Senior Development Director

The Role

The Senior Development Director is a strategic, external-facing leader responsible for shaping and executing Canopy’s philanthropic strategy, ensuring Canopy achieves ambitious revenue goals and strengthens high-value donor relationships. This role leads the Philanthropic Partnerships team, overseeing major gifts, institutional funding, donor stewardship, and pipeline development, while collaborating across Impact Teams, C&E, and Impact Communications to create immersive, high impact engagement experiences. The Senior Development Director champions a culture of philanthropy across Canopy, inspiring teams to integrate donor engagement, impact storytelling and strategic thinking into all aspects of their work. With Canopy’s philanthropic strategy focused on larger individual and institutional donors, they embody Canopy’s “make the impossible happen” ethos, combining ambition, innovation and pragmatism to drive transformative outcomes.

The Senior Development Director is a member of Canopy’s broader leadership team and serves as a trusted advisor on fundraising strategy, donor relations, and organizational sustainability.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Philanthropic Planning

• Develop and drive Canopy’s 5-year philanthropic strategy, aligning major gift, institutional, and stewardship initiatives with Canopy’s 5-year strategic plan.
• Set revenue targets, define high-value portfolio priorities, and oversee accurate forecasting and pipeline coverage.
• Ensure all fundraising activities reflect Canopy’s mission, values, and Raven Revel culture.

Team Leadership & Management

• Build a high-performing, collaborative team culture that emphasizes excellence, accountability, and consistent delivery of ambitious goals.
• Directly manage Development Director and Donor Engagement Specialist, providing coaching, mentorship, and performance management. Oversee management of Grants Manager and Research & Prospecting Manager to ensure seamless execution of the fundraising strategy.

Donor Engagement & Pipeline Management

• Cultivate, solicit, and actively steward high-value donors, foundations and institutional partners to secure transformative support alongside of Development Director and Donor Engagement Specialist.
• Oversee team-wide donor cultivation plan and high-quality stewardship of top-tier donor interactions, ensuring experiences are strategic, immersive, and impactful with appropriate mobilization of organizational capacity.
• Ensure quality control and alignment of all proposals, communications, and fundraising initiatives.

Philanthropic Culture & Collaboration Across Teams

• Foster an organizational culture that values and prioritizes philanthropy across teams to make fundraising and stewardship an integrated, mission-driven part of Canopy’s work.
• Work closely with the Executive Team, C&E and Impact teams to ensure donor-facing engagement is cohesive and impactful. Close partnership with Operations and Finance to maintain pipeline accuracy, CRM integrity, and reporting for strategic decision-making.

Qualifications & Experience

• 10+ years of experience in fundraising, major gifts, and/or institutional philanthropy, including leadership experience.
• Demonstrated success in building and managing high-value donor portfolios and achieving ambitious revenue targets.
• Proven track record of leading and mentoring high-performing teams, fostering collaboration and creativity.
• “Yes AND . . .” approach. Able to combine bold ambition with pragmatic solutions, pushing boundaries while achieving results.
• Exceptional strategic thinking, operational oversight, and analytical skills with the ability to connect fundraising strategy to organizational impact.
• Innovative problem solving. Comfortable designing and executing unconventional approaches to donor engagement and philanthropic growth.
• Great sense of humour!
• Able to build trust and strong relationships while maintaining a positive, “can do” culture.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills; adept at presenting to senior stakeholders and inspiring confidence in donors.
• Experience creating a culture of philanthropy internally, engaging cross-functional teams in understanding, supporting and celebrating donor impact.
• Resilience and adaptability. Thrives in a fast-paced, evolving environment with complex challenges.
• Passion for Canopy’s mission, with knowledge of conservation, sustainable supply chains, or environmental philanthropy strongly preferred.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Total philanthropic revenue vs. target across major gifts and institutional funding.
• Pipeline coverage and forecast accuracy for high-value relationships.
• Number and size of high-value asks closed (> $100k).
• Donor retention, engagement, and satisfaction metrics.
• Integration of philanthropic principles in strategic planning, communications, and C&E initiatives.
• Team performance, collaboration effectiveness, and execution quality.
• Financial resiliency and diversification — measurable progress toward balanced and sustainable funding streams, including:
• Growth in priority markets and donor segments identified in the philanthropic strategy.
• Increased percentage of multi-year (4+ year) grants and general operating support (GOS) gifts.
• Expansion of long-term, renewable philanthropic partnerships that enhance organizational stability.

Outcome

The Senior Development Director ensures that Canopy:

• Achieves and exceeds philanthropic revenue goals in support of strategic priorities.
• Builds and maintains a high-performing, mission-aligned Philanthropic Partnerships team.
• Cultivates strategic donor relationships and immersive engagement experiences that amplify Canopy’s impact and broadens our network of philanthropic partners.
• Integrates fundraising, communications, and engagement initiatives to maximize influence, visibility, and long-term organizational sustainability.
• Establish a bold and high-performing philanthropic culture that embeds donor awareness and engagement throughout Canopy, ensuring that fundraising success is supported and reinforced across all teams.
• Strengthen internal ownership and alignment around funding priorities, amplifying the impact of donor partnerships on organizational strategy.