Senior Research Analyst, Development

Founded in 1961, WWF works to help people and nature thrive. As a global conservation organization, WWF operates in more than 100 countries, partnering with communities, companies, and governments to protect wildlife, conserve vital habitats, and advance sustainable solutions. Grounded in science and driven by collaboration, WWF works to help nature by conserving biodiversity, supporting resilient communities, and addressing climate change. Nearly 1 million people in the United States and more than 5 million globally are WWF members.

Major Function

World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the world's leading conservation organizations, seeks a Senior Research Analyst. The position leads strategic, proactive prospect development research that expands and strengthens WWF Development's pool of principal, major, annual giving, planned giving, corporate, and foundation prospects. The position serves as a research partner and strategic advisor to frontline fundraisers, translating complex biographical, philanthropic, financial, and reputational information into accurate, actionable intelligence that supports donor strategy, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and risk-aware decision-making. The Senior Research Analyst maintains current information on priority prospects and donors and helps strengthen Development Research standards, tools, training, and data quality.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct proactive research projects that identify, qualify, and prioritize a pipeline of new individual, corporate, and foundation fundraising prospects, including relationship-mapping and special initiative research.
• Collect, evaluate, analyze, organize, synthesize, and disseminate information from public, subscription, internal, and vendor sources to support accurate and informed donor strategy development.
• Connect information across an individual's personal, family, corporate, foundation, donor-advised fund, board, and other institutional giving vehicles to inform prospect strategy, relationship mapping, and engagement opportunities.
• Prepare high-quality written research deliverables, including donor and prospect profiles, executive briefings, event research, due diligence summaries, relationship maps, capacity and affinity assessments, and other research reports. Ensure materials are accurate, complete, source-grounded, well organized, and appropriate for leadership and fundraiser use.
• Serve as an embedded research partner and strategic advisor to principal, major gift, corporate, and foundation fundraisers, providing deep research support for high-priority prospects, donor meetings, special fundraising initiatives, and leadership engagement.
• Monitor news, market trends, philanthropic activity, business developments, nonprofit filings, legal and regulatory records, and other public information relevant to priority donors and prospects.
• Maintain accurate prospect and donor information in WWF systems of record, including CRM and affiliated document storage platforms. Donor information includes research notes, ratings, source documentation, relationship intelligence, and other data that supports portfolio strategy and prospect management.
• Assist with training, mentoring, documentation, and quality control for Development Research products, protocols, database use, due diligence standards, vendor resources, and research workflows.
• Maintain strong internal relationships with Development, Executive Office, Board and National Council Relations, Legal, and other WWF colleagues to support accurate research interpretation and use.
• Maintain productive external relationships with vendors, data providers, and peer organizations to strengthen research resources, practices, and benchmarking.
• May guide or coordinate project work by temporary staff, interns, consultants, or junior research colleagues as needed.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Key Competencies

• Strategic research judgment: Applies strong analytical judgment to identify what matters, assess source reliability, distinguish confirmed facts from interpretation, and produce actionable intelligence for fundraising strategy.
• Accuracy and evidence discipline: Maintains high standards for source verification, documentation, confidentiality, and careful interpretation of sensitive information.
• Collaboration and advisory partnership: Builds productive relationships with fundraisers and cross-functional colleagues, and communicates research insights clearly for different audiences.
• Project management: Manages multiple research projects and deadlines, balances urgent requests with proactive work, and keeps stakeholders informed of progress and priorities.
• Communication: Writes clear, concise, and audience-appropriate research products and presents research findings, methods, and guidance to colleagues.
• Mentorship and knowledge sharing: Supports consistent research practice by training colleagues, documenting procedures, and modeling strong prospect research standards.
• Adaptability and continuous learning: Stays current on fundraising research practices, data tools, philanthropic trends, and the evolving information landscape.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required. Minimum of six years of relevant experience in prospect development, fundraising research, due diligence, intelligence, library/information science, development operations, or related research required; or a master's degree and five years of relevant experience.
• Advanced knowledge of prospect research methods, including relationship mapping, peer screening, wealth and capacity analysis, philanthropic and affinity analysis, and in-depth news and legal review.
• Experience with prospect development and research tools such as LexisNexis/Nexis Diligence, Relationship Science, Candid, iWave, Wealth-X/Altrata, SEC/EDGAR, IRS/Form 990 resources, court and public-record databases, business databases, news platforms, CRM systems, or comparable resources.
• Knowledge of fundraising strategy, major and principal gifts, institutional giving (corporations and foundations), prospect management, moves management, portfolio development, and donor strategy development.

Skills and Abilities

• Ability to assess source quality, reconcile conflicting information, maintain clear documentation, and avoid unsupported conclusions when working with sensitive personal, financial, philanthropic, legal, or reputational information.

• Strong written, verbal, analytical, organizational, and project-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines, and adjust to changing needs.

• Strong attention to detail and demonstrated ability to produce accurate, complete, and well-edited written materials for leadership, fundraisers, and other internal audiences.

• Ability to teach and explain prospect research concepts, tools, protocols, and standards through presentations, documentation, mentoring, and informal coaching.

• Ability to work collaboratively and confidentially with staff at multiple levels, including Development, Executive Office, Board and National Council Relations, Legal, and other colleagues.

• Knowledge of conservation, environmental, climate, biodiversity, or related philanthropic issues preferred.

• Committed to building and strengthening a culture of inclusion within and across teams.

• Identifies and aligns with WWF's core values:

• COURAGE - We demonstrate courage through our actions, we work for change where it's needed, and we inspire people and institutions to tackle the greatest threats to nature and the future of the planet, which is our home.

• INTEGRITY - We live the principles we call on others to meet. We act with integrity, accountability and transparency, and we rely on facts and science to guide us and to ensure that we learn and evolve.

• RESPECT - We honor the voices and knowledge of people and communities that we serve, and we work to secure their rights to a sustainable future.

• COLLABORATION - We deliver impact at the scale of the challenges we face through the power of collective action and innovation.

• Please note that this position is eligible for our hybrid schedule of two days a week in the Washington, DC office or 100% remote. This position does not cover relocation.

US Remote - WWF employs in all states with the exception of: Hawaii, Kentucky, Nevada, Oklahoma.

Deadline Application: This position has a close date of December 14th. Please apply on or before this date for consideration.

Please note: Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. This position is not eligible for employment visa sponsorship. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

Relocation is not provided for this position.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) promotes equal employment opportunities for all qualified individuals regardless of age, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law.