Development Associate

About LAWS- and Why This Role Matters

Serving Loudoun since 1984 · Free · Confidential · Trauma-informed · Survivor-centered

For more than 40 years, LAWS has been where Loudoun County turns when domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking, or child abuse shatters a life. It began in 1984 with three local women, $3,000, and immeasurable determination; a year later, they opened the county's first- and still only- emergency shelter for survivors fleeing domestic violence. Today, LAWS is the County's designated provider of free, confidential services for survivors: a 24/7 crisis hotline, emergency shelter, on-staff attorneys providing free legal representation (the only domestic violence and sexual assault nonprofit in Virginia to do so), trauma therapy for children and adults, hospital accompaniment, bilingual services, prevention education, and the Loudoun Child Advocacy Center. LAWS also holds the county's response together- coordinating the Domestic Abuse Response Team, co-leading the Sexual Assault Response Team, and convening the child-abuse Multidisciplinary Team- so help arrives coordinated rather than fragmented.

The need has never been greater. In fiscal year 2025 alone, LAWS answered 1,256 crisis calls- 162 of them flagged as potential homicide risks- and provided 4,291 nights of safe shelter to 178 people, more than half of them children. Its advocates logged 5,224 hours alongside 707 survivors; its attorneys secured 36 protective orders; and its Child Advocacy Center conducted 197 forensic interviews for children. Since 2019, survivors report abuse that is dramatically more dangerous- weapons used or threatened up 77 percent, and homelessness caused by domestic violence up 161 percent. Through all of it, LAWS never turns a survivor away, and stewards its resources so carefully that 73 cents of every dollar goes straight to services- earning it 2025 Best Nonprofit in Loudoun.

Every survivor who comes through our doors has already shown extraordinary courage by asking for help. Our responsibility as a community is to make sure that when they do, we have a place worthy of that courage.

Now LAWS is building that place. A new $11.6 million, 22,000-square-foot shelter and community services center will replace today's 12-bed home with up to 50 private beds- extending safe stays from about 30 days to as long as six months, with real pathways to permanent housing. Groundbreaking is set for fall 2026. It is the most ambitious undertaking in the organization's history, and the largest human services capital campaign in Loudoun County history, and it is powered by philanthropy.

Where This Role Comes In- Development Associate

As the Development Associate, you are the force multiplier behind everything LAWS's development function achieves. By owning the operations, events, private grants, and donor care that keep fundraising running, you free the Director of Development to secure the major gifts and partnerships that fund survivor services- and you make sure every donor who believes in this mission feels it in how they are thanked, informed, and welcomed. If you want your organizational talent to add up to something that matters- more survivors reached, more prevention delivered, more hope made real in Loudoun County- this is where you come in.