The client is seeking an entrepreneurial fundraising leader to serve as its inaugural Vice President of Development, responsible for launching the organization’s first dedicated Development office. This build-focused role will design and implement fundraising strategies, source, solicit, and cultivate relationships with individual philanthropists and philanthropic institutions, and lead contributed revenue fundraising activities executed by Gift Officers and Philanthropic Strategists. The Vice President will partner with senior staff, board members, and key partners to align a robust contributed revenue program with organizational priorities.
The Vice President will report to the Executive Director of The client’s foundation and will focus on three interconnected priorities: building broadly restricted support for The client’s work, raising philanthropic capital for client-led initiatives, and leading and building the development team. The role is expected to deliver credible near-term progress, including meaningful gifts secured within the first several months, while simultaneously creating longer-term development infrastructure to sustain growth. In this context, the Vice President will develop the systems, pipeline, and moves-management practices that do not yet exist, working with a small, committed team that includes a Major Gift Officer and Prospect Researcher, as well as an indirect reporting line to a cohort of approximately 14 Philanthropic Strategists newly charged with fundraising as part of their broader responsibilities.
Key responsibilities include partnering with senior leaders to raise unrestricted and broadly restricted operating support; sustaining and growing momentum for pooled grantmaking funds in focus areas such as democracy, climate justice, immigration, gender equity, and reproductive health through close coordination with program leadership; and creating a sustainable, high-performing development function by cultivating existing talent and establishing new roles as needed. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated leadership in major/principal gifts development, the ability to build fundraising infrastructure from the ground up, and the capacity to collaborate effectively with senior stakeholders while advancing both near-term and long-term fundraising goals.