Senior Development Officer, Individual Giving
Paper Mill Playhouse
Millburn, NJ
Anticipated Start Date: ASAP
Description
Reports to: Associate Director of Major Gifts
Position Overview
Reporting to the Associate Director of Major Gifts, the Senior Development Officer, Individual Giving (SDO) plays a key role in cultivating meaningful relationships with individual donors and expanding Paper Mill Playhouse’s community of supporters. The SDO is responsible for managing, soliciting, and stewarding a portfolio of donor households and prospects, with a focus on growing annual support and strengthening the donor pipeline.
Working closely with the Associate Director of Major Gifts, the SDO oversees the full Annual Fund renewal process and helps design and execute multi-channel fundraising and stewardship campaigns. The ideal candidate brings strong communication and organizational skills, a collaborative spirit, and a genuine passion for engaging donors in Paper Mill’s mission to entertain, inspire and enrich lives.
Responsibilities
Donor Portfolio + Relationship Management
Manage a personal portfolio of approximately 150-200 donors and prospects annually.
Execute all phases of the donor lifecycle—identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship—to grow annual support and encourage donor upgrades.
Serve as the primary point of contact for Annual Fund donors giving up to $3,000, providing exceptional customer service and personalized communication.
Conduct personalized outreach (phone, email, in-person) to renew, retain, and deepen donor relationships.
Annual Fund Strategy + Communications
Oversee the full Annual Fund renewal process in partnership with the Associate Director of Major Gifts, ensuring timely and accurate solicitations, reminders, acknowledgments, and benefit fulfillment.
Partner with the Associate Director of Major Gifts to plan and execute annual giving campaigns across direct mail, email, web, and social media channels.
Collaborate with Marketing and Communications to craft donor-centered storytelling that reflects Paper Mill’s mission and impact.
Track and report on campaign performance, renewal rates, and donor engagement metrics to identify trends and opportunities for growth.
Donor Engagement + Pipeline Development
Identify and cultivate new donor prospects from ticket buyers, education families, and other audience segments to expand the Annual Fund.
Support and attend donor engagement and cultivation events including donor receptions, opening nights, backstage tours, and more.
Collaborate with Development colleagues to ensure thoughtful handoffs and pipeline transitions between giving levels.
Contribute ideas and feedback for evolving donor engagement strategies that enhance connection, retention, and satisfaction.
Operations + Administration
Maintain accurate and timely donor records, activity notes, and gift tracking in Tessitura (CRM).
Assist in preparing donor lists, reports, and segmented data for campaigns and appeals.
Assist the Development Operations staff on gift entry, acknowledgments, and benefit delivery as needed.
Contribute to the culture of philanthropy across the organization by fostering collaboration, shared accountability, and stewardship excellence.
Participate actively in department meetings and contribute to a collaborative, mission-driven culture rooted in stewardship excellence.
Requirements
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant on-the-job experience; CFRE certification a plus.
Minimum of 4–5 years of frontline fundraising experience, ideally in an arts, education, or cultural nonprofit setting.
Proven ability to cultivate, solicit, and steward individual gifts, including experience managing donor pipelines and personal portfolios.
Experience managing donor circles or giving societies is highly desirable.
Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills, with a strong commitment to donor stewardship and customer service.
Experience with CRM systems (Tessitura preferred) and proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite.
Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment.
Collaborative spirit with a passion for teamwork, creative problem solving, and mission-driven work.
High level of professionalism and discretion in handling sensitive donor information.
Demonstrated ability to work effectively, respectfully, and inclusively with individuals from diverse cultural, social, and professional backgrounds.
Availability to work evenings and weekends as required for donor cultivation, performances, and events.
Passion for theater and alignment with Paper Mill
Salary Range and Employee Benefits
The salary for this position is $70,000 - $75,000, commensurate with experience.
Paper Mill Playhouse offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance; paid time off; a 403(b) retirement plan with a 3% employer match; a flexible spending account; and access to various performances, educational events, and professional development opportunities.
How to Apply for this Job
To apply, please send a resume and cover letter describing how your experience makes you the right candidate for this position to Recruiting@PaperMill.org with subject line: Senior Development Officer, Individual Giving.
No phone calls, please.
About the Organization
Celebrating its 85th Anniversary this year, Paper Mill Playhouse has been a cherished New Jersey arts institution since 1934. New Jersey’s largest producing theater, Paper Mill brings new American Musical Theater to life, with a national reputation that continues to grow, bringing over 200,000 tri-state audience members annually to view the best in musical theater, from celebrated revivals to groundbreaking new works. In addition to audiences, artists and students depend on Paper Mill as an artistic home that inspires and nurtures their creativity.
As a professional producing theater, Paper Mill is deeply committed to identifying and nurturing creative talent on the mainstage, including singers, dancers, directors, composers, lyricists, choreographers, actors, and designers. The theater is fully unionized under AEA, SDC, IATSE, USA, and AFM and produces five large-scale, mostly musical productions in its mainstage season each year. Some productions are self-produced while others result from collaborations with partner regional theaters and major commercial producers. In 2016, Paper Mill received the industry’s highest honor, the Regional Theatre Tony Award.
Paper Mill Playhouse is a cultural hub for the community with an economic impact of over $37M each year. Paper Mill champions nearly 40,000 students each year with transformative education programs, which are at the heart of this non-profit organization. Paper Mill feels a keen responsibility to ensure children should have access to theater’s life-changing opportunities, regardless of economic, physical, or mental challenges. Paper Mill responds with high-quality arts education, cultural partnerships, and outreach – impacting teens, aspiring artists, and families of children with autism and other cognitive and developmental disabilities.
Renowned programs include Adopt-A-School Project, Theater For Everyone, the Rising Star Awards, and the Summer Conservatory, for example. Paper Mill Playhouse is located on a tributary of the Rahway River, in a bucolic natural setting, with a campus of facilities that include a 1,150-seat theatre with attendant backstage dressing rooms, offices, and production support areas; front-of-house lobbies with bars, concessions and gallery spaces; the 80-seat F.M. Kirby Carriage House Restaurant; a house with two apartments; four parking lots, and grounds for milling.
Off campus, there are the Paper Mill Studios in downtown Millburn, and a costume shop located in New York City. Paper Mill has an annual operating budget of $27M, of which approximately $4.2M is raised through fundraising, government grants, foundation and corporate grants, individual giving, and special events. Paper Mill is in the early stage of the Next Act Campaign to raise $40M for renovations of its dated facilities.
MISSION
Paper Mill Playhouse entertains, inspires, and enriches lives. As the nation’s premier musical theater, we foster a creative environment to advance the art form, educate students, develop future theater lovers, nurture inclusion, and provide access for all. VISION: The vision of Paper Mill Playhouse is to be internationally recognized as the leading musical theater where new and reimagined musicals and innovative education programs are cultivated.
Paper Mill Playhouse is the place where artists, theater lovers, and students come together to realize their creativity and to be inspired by the theater’s unmatched passion and commitment to excellence. Paper Mill Playhouse achieves this, while grounded in its core values:
Continually aspire to achieve artistic excellence
Create an inclusive environment of trust and transparency
Provide outstanding service
Be fiscally responsible
Act with integrity and respect
Equity Diversity and Inclusion Commitment Pledge
Recognizing the importance of ensuring that our productions, our employees, our audiences, and the stories we tell reflect the wonderful racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of our community and those we serve, the Paper Mill is committed to serving as allies of all members of historically marginalized communities and to elevate their voices across our community, particularly those who may have been historically excluded for reasons unrelated to their talents and abilities.
Our pledge is to hold equity, diversity, and inclusion as core values of Paper Mill that are visible in every facet of our work. As we strive to be actively anti-racist and anti-biased, we pledge to:
Amplify stories that encompass the breadth of the human experience;
Become a more multicultural, inclusive, socially conscious space where all people are empowered;
Collaborate to create positive change, learning, engagement, and growth in our organization and our community; and
Eliminate barriers and create pathways that provide access for all. This pledge and our work must continuously evolve in tandem with the communities we serve. We shall hold each other accountable to this promise and to living out these values.
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