We are seeking a Senior Managing Director of Growth & Stewardship (SMDGS) to help lead our campaign in a phase of significant growth and expansion as we raise over $30 million in operating revenue over the next 4 years. As the SMDGS, you will work closely with the Executive Director on setting and executing high-level development strategy, manage and develop a team of talented development professionals, and manage a portfolio of donors and prospects. You will also serve on the D.C. Region's Leadership Team.
You will also be responsible for developing a diverse and sustainable local funding base and to achieve the funding growth necessary to support the regional program. You will also get to know the funding landscape through self-discovery and information gathering so that you can hone in, with focus and strategic insight, on the biggest opportunities and challenges in development in the D.C. Region.
You will report directly to the Executive Director.
Manage a development team of five staff members to ensure progress toward our goals and develop them as professionals (35%)
- Build and execute strong strategic plans for their donor portfolio thereby building strong donor relationships, increasing donor renewal and upgrade rates, and expanding the donor base
- Prioritize the right actions for the Executive Director to take in order to cultivate, solicit, and steward donors and prospects and prepare/support ED to execute
- Conduct excellent donor interactions and communications (i.e., events, meetings, newsletters, grants)
- Develop and maintain strong operations (i.e., donor tracking systems, data management, meeting prep and download systems, gift processing)
- Maximize individual performance and contribution, through ongoing direct feedback and tracking performance against clearly defined individual performance goals
Cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of champions through meetings, events, and correspondence (35%)
- Work closely with the Executive Director to manage and maximize the many assets and talents of the regional advisory board
- Cultivate and steward top champions as one of the primary external faces of the organization
- Design strategy and directly engage with a group of the region’s champions
Create the long range regional development vision and annual strategic and operating plans for growth and sustainability (20%)
- Set ambitious yet feasible revenue, donor retention and acquisition benchmarks to achieve both immediate (current FY) and long-term (next 3-5 years) goals for growth and sustainability of the region
- Oversee the process of non-payroll budget processing, tracking and manage decision making around budget, the refinement and development of the budget.
- Oversee the development and implementation of our annual gala (our biggest fundraising event of the year), ensuring the event hits goals
- Develop and implement strategies and tactical plans to achieve goals for different donor segments, and additional fundraising strategies in addition to the gala
- Regularly assess team-wide progress to goals, identify what is driving and impeding progress, develop solutions to address gaps, and adjust course as necessary
- Evaluate and assess the effectiveness of donor stewardship strategies, and leverage best practice and other innovative solutions to improve donor retention and satisfaction
Regional Team Responsibilities (10%)
- Support, attend, and/or participate in regional team activities, including corps member selection and matriculation, corps member professional development Saturdays (4-5 per year), staff meetings, functional team meetings and retreats, and regional pre-service (one week in June)
- 8 to 10 years of fundraising experience managing multiple streams and major donors, team management) required
- Knowledge of the education and philanthropic landscapes in D.C., Prince George’s County and Northern Virginia preferred
Skills
- You are an expert client-relationship manager who leverages a keen understanding of the beliefs, motivations and contexts of others as well as the power of networks to influence key stakeholders towards meaningful outcomes
- You are a long-range strategic and creative thinker who develops a strong charge for the role of Development and specifically our donor network in achieving the regional vision and designs a set of strategies & priorities to achieve it
- You are a skillful manager of people and operations who empowers the leadership of staff members. You’ll be adept at managing up to the Executive Director, board members and other champions to execute
- You can develop systems to track progress, streamline communication and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of team execution
- You are an effective communicator who crafts a compelling, inspiring story about our mission and work and can tailor cases for support to different audiences across a wide variety of communication channels (i.e. emails, grants, speeches, presentations, meetings, etc.).
- You possess an uncommon level of personal responsibility for achieving results, can broadly define what is within your control, persevere in the face of challenges and are exceptionally optimistic about what is possible
- You are committed to the local community, possess a thorough understanding of the local and national education reform movement, and are motivated by developing and mobilizing an external network in support of educational equity
- You have a demonstrated pattern of learning and continuously improving to grow and better self, teams and organization
- You must be proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint. Salesforce proficiency is ideal