Teach For America is expanding our Leadership (seven- and eight figure) Gifts portfolio. We are hiring two new Leadership Gifts Officers, in thriving philanthropic markets across the country, to help grow the number of donors supporting Teach for America at the highest levels. The Leadership Gifts Officer (LGO) is responsible for raising national and regional revenue and works to identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward donors in close partnership with regional Executive Directors and Heads of Development and national senior leaders.
This is a fantastic opportunity for individuals with extensive and sophisticated donor-centered fundraising experience, a demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with internal partners, and a deep commitment to Teach For America's mission. The ideal candidates will bring an entrepreneurial spirit and be enthusiastic contributors in setting the vision, strategy, and direction for the Leadership Gifts portfolio. They will also support an evolving national fundraising campaign and strengthen internal operating systems and approaches, as Teach For America continues to build a sophisticated, best in class fundraising operation. LGOs will report directly to the Vice President of Individual Giving on the National Development team.
Managing a portfolio of 100 7- and 8-figure donors and prospects at the national and regional levels, which could include:
- Setting ambitious annual portfolio fundraising goals (in partnership with VP and regional leaders) and defining the pathway to meet them
- Serving as a primary strategist and central relationship manager of donors in the portfolio, in partnership with regional and national senior leaders
- Overseeing, strategizing, and/or executing on general fundraising operations and stewardship of donors and prospects using management infrastructure
- Serving as primary liaison to Teach For America’s senior leaders in preparing for high-stakes donor engagements
- Identifying new prospects in partnership with the Prospect Strategy and Research team to bring into the portfolio to ensure that Teach For America’s pipeline of philanthropists is ever-expanding and increasingly diverse
- Capturing relevant donor and prospect information in Salesforce system
Building exceptionally strong, collaborative relationships with regional partners and national teams, promoting an org-wide development orientation by:
- Forging and fostering deep partnerships with regional colleagues to understand their unique educational ecosystems and funding needs and being fully committed to making regions within the LGO portfolio strong and sustainable
- Partnering and advising executive directors and regional development teams to steward key leadership donors in the portfolio
- Partnering closely to contribute to strong donor-centered strategies and enterprise-focused development mindsets and instincts across the organizations
- Leveraging people and resources within the TFA network (program team leads, senior leadership, national board members) that enable strong engagement opportunities for donors and prospects
- Strategically aligning unique funding opportunities with donors’ interests and including, at times, playing a key role in the design and execution of key events
- Attending regional events and board meetings (as appropriate)
Contributing toward building a collective culture of excellence, teamwork, and Core Values leadership on the Leadership Gifts Team by:
- Enhancing prospecting, cultivation, stewardship, goal setting, strategic planning and progress management approaches, together with other LGOs, the Vice President of Individual Giving, the Individual Giving team and the broader National Development team
- Surfacing ideas and connections in support of broader team prospecting and stewardship efforts, events and engagements
- Deeply understanding and being able to articulate national fundraising needs and opportunities including supporting the development of a new national fundraising campaign
- At least 10+ years of fundraising experience with a strong record of results required
- 3+ years of demonstrated success personally cultivating, soliciting and closing philanthropic gifts required
- Experience launching, growing, and/or managing a portfolio
- Knowledge of MS Outlook, PowerPoint, Word and Excel is required
- Experience working in Salesforce systems a plus
- Deep commitment to Teach For America’s vision and mission and to the communities in which the Leadership Gift Officer will operate
- Commitment to understanding complex org-wide budgeting and programming
- Comfort in managing a portfolio, but not necessarily being the key solicitor/external face of the relationship/organization
- A high degree of flexibility, optimism, and sense of possibility
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills across different media
- Thrives in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, goal-oriented environment
- Very strong at building relationships and influencing others toward outcomes with demonstrated ability to partner effectively with others to reach big goals
- Highly motivated to be a steward of Teach For America – building champions of educational excellence and equity – and partner with regional leaders to be strong development professionals and stewards of Teach For America
- A problem-solving orientation – can break down problems, define pathways forward, and invest others in a solution
- Inclined to want to improve internal team operations and systems
- Certified Fundraising Executive designation is a nice to have
Work Demands
- Travel 5-7 times per quarter
- Typical work days are 10 hours