Development Manager

Green Mountain Horse Association (GMHA)
South Woodstock, Vermont
Part-Time Contract Position | Potential for Full-Time Employment

Position Overview

The Green Mountain Horse Association (GMHA) is seeking a motivated, creative, and relationship-oriented Development Manager to lead and expand the organization’s fundraising and development efforts.

The Development Manager will be responsible for identifying and cultivating new sources of revenue, strengthening relationships with existing donors and supporters, pursuing grant opportunities, and developing fundraising strategies that support GMHA’s long-term financial sustainability.

The primary goal of this position is to help GMHA generate the resources necessary to sustain and strengthen its current events and programs while creating opportunities to introduce new educational and community offerings for children, adults, families, equestrians, and the broader community.

This is currently envisioned as a part-time contracted position, with the potential to develop into a full-time position as additional funding is identified to support the role.

The ideal candidate will be an excellent communicator and relationship builder who is comfortable working independently, developing new ideas, making connections, writing compelling proposals, and turning opportunities into sustainable sources of support.

About GMHA

The Green Mountain Horse Association is a historic equestrian organization based in South Woodstock, Vermont. GMHA offers a wide range of equestrian events, competitions, educational programs, recreational opportunities, and community activities throughout the year. The organization is committed to preserving its facilities and traditions while continuing to evolve its programs to serve future generations of equestrians and the wider community.

Key Responsibilities

Donor Relations & Stewardship

• Cultivate relationships with current and prospective donors and supporters.
• Develop and maintain donor cultivation and stewardship strategies that involve appropriate staff and board members.
• Identify prospective major donors and develop individualized cultivation strategies.
• Coordinate donor communications, acknowledgments, recognition, and follow-up.
• Work with GMHA leadership and volunteers to identify individuals, organizations, corporations, and corporate foundations with potential connections to the Association.
• Help develop opportunities for donors to see the impact of their support.
• Maintain a current prospect list that includes name and contact information, lifetime giving, most recent gift and date, potential next gift amount, attributes, closest contact, cultivation notes, and related information.

Fund Development & Revenue Generation

• Broaden and strengthen the GMHA Fund annual fundraising and development strategy in alignment with GMHA’s organizational priorities.
• Identify new revenue opportunities from individuals, businesses, foundations, corporations, sponsors, and other funding sources in collaboration with the Business Manager, other staff, and board members.
• Develop strategies to increase unrestricted and program-specific support.
• Research and pursue opportunities for annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, campaigns, and other fundraising initiatives.
• Develop creative fundraising campaigns and initiatives that engage GMHA members, participants, alumni, supporters, and the broader community.
• Help GMHA continue to diversify its funding and revenue sources and reduce reliance on any single source of funding.
• Establish measurable fundraising goals and track progress toward those goals.

Grant Development

• Research local, regional, and national foundations and grant-making organizations whose priorities align with GMHA’s mission and programs.
• Develop and maintain a grant calendar and funding pipeline.
• Write and submit compelling grant proposals, letters of inquiry, and applications.
• Work with program leaders to develop project descriptions, budgets, goals, outcomes, and supporting materials.
• Track grant deadlines, reporting requirements, and deliverables.
• Develop strong relationships with foundations and grant-making organizations.
• Identify opportunities for grants that support both existing programs and new educational initiatives.
• Maintain a library of grant-related documents such as GMHA’s 501(c)(3) designation letter, program, project, and discipline descriptions and statistics, operating and capital budgets, board member lists, former board member lists, and related materials.

Communications & Outreach

• Help communicate GMHA’s mission, impact, accomplishments, and funding needs through compelling stories and materials.
• Develop donor-facing communications, fundraising appeals, proposals, sponsorship materials, social media fundraising opportunities, and impact reports.
• Collaborate with staff, board members, volunteers, and program leaders to gather stories and information that demonstrate GMHA’s impact.
• Help strengthen GMHA’s visibility within local, regional, and equestrian communities.

Board & Organizational Support

• Work collaboratively with the GMHA Board of Directors, Executive Director, staff, committees, and volunteers.
• Provide regular updates on fundraising activities, prospects, grants, sponsorships, and revenue opportunities.
• Prepare development reports and recommendations for organizational leadership.
• Help engage board members and volunteers in fundraising and relationship-building activities.
• Develop systems and processes that allow GMHA’s development efforts to grow over time.

New Programs & Educational Opportunities

• Help evaluate the funding potential of new programs and initiatives in partnership with the Administrative Assistant.
• Identify grants, sponsors, donors, and other funding sources that could support expanded educational programming.
• Assist in developing funding proposals for programs serving youth, adults, families, equestrians, and non-equestrian community members.
• Help build a sustainable funding model for new initiatives.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have:

• Demonstrated experience in fundraising, development, grant writing, nonprofit management, sales, business development, or a related field.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent relationship-building and interpersonal skills.
• Experience identifying and cultivating donors, sponsors, funders, or business partners.
• Strong grant research and proposal-writing abilities.
• Ability to develop and maintain organized prospect and donor records.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Strong strategic thinking and creative problem-solving skills.
• Professionalism, discretion, and the ability to handle confidential donor information appropriately.
• Comfort communicating with individuals from a wide range of backgrounds and levels of financial capacity.
• Willingness to actively engage with GMHA members, supporters, community leaders, businesses, and potential donors.

Preferred Qualifications

• Nonprofit development or advancement experience.
• Experience with foundation and corporate grant writing.
• Experience developing sponsorship programs.
• Experience with major gifts or individual donor cultivation.
• Familiarity with donor management or CRM systems.
• Knowledge of the equestrian industry or nonprofit organizations.
• Existing relationships within Vermont, New England, equestrian, agricultural, outdoor recreation, or philanthropic communities.

A passion for horses and equestrian sport is welcome but not required. The most important qualities are initiative, relationship-building ability, fundraising skill, and a commitment to GMHA’s mission.