Development Associate

Days End Farm Horse Rescue (DEFHR)

Woodbine, MD | Full-Time | Onsite

Are you someone who loves connecting with people, telling meaningful stories, and inspiring others to support a mission you believe in?

Days End Farm Horse Rescue (DEFHR), a nationally recognized equine welfare nonprofit, is looking for a Development Associate to help grow our donor community and advance our lifesaving work. This is an exciting moment to join DEFHR our 37-year-old organization is entering an ambitious new phase of fundraising and growth that will help propel our mission to the next level.

This role is perfect for someone who enjoys building relationships, writing compelling communications, and helping supporters turn their passion for animals into meaningful impact.

At DEFHR, donors are not just contributors they are partners in giving neglected horses a second chance. As Development Associate, you will play a key role in cultivating donor relationships, stewarding gifts, coordinating fundraising initiatives, and helping supporters see their dreams for the horses come to life.

We are also looking for someone who is a true task mastersomeone who takes initiative, stays highly organized, communicates proactively, gets things done, and helps keep the development office running smoothly. This role supports the Development Director in hosting responsibilities, donor tours, meetings, and other relationship-building activities that require both heartfelt professionalism and a welcoming presence. The right candidate is someone who takes pride in doing things well, manages details carefully and at a high standard, keeps projects moving forward, and ensures deadlines and follow-through are consistently met.

This is a hands-on position where hard work is rewarded with real impact and the opportunity to develop strong fundraising skills in a growing organization. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys turning ideas into action keeping projects organized, anticipating next steps, and ensuring that important details do not fall through the cracks.

What Youll Do

• Build and maintain relationships with donors, sponsors, and supporters
• Support engagement with low to mid-level donors through stewardship and communications initiatives. Help implement engagement strategies for recurring donors and lapsed donor reactivation, helping strengthen donor loyalty and grow sustainable annual giving
• Draft compelling donor communications including appeal letters, reports, stewardship messages, and donor updates
• Support fundraising campaigns and annual giving initiatives
• Assist with grant research and preparation while helping coordinate deadlines and reporting for DEFHRs growing grant portfolio
• Track donor activity and support accurate recordkeeping in the CRM
• Assist with planning and ex…