The Managing Director of Public Engagement & Individual Giving (MDPEIG) is responsible for developing a comprehensive public engagement strategy, encompassing our Greater New Orleans partners, corps members, alumni, donors and other constituents in service of developing a positive and brand-aligned external message that supports our programmatic implementations and fundraising. Additionally, the MDPEIG will triple our individual giving program via multi-year commitments because of the good will developed via our public engagement strategy. They will also manage a team of two external portfolio managers working across diverse constituents to develop strong support. The MDPEIG reports directly to the Executive Director and works very closely with our region’s Managing Director of Development.
Public Engagement (30%)
- Spearhead the creation of a cohesive and innovative external affairs strategy, linked with our 30th Anniversary celebration, to increase the awareness and public good will of TFA GNO’s work in our local community and across the country
- Manage integration of the external affairs strategy across the regional team to include all constituents: incoming corps members, school partners, current corps members, alumni, staff, donors and other partners
- Build and maintain strong relationships with other educational and community-based partner organizations and individuals
- Provide strategic advice and counsel to Executive Director on all external related matters
- Serve as on the record spokesperson and prep regional leaders, surrogates, and corps members and alumni in addition to Executive Director for media engagement
Create and manage the strategic and operational plan for TFA GNO’s Individual Giving Program (30%)
- Be the visionary and strategist to grow our individual giving portfolio to $1 million, and develop the annual strategic and operational plans aligned to this goal
- Set ambitious and feasible revenue and donor experience/stewardship targets to achieve annual and long-range regional goals
- Consistently and effectively analyze progress to annual and long-range goals; autonomously define aligned problems and opportunities to solve for
- Innovate, develop and implement strategies and tactical plans to achieve goals for different donor segments
- Through immersion with regional management, colleagues, corps members, and alumni, learn and understand our organizational vision and strategy in order to identify the intersection of philanthropic priorities with our work
- Provide insights and partner with Director of Campaigns to develop a best-in-class donor stewardship program
- Produce, curate, and leverage consistent, high-quality donor communications that align to funder motivations
- Create or curate compelling opportunities for current and prospective donors to engage with our program
Management, Cross-Functional Mobilization & Leadership (30%)
- Manage and coach two external portfolio managers (Director of District & School Partnership and Director of Public Affairs) to strong outcomes
- Influence and compel others, particularly the Development team and across the regional leadership team, to build understanding and investment in your work’s vital impact on our broader mission
- Propose, develop and initiate strategies and channels for advancing public engagement insights across the region so they inform programmatic decision-making.
- Serve as a member of our regional leadership team charged with “leading our proactive strategy and moving/stewarding consequential reactive work for the region”
Region-wide and Organization-Wide Responsibilities (10%)
Teach For America thrives on cross-functional partnerships throughout our organization. Our staff members are skilled in working across layers, empathizing with our colleagues around the reality of competing commitments, navigating these situations with grace, and being culture leaders within our regional team. We do this by upholding an orientation towards flexibility and generosity while also remaining deeply committed to a sense of possibility and achievement. While some days we work independently to achieve milestones, realizing our goals requires regular collaboration at all levels. Everyone shows their support for region-and-organization-wide initiatives by actively engaging in the following:
- Corps member hiring events
- Corps member acceptance confirmation
- Regional staff recruitment and talent cultivation
- Corps member induction
- Cross-functional special projects
- Corps member selection interviews
- All staff leadership development and team building
- Corps member professional development
- Regional social events with staff, corps members, and alumni
- You are an exceptional communicator and relationship builder and you have a nuanced understanding of how to communicate our mission to our funders and partners, both one-on-one and through strategic outreach to build champions across our community. You are an exceptional relationships builder and savvy communicator. Because of your strategic engagement plans and relationship-driven outreach you will triple our individual giving revenue to $1 million annually.
- You possess a deep understanding of external affairs work with expertise in advising senior leaders on high-impact decisions and communications. You are a trusted advisor to the Executive Director and operate as deputy for several high-stakes relationships in your portfolio. You have exceptional judgment and make recommendations on both large-scale external affairs strategy and small-scale external affairs actions to advance the reputation of Teach For America Greater New Orleans.
- You are strategically creative and are able to manifest high-impact strategies that move the hearts and minds of large swaths of constituents. As TFA GNO approaches our 30th anniversary of partnering with communities in Greater New Orleans, you will develop the campaign and strategy for celebrating this milestone across all of our constituents. You set a clear and inspiring vision and direction for your function and constantly calibrate your strategies against your outcomes.
Prior Experience
- 7+ years of fundraising experience with proven record of achieving ambitious results
- Knowledge of or experience in Teach For America and/or Greater New Orleans context is strongly preferred
- Prior experience managing a multi-million-dollar market, portfolio of clients/constituents, or operation towards measurable goals (i.e. registration goals, sales goals, billings, media/brand mentions, recruitment goals, organizational efficiency goals, etc.) is required
- Prior experience in lateral or direct management of others is preferred
- Ability to remain organized and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment, with strong strategic and operational planning skills
- Interest and skill in working across layers and collaborating with others to achieve outcomes
- Ability to use appropriate breadth and depth of data and context, including through the perspectives of others, to make sensible and timely decisions, and systematically prioritize opportunities to pursue and problems to solve in order to achieve the most meaningful outcomes
- Ability to set a compelling vision and direction for how your operation will define its role and priorities in service of the organization’s broader mission
- Ability to create strategic arguments that compel institutions and individuals to invest in the organization while also foreseeing, avoiding, and mitigating risks to the organization’s funding and public perception
- Knack for understanding the perspectives of others and developing communications to build trust, rapport and support, with exceptional customer service instincts; strong interpersonal writing skills, effectively tailoring writing for different audiences
- Ability to use Microsoft Excel to organize and analyze priorities, goals, tasks and data. Some prior experience with Salesforce is ideal; comfort in learning and using new IT systems like Salesforce is required.
- Drive and commitment to continuously develop and better yourself, your team, and Teach For America
- Ability to be flexible in an ever-evolving environment
- Dedication to and consistent embodiment of our organization’s core values
Work Demands
- Willingness and ability to participate, occasionally, in events that fall on nights and/or weekends
- Willingness and ability to travel at least once per year for professional development purposes