Development Director; WTA

Position: Development Director (WTA)
Applications received by February 24, 2020 at 5pm Pacific time will be given full consideration, but candidates will be considered as they apply. Early applications are strongly encouraged!

Washington Trails Association has a unique opportunity for a strategic and innovative leader to help us leverage this time of exciting momentum for our organization’s vision of trails for everyone, forever.

WTA’s next Development Director will be an experienced trailblazer who wants to guide a strong team to take WTA’s resource development to the next level, foster a robust culture of philanthropy across the organization, and help the organization unlock its potential to achieve even greater mission impact. We are well-positioned to transition tens of thousands of our members and hikers into active donors, and we need a Development Director with the skills and strategy to help us grow our community and our impact.

The successful candidate will join WTA’s leadership team as a key partner to the Chief Executive Officer and Board of Directors and will lead a team of seven fundraising professionals, helping WTA explore our mountain of funding opportunity and significantly increase investment in our new programmatic campaigns.

Beyond a personal commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, we are looking for candidates who are motivated to integrate equity and inclusion best practices into WTA’s fundraising strategy and tactics. People who have personal experience in historically marginalized and excluded communities are especially encouraged to apply.

About Washington Trails Association

VISION :
Trails for everyone, forever

MISSION :
Mobilizing hikers and everyone who loves the outdoors to explore, steward and champion trails and public lands

Washington is home to extraordinary hiking destinations, including desert dunes, wild beaches, tranquil mountain tops and raging rivers. Washington is also home to a community of people who are passionate about exploring and protecting these places. This constituency—our members and supporters—is key to the future of trails in Washington.

Washington Trails Association (WTA) is the nation’s largest state-based hiking and trails organization. Powered by hikers for more than 50 years, we help our community of 20,000 members, 5,000 volunteers and more than 100,000 online constituents to discover, preserve and protect trails and public lands. WTA's strength is in our community and our future success depends on fostering an inclusive organization and hiking community, where everyone feels welcome and represented.

For more information about WTA’s work, please visit our website HERE .

Trails for Everyone, Forever

WTA’s vision of trails for everyone, forever is the north star that will guide our work over the next five years. Bringing together all of WTA’s functions — communications, engagement, trail maintenance, advocacy, partnerships and leadership development — our new programmatic campaigns will ensure that Washington’s trails stand the test of time and that everyone has connections to the outdoors, from backyard adventures to backcountry explorations.

Faced with booming demand and decades of under investment, the challenges facing Washington’s trails are significant, but we believe our hiking community can lead the way to a sustainable trail system. Our four coordinated Trails for Everyone, Forever campaigns mobilize our community and amplify its impact by providing focused opportunities to give back and speak up to ensure Washington’s trails go the distance and are enjoyed by all.

Forever.

We are working to reverse the trends we’ve seen in recent years by enhancing Washington’s robust and diverse network of trails — in remote places, within easy reach of population centers, and close to home. Because the challenges and solutions for remote trails are very different from those for urban trails, we’ve organized our work around three campaigns:
Lost Trails Found, Trails Rebooted and the Trail Next Door, each working on an important piece of Washington’s trail system.

For Everyone.

We know that social inequities impact all aspects of our lives, including connection to the outdoors, and…