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Interim Development Leadership

For organizations ready to fix the system, not just patch it.

When a development director leaves, most organizations do the same thing: scramble to backfill the role as fast as possible, keep major donors warm, and hope nothing falls apart before the new hire arrives.

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That response is understandable. It's also a missed opportunity.

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A leadership transition is one of the few moments when an organization has both the permission and the urgency to look honestly at what wasn't working. MissionCraft's interim development leadership is designed to use that window — not just survive it.

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Who this is for:

  • Organizations experiencing persistent revenue unpredictability despite strong effort

  • Executive directors who have cycled through multiple development directors and suspect the problem is structural

  • Leadership teams ready to treat culture as core infrastructure — not a side project

  • Boards tired of approving budgets that reality never matches

What the Engagement Includes

This is not a placeholder arrangement. It is structured, diagnostic, and designed to hand your incoming director something they've almost never had: a system that's actually ready for them.

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The engagement works in three phases — though in practice they often overlap.

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Phase 1: Stabilization

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We step into the leadership gap and keep revenue moving while the search is underway.

  • Day-to-day development leadership and team management

  • Donor relationship continuity — no one falls through the cracks

  • Honest assessment of workload, capacity, and team dynamics

  • Surface what's been accumulating beneath the surface before it becomes your new director's first crisis

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Phase 2: Diagnosis

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Using the Fundraising Operating System (fOS) framework, we conduct a structured assessment that determines whether your fundraising system is built to perform or built to burn people out.

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Your organization receives:

  • A full fOS diagnostic assessment

  • Identification of where System Debt has accumulated

  • Specific, prioritized recommendations for what to fix before, during, and after the transition

  • A Development Director Transition Readiness Brief — staff portraits, team dynamics, structural gaps, 90-day priorities, and quick wins. This is the document your new director will actually use.

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Phase 3: New Director Onboarding Support

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The transition doesn't end when your new director arrives. That's often when it gets hardest. ​MissionCraft can stay engaged through the onboarding period — working alongside your new director rather than handing off and disappearing.

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  • Thought partnership on role adjustments, workload design, and early relationship priorities

  • Support navigating team dynamics and inherited structural tensions

  • A sounding board grounded in what we observed during the interim period — context your new director can't get anywhere else

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What Your Organization Walks Away With
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  • Fundraising operations that didn't lose momentum during the gap

  • Donor relationships protected and documented

  • A clear structural picture of what drove the previous departure — and what needs to change

  • A new director who inherits a real runway, not another burnout cycle

  • Shared team structures, working agreements, and workflows that reduce chaos and make accountability visible

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Why This Is Different
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Most interim placements are about coverage. Someone holds the portfolio, keeps major donors warm, and exits when the permanent hire arrives. That model treats the transition as a problem to survive.

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MissionCraft treats it as a diagnostic moment — one of the few times an organization will actually slow down long enough to see how the system is functioning.

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The difference is 30 years of practitioner experience combined with a structured framework for reading what's actually happening underneath the surface. Not just what to do next, but why the previous approach kept producing the same results.

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We've Done This Work
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At Legal Aid Justice Center, MissionCraft served as Interim Director of Development during a leadership transition — stabilizing the team, conducting a full structural assessment, and equipping the incoming Director with a transition brief, 90-day priorities, and the team context she needed to lead from day one. 

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Read the Legal Aid Case Study →

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Is This the Right Engagement?
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This work is the right fit when:

  • Your development director has left or given notice

  • You're in the middle of a search and need experienced leadership in the gap

  • You suspect the role itself — not just the person — is part of the problem

  • You want your next director to succeed, not inherit what broke the last one

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Investment
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Every interim engagement is different. The scope depends on where your organization is in the transition, how much structural work needs to happen, and whether you want support through the new director's onboarding.

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Pricing is scoped to your situation — not packaged in advance.

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