There is a role on every fundraising team that gets underpaid, undervalued, and filled last. And it is quietly determining whether your fundraising program succeeds or fails. I'm talking about the Development Operations Manager, and I would argue it's the most underestimated hire in the nonprofit sector. 

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What this role actually does

Development operations is the engine that powers everything else. The person in this role is responsible for gift processing, donor tracking, acknowledgment letters, appeal segmentation, reporting, and making sure every piece of donor information lives where it's supposed to in your CRM. They are the reason your fundraisers walk into a donor meeting prepared. They are the reason your LYBUNT (lapsed donor) list is accurate. They are the reason the right appeal hits the right donor at the right time.

When this function works well, it's invisible. When it doesn't, everything downstream suffers: donor retention drops, stewardship falls through the cracks, and your fundraisers are operating without the information they need to do their jobs.

According to the 2026 CCS Philanthropy Pulse report, 33% of nonprofits now cite data management and CRM issues as a significant challenge — a number that more than doubled in a single year. This is not a technology platform problem. This is a people and prioritization problem. 

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You need someone who loves this work

I have seen organizations try to force someone into database management to save money or because it seemed like a natural add-on to another role. It never works. This is not a job you can assign to someone who tolerates it. You need someone who is genuinely strong with data, has exceptional attention to detail, and actually enjoys that kind of work. Those people exist. It is important to find them and treat them like the rockstars they are.

Here's what I also want to say clearly: you can train someone on a specific CRM. Yes, a platform like Raiser's Edge NXT is sophisticated and prior experience matters, but the right person with the right skill set and mindset can learn the software. A CRM is a CRM. What you cannot train is the disposition. Hire for that first.

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The advanced version of this role

Once you have the foundation right, this role can do so much more. The best Development Operations Managers aren't just keeping the database clean — they're actively setting up your frontline fundraisers to make big asks. That means maintaining major donor portfolios, managing moves management and opportunity tracking, and building the infrastructure that turns a list of names into a cultivation pipeline.

That means maintaining major donor portfolios, managing moves management and opportunity tracking, and building the infrastructure that turns a list of names into a cultivation pipeline.

At the highest level, this person is building and maintaining your Top 100, a strategically ranked major donor prospect list that combines your organization's giving history with wealth screening data and a scoring system calibrated to your program. That list, maintained well, is one of the most powerful tools a fundraising team can have. (It's also something Lotus can build with you or coach your team to develop.)

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The bottom line

Every organization wants to raise more money. Most are focused on who's asking. I'd push you to spend equal energy on who's building the infrastructure that makes the asking possible.

Get this hire right, and everything else works better. Get it wrong — or worse, leave it unfilled or underpowered — and you'll feel it in your results long before you can trace it back to the source.

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Julie Cruit Angilly is the founder and principal of Lotus Revenue & Brand Consultants, a boutique fundraising consultancy serving nonprofits. Over the course of her career, she has raised $100 million and served as a VP of Development with personal responsibility for fundraising targets as high as $15 million annually. Lotus works with organizations to build stronger fundraising programs from the ground up. Learn more at grow-with-lotus.com.