Why Your Development Director Deserves More (And How It Will Transform Your Mission)
Nonprofits’ most expensive mistake—and the simple fix that could revolutionize your fundraising
We’ve spent over two decades watching brilliant, passionate development professionals walk away from nonprofits they loved because they couldn't afford to stay. We've seen organizations spend $50,000 on consultants to do the work their underpaid development director could excel at, if only they had given them the resources and recognition. And we've watched boards scratch their heads, wondering why the organization’s fundraising plateaued without ever connecting it to the talented professional who just left for a lucrative corporate sales role that paid 40% more.
If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. But you're also sitting on one of the most solvable problems in the nonprofit sector.
The Million-Dollar Question Nobody Wants to Ask
Here's what we wish every nonprofit Executive Director and board member understood: Your development director isn't just another employee. They're the architect of your organization's financial future, the guardian of your donor relationships, and quite possibly the difference between your nonprofit thriving or merely surviving.
Yet most nonprofits treat development directors like an unfortunate necessity, a distraction from the “real work” of programs, and a cost center rather than the revenue generators they are. And these misunderstandings cost nonprofits’ bottom lines every day, contributing to a talent exodus that threatens the programs they love.
The numbers don't lie. When MacKenzie Scott revolutionized philanthropy with her trust-based giving approach, distributing over $19.25 billion to 2,450+ nonprofit teams with complete autonomy over fund usage, something remarkable happened. Organizations that used those unrestricted funds to invest in their development capacity — including competitive salaries — saw exponential growth in their fundraising capabilities. They didn't just raise more money; they built sustainable systems that continued generating results long after Scott's initial gift.
But here's the tragedy: Most nonprofits are still operating under the "overhead myth." And so are funders. Foundations penalize nonprofits and pull grants when they see more than 10 or 15% on the budget going to development, creating a vicious cycle where nonprofits can't invest in their own revenue streams to scale their programs.
And there’s a hidden cost to your bottom line when your development director leaves. They don't just take their skills — they take years of relationships with your key donors and foundations. On top of that, there’s the opportunity cost of the year it will take you to get someone else trained and effective to in their seat.
Dan Palotta's Revolution: Reframing the Conversation
If you haven't watched Dan Pallotta's 2013 TED Talk "The Way We Think About Charity Is Dead Wrong," stop reading this and watch it now. We’ll wait.
Pallotta’s insight is that the nonprofit and foundation sectors’ obsession with low overheads is undermining their ability to solve social problems. Because we judge nonprofits by how little they spend rather than what they accomplish, and this creates a sector-wide culture of artificial scarcity.
Pallotta's work shows that when nonprofits break free from the overhead myth, they don't just raise more money — they achieve breakthrough results previously considered impossible. They can attract top talent, implement cutting-edge strategies, and scale their impact in ways that "efficient" organizations never can.
The most successful nonprofits we work with have internalized this lesson. They view their development director's salary not as an expense but as an investment with measurable returns, and those returns compound over time.
This kind of change is possible. The question isn't whether you can afford to invest more strategically in development capacity, but if you can continue to afford not to.
