The Director of Development is responsible for leading all aspects of the Policy development program to secure significant financial resources in support of its goals. The Director has an opportunity to grow the donor base for Policy through discovery work in new donor audiences and work within an excellent fundraising team/infrastructure. The Director is externally and internally focused, being responsible for both expanding our policy donor prospect pipeline, including to the point where the Director would be managing a portfolio of prospective donors. The Director is also responsible for socializing the Policy initiatives to VIP audiences internal to the Conservancy and partnering with fundraisers throughout the organization to support their work with donors that support and/or are interested in Public Policy and the leverage it provides to advance our conservation goals. The annual funding need for the Policy team averages between $15-20M, some of which is covered by discretionary funding. S/he is a member of the Principal Gifts Team and also sits on the Policy Leadership Team. The Director of Development reports directly to the Director of Global Development and works very closely with the Global Managing Director for Policy and the Chief External Affairs Officer.
- Design, build and execute the private philanthropic fundraising plan for the Conservancy’s Policy work.
- Once fully onboarded, this position will both personally raise and support fundraisers throughout the organization in raising gifts and pledges annually for the Policy priorities of the Conservancy.
- Motivate the efforts of a multi-disciplinary team of staff and volunteers in activities related to donor identification, cultivation and solicitation, participating in some cases as the direct relationship manager and, in other cases, as an active team member to fundraisers across the Conservancy.
- Increase the donor prospect pipeline for the Conservancy and the Policy team and priorities. This includes qualification of new donors and cultivation of current donors, some managed by other fundraisers.
- Ensure responsiveness to donors/prospective donors and to fundraisers throughout TNC related to engaging them in TNC’s Policy work.
- Ensure the fundraising goals for Policy and the progress against those goals are clearly tracked and monitored.
- Lead the feasibility analysis related to the health of the donor pipeline and adjust the fundraising plan accordingly.
- Establish and monitor activity level benchmarks and measures of success pertaining to pipeline growth, donor engagement, dollars raised annually.
- Liaise with the principal gifts fundraising network, including the global development team, the foundations team and principal gift officers, as well as other key relationship managers and senior conservation staff to build the best and most robust donor strategies and solicitations – ensuring we represent and communicate the synergies between all of the global priority areas to our donors.
- Partner with senior leadership to lever their contacts, relationships and talents related to donor and investor pipeline development and donor and investor engagement and stewardship.
- Work closely with and manage relations with key stakeholders including senior management, internal teams, donors, investors and volunteers to achieve program goals.
- Socialize our Policy programs and priorities to fundraisers and key leaders throughout the organization.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCOPE
- Decisions may have program-wide impact, affect staff in non-program areas, and bind the organization financially or legally.
- Design and lead collaborative, complex, and diversified projects, coordinating the work of other professionals, managing budget, and ensuring accountability.
- Direct or participate in negotiations for complex, high profile or sensitive agreements.
- Ensure compliance with TNC policies and procedures and external (donor/legal/IRS) requirements; be alert to ethical compliance issues.
- Financial responsibility for setting and meeting fundraising objectives, evaluating results, and developing corrective strategies.
- Maintain confidentiality of frequently sensitive and emotionally charged information.
- Maximum opportunity to act independently, resolves complex issues within program area.
- May supervise support or administrative staff.
- Persuasively convey the mission of TNC to diverse groups important to the organization’s overall prosperity.
- Travel frequently (about 30% time) and on short notice, work long and weekends as needed.
- Work environment involves only infrequent exposure to disagreeable elements and minor physical exertion and/or strain.
- Experience building and maintaining long-term relationships with constituents such as major donors and corporations.
- Experience building and successfully executing fundraising plans for a program or an organization.
- Experience in asking for and closing major or planned gifts of $100,000 or more.
- Experience in managing and tracking multiple prospects and donors.
- Experience working with fundraising principles and practices.
- Experience, coursework or other training in current and evolving trends in charitable giving, particularly in the areas of capital campaigns, major gifts and planned giving.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Multi-lingual skills and multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience appreciated.
- Ability to design and direct fundraising initiatives, including individualized cultivation, solicitation and recognition strategies.
- Ability to determine an individual’s interests, capacity and potential for helping the Conservancy meet its goals, and act appropriately to tie those interests with the Conservancy’s work.
- Ability to educate and inform prospective and existing donors about appropriate giving vehicles.
- Demonstrated experience using listening, diplomacy, and tact to build strong relationships and motivate colleagues, donors and volunteers.
- Experience in prioritizing work for several executives.
- Experience with grant writing for requests from major private foundations.
- Experience working in a large, complex, not-for-profit environment.
- Passion for raising money and for identifying new prospective donors (individuals and foundations)
- Proven ability to negotiate complex, high profile or sensitive agreements.