• Engage in outreach to parents and alumni and build and steward long-term donor relationships through meaningful recognition and engagement programs.`
• Execute the annual fundraising plan and calendar, including donor and community events that create meaningful opportunities to engage current and prospective donors with Hillel Ontario’s work and impact.
• Work closely with the VP, Advancement to establish portfolio priorities, solicitation strategies, revenue goals, and donor engagement plans.
• Travel to campuses and communities across Ontario as needed to cultivate and steward donor relationships.

Collaboration and Accountability 

• Collaborate with colleagues across Hillel Ontario to connect donors with the people, programs, and impact most relevant to their interests.
• Represent Hillel Ontario professionally at donor meetings, community events, campus visits, and other external engagements.
• Meet agreed-upon activity and revenue goals, including donor meetings, solicitations, portfolio movement, renewals, upgrades, and funds raised.

What You’ve Accomplished

• A Bachelor’s degree and 5+ years of progressive experience in fundraising, development, or advancement, with demonstrated success in donor cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and campaign management.

• Proven success cultivating and soliciting major gifts and building long-term relationships with donors and key stakeholders.

• Experience developing and executing annual, major gift, capital, or other fundraising campaigns across multiple channels.

• Strong proficiency with donor management and CRM systems, with the ability to use data, reporting, and financial information to inform fundraising strategy.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to develop compelling donor-facing communications and articulate organizational impact.

What You’ll Bring to the Job

• A proactive, self-motivated approach with strong initiative, sound judgment, and a commitment to excellence.
• A relationship-first mindset and the ability to build trust with donors, colleagues, and community partners.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tell compelling stories and inspire action.
• A collaborative leadership style, with the humility, flexibility, and patience to thrive in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities.
• Strong organizational and project management skills, with the ability to move multiple priorities forward.
• Be based in the Greater Toronto Area and bring strong knowledge of, and ideally established relationships within, Toronto’s Jewish community
• Passion for Jewish life, student engagement, and strengthening the Jewish future.

What you’ll Receive 

• Competitive salary of $90,000.00 commensurate with experience.
• Comprehensive health insurance and holistic benefits
• Generous, flexible PTO, including statutory holidays, and Jewish holidays and seasonal office closures.
• Meaningful professional development, mentoring, and skill-building. This role has a genuine growth trajectory for the right candidate.
• Flexible hybrid working arrangements & an opportunity to work with a talented and caring team! 

What Success Looks Like

By Month 3

• Builds trusting relationships with and key internal partners.
• Can speak to Hillel Ontario's mission, campuses, programs, impact, donor community, and fundraising priorities with confidence in donor conversations.
• Takes ownership of an assigned portfolio of existing donors giving 1,500-10,000, with a clear understanding of priority donors, giving history, interests, and opportunities for renewal or upgrade.
• Identifies a list of 25-50 new prospects for cultivation, including parents, alumni, and members of the broader community, and begins building relationships with them.
• Establishes a consistent rhythm of donor outreach, face-to-face meetings, follow-up, and stewardship, ramping from 5-8 out-of-office meetings per month to 10 per month by the end of Month 3.
• Develops clear next steps and engagement strategies for priority donors and prospects.
• Participates in donor meetings, events, campus visits, and other opportunities to represent Hillel Ontario, and meets with each Campus Director.
• Becomes familiar with the CRM used by the Advancement team.

By Month 6

• Demonstrates consistent movement across the donor portfolio, with donors progressing through cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and renewal or upgrade opportunities. Goal: close 5 to 10 new or renewed gifts of $1,500+, including at least some from new prospects.
• Maintains a steady rhythm of 10-15 donor meetings per month and confidently conducts direct gift conversations and solicitations.
• Has visited at least 5 campuses and built working relationships with Campus Directors.
• Completes a review of the current prospect list, adds to it, and is actively cultivating at least 25 new prospects, with outreach underway, to strengthen the pipeline for future annual and major gifts.
• Executes assigned elements of the annual fundraising plan and calendar with organization, ownership, and follow-through.
• Uses CRM data, donor history, and prospect research to inform priorities and determine next moves.
• Is becoming a trusted and collaborative partner to colleagues across Hillel Ontario.

By Month 12

• Meets a portfolio revenue goal of $200,000 (including renewals, upgrades, and new gifts), with measurable results in solicitations, renewals, upgrades, and new donor acquisition.
• Achieves a donor retention rate of 65% among existing portfolio donors.
• Brings in new donors and new gifts from prospects they identified and cultivated, with a target of 10-15 new donors in their first year.
• Closes 30-45 gifts over the year across renewals, upgrades, and new gifts.
• Maintains 12-15 out-of-office donor meetings per month, with at least 5 active solicitations in progress at any time.
• Manages a healthy, active portfolio of 40-60 qualified prospects alongside existing donors, with documented strategies and next steps for priority relationships and a clear pipeline of expected gifts for year two.
• Has developed trusted relationships with donors who feel connected to Hillel Ontario and understand the impact of their philanthropy.
• Consistently moves relationships from cultivation to solicitation and confidently makes direct asks.
• Deepens engagement with priority audiences, including parents, alumni, and members of the broader community.
• Delivers personalized stewardship that supports donor retention and opportunities for increased giving.
• Maintains excellent CRM and portfolio management practices, providing reliable visibility into pipeline, activity, opportunities, and results.
• Is recognized as a proactive, relationship-driven fundraiser who takes ownership, follows through, collaborates effectively, and makes a meaningful contribution to Hillel Ontario's philanthropic growth.

About Hillel Ontario

Hillel Ontario is a recognized leader in the international Hillel movement, serving more than 14,000 Jewish students across nine universities and amplifying vibrant Jewish campus life across the province. We centralize organizational expertise so our campus professionals can focus on student engagement, leadership development, learning, advocacy, and building meaningful community connections.

Hillel embraces religious and political diversity, supporting a broad spectrum of identities through innovative programming, immersive experiences, and student leadership development. We empower the next generation of Jewish leaders to make an enduring impact on Jewish life, Israel, and the world.