The great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness no one rejects dislikes avoids pleasure itself because it is pleasure but because know who do not those how to pursue pleasures rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful desires to obtain.
Read MoreEXECUTIVE SEARCH SERVICES
Exceptional Talent to Advance Your Mission
We help nonprofits find and recruit exceptionally talented people for fundraising and executive leadership roles


Your people are your single-most valuable asset in achieving the mission of your organization. They are the “difference-makers” who not only make it possible to do what you do, but to do it with excellence.
Our Executive Search team at DickersonBakker is passionate about helping our clients Hire Higher™, thereby elevating your people, your leadership, and your entire organization to achieve an even greater impact in the lives of the people you serve.
DickersonBakker offers full spectrum Executive Search services for nonprofit organizations across the globe, custom-fit to meet the needs of your organization. When you engage DickersonBakker Executive Search, we guide you through our thorough, time-tested, and proven process to recruit the best available candidates for your position.
Serving the nonprofit sector is not just part of what we do. It’s all we do. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned in our nearly forty years working in the nonprofit sector, it’s that every nonprofit is only as great as the people who lead it. Exceptionally talented people serving in the right roles is critical to driving success. Nothing is more important.
We approach our client relationships with integrity and transparency. We are passionate about what our clients do and seek authentic personal connections with each. When we engage with a client, it's more about mission, service, and our commitment to being there every step of the way until the job is done.
Finding and recruiting exceptional talent to fill key leadership positions is among the most important decisions you can make to ensure the success of your nonprofit. Successfully filling these roles can be a daunting and extremely time-consuming task. As a result, many nonprofit organizations struggle to find and recruit the best qualified candidates.
That’s where we come in. At DickersonBakker, we understand the nonprofit sector and have the marketplace knowledge, expertise, relationships, and access to networks that are vitally important for you to succeed in recruiting exceptional talent for your organization.
When you partner with us to help you fill a vacancy, we will facilitate a process of mutual discernment between great organizations and great leaders. We have a proven process refined of by time and experience that consistently yields excellent results, guaranteed.
Discovery & Strategy
Discovery & Strategy
Candidate Evaluation
Candidate Evaluation
1) Professional Acumen
2) Mission Match
3) Cultural Alignment.
Targeted Sourcing
Targeted Sourcing
Candidate Selection
Candidate Selection
Applicant Screening
Applicant Screening
Integrative Strategies
Integrative Strategies
Leadership
Company Values & The Relationship
Human Resources
Essential Steps to Writing Job Description

Most executive search firms shy away from guarantees. We embrace them. Our guarantees help DickersonBakker stand head and shoulders above every other nonprofit search firm in the sector. Not only do we guarantee that we will find and recruit a successful placement for your position opening, but we also guarantee our placements for two full years, which is longer than anyone else in the not-for-profit recruitment industry.
DERRIC BAKKER – PRESIDENT, DICKERSONBAKKER EXECUTIVE SEARCH
Derric Bakker
PresidentYour nonprofit will be assigned one search consultant to work with from beginning to the successful completion of the search. Every DickersonBakker executive search consultant has been a nonprofit leader before they became search consultants. We have walked in the shoes of, not only our clients, but our candidates as well. As a result, we are equipped to do our work with professionalism, insight, and empathy.
Past Clients & Completed Searches






Talent always attracts more of the same. Building an organization that’s magnetic to talent starts at the top – you can’t have a magnetic organization without exceptional leaders. We help our clients hire Leaders that LastTM. That is, we aim to recruit leaders who elevate, not just the role, but the entire organization. Leaders who not only drive excellence in their area of responsibility but also have the personal characteristics needed to lead and grow healthy, high-performing teams.
Our team has helped dozens of nonprofits just like yours find and recruit exceptionally talented professionals for key executive leadership and fundraising roles. In each case, we are committed to the success of the search as well as the long-term thriving of the leaders we recruit.
Who We Recruit
- President/CEO
-
- Executive Director
- President
- Chief Executive Officer
- Head of School
- Senior Executive Leadership
-
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Financial Officer
- Chief Development Officer
- Chief Information Officer
- General Counsel
- Vice President of External Affairs
- Director of Human Resources
- Director of Finance and Administration
- Director of Programs & Services
- Director of Marketing & Communications
- Director of Operations
- Comptroller/Controller
- Fundraising Positions
-
- Chief Development Officer
- Chief Advancement Officer
- Vice President of Development
- Vice President of Advancement
- Senior Vice President of Development
- Director of Development
- Director of Development Operations
- Director of Donor Engagement
- Director of Donor Relations
- Director of Major Giving
- Major Gift Officer(s)
- Regional Development Officer(s)
- Direct Response Manager
- Director of Marketing & Communications
- Who We Recruit
- President/CEO & Executive Director
- Senior Executive Leadership
- Make this a live link that users can click to open a popup window or toggle open dropdown list (“Sampling of roles we recruit for”)
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Financial Officer
- Chief Development Officer
- Chief Information Officer
- General Counsel
- Vice President of External Affairs
- Director of Human Resources
- Director of Finance and Administration
- Director of Programs & Services
- Director of Marketing & Communications
- Director of Operations
- Comptroller/Controller
- Make this a live link that users can click to open a popup window or toggle open dropdown list (“Sampling of roles we recruit for”)
- Fundraising Positions
- Make this a live link that users can click to open a popup window or toggle open dropdown list (“Sampling of roles we recruit for”)
- Chief Development Officer
- Chief Advancement Officer
- Vice President of Development
- Vice President of Advancement
- Senior Vice President of Development
- Director of Development
- Director of Development Operations
- Director of Donor Engagement
- Director of Donor Relations
- Director of Major Giving
- Major Gift Officer(s)
- Regional Development Officer(s)
- Direct Response Manager
- Director of Marketing & Communications
- Make this a live link that users can click to open a popup window or toggle open dropdown list (“Sampling of roles we recruit for”)
- Head of School



Meet The Team
Meet the experienced and talented folks that you will be working alongside.