What to do when you’re hiring your newsroom’s first development director

Is your newsroom ready to hire your first development director? Congratulations on reaching this important milestone in your organization’s growth! Before you start your search, it’s crucial to understand the role of a development director and how they will collaborate with your team. Here are our tips on how to make sure you establish expectations and support your new team member.

Understand exactly what a development director does. If you’ve never worked with a development professional, reach out to colleagues who have. They can help you refine the job description, clarify how the role integrates with your existing team, and suggest ways to ensure your new hire feels like an essential part of your newsroom from day one.

Conduct thorough reference checks. Relationships drive successful fundraising, so speaking directly with former colleagues and donors who worked with your top candidate is essential to ensure you select a strong match. Did the candidate bring new donors into the fold? Were they able to nurture small-dollar transactions into larger or multi-year gifts? You are looking for someone who can develop and deepen relationships with stakeholders in your community — so make sure you understand their track record.

Be transparent about the realities of the job. Whether you’re a scrappy startup or a rapidly growing newsroom, clearly communicate what the role entails today, and what you want it to be down the road. Candidates who shine when building new processes and initiatives will value your honesty and eagerly opt in.

Set clear priorities from the start. Even if the development director role includes multiple responsibilities, define exactly what’s critical in the first 90 days. Should individual giving, major foundation grants or systems-building take precedence? Let your new hire know, so they can hit the ground running and score a quick win or two.

Integrate your development lead within your team. Fundraising depends on collaboration! Make sure your development director has internal allies, visible leadership support and a strong connection to your editorial team.

Proactively support versatility. Your new hire will be thrown into a new role with, likely, tons of disparate responsibilities. Battle overwhelm by providing them with necessary resources like existing fundraising materials, donor relationships, appropriate technology tools and, most of all, access to you for essential context. Empower them to build effectively, rather than making them start from scratch. (Check out our all-in-one fundraising and CRM platform — we specialize in building workflow automations and moves management journeys specifically for journalism fundraisers!)

Plan strategically for growth. Whether you’re hiring your first or fifth development professional, demonstrate clearly that development is integral to your newsroom’s future. Make sure there’s a visible path to expand resources, staffing, tech stack and ambition, even if that path is a couple years away. 

Set up your development director to succeed: Whether you are hiring a veteran fundraiser or an eager newbie, your new hire will succeed faster with the right tools, teamwork and support. Like BlueDepth from BlueLena, which equips news fundraisers with a 360-degree view of your audience from day one, so your fundraisers can focus on building relationships, not digging for data. Our industry-leading modeling tool enriches your list with key external insights tied to each email address, helping you identify high-value prospects and prioritize outreach. Find out how we helped publishers grow their revenue 30% YOY with the BlueLena CRM and fundraising platform.

When you’re ready to give your new development lead a strategic partner to help them prioritize, focus and drive results, BlueLena is here to help.