Director of Development

Director of Development Job Description

Who we are:

Publicolor seeks a strategic and high-energy development leader who will strategize a comprehensive revenue plan for a dynamic design-based youth organization and implement it with the Founder/President, staff and board.

Publicolor, a 25-year-old Founder-run organization, seeks someone who is very savvy about NYC philanthropy and is deeply committed to educational equity. Our unique design-based programs focus on empowering high-risk, low-income students from our city’s struggling middle and high schools to plan and prepare for success in school, college, career, and life. The organization’s budget is $3.6 million and this person will have five reports.

Our values:

• We see all children as walking potential and our job is to help them realize it.
• Integrity – Our word is our bond.
• Commitment – We’re on a mission to ensure that the next generation is well-educated and well-mentored so they are prepared to be productive in the workplace and in the communities in which they live.
• Community – In addition to our team being our students’ second family, each Publicolor student devotes 300 hours each year to community service.
• Hard Work – We expect every student and staff member to work fast, intelligently and with focus 100% of the time.

What you’ll do:

The ideal candidate is a driven self-starter who is NY savvy, has a track record of fundraising success, superb management skills, and believes strongly in the potential of under-achieving low-income students and the power of arts/design programming to be transformative. This person must be comfortable and strategic about asking for funding, must encourage efficiency and effectiveness from the fundraising team, and must be comfortable/knowledgeable about fundraising systems and best practices. This is a senior full-time position.

This person will be responsible for growing Publicolor’s development effectiveness, for developing and executing the development plan – holding themselves and the team responsible for their goals. This person will ensure that Publicolor raises the necessary funding to drive our trailblazing programs and their growth. This person must be a good communicator and enjoy working collaboratively. This person will work in concert with the Founder and the SVP/CFO.

The right candidate must have a long-term interest in advancing the mission of Publicolor and should be proactive and creative in expanding and diversifying Publicolor’s funder base. The successful candidate will help forge new relationships to build Publicolor’s visibility, impact, and financial resources. The right candidate must have at least ten years fundraising experience, including experience with events and online campaigns. This position is ideal for the person who wants to increase the robustness of Publicolor’s donorbase so that our strategic vision for program growth over the next 25 years can be achieved.

The areas of oversight and responsibility include major gifts, primarily from individuals, corporate partnerships, strategic board development and growth, and the creation and implementation of fundraising strategies. Detailed responsibilities will include:

• Develop strategies to increase current donors’ commitment, engage new donors, and expand the revenue streams.
• Identify and cultivate potential board candidates.
• Work closely with board to identify new sources of funding.
• Help lead and strengthen a team to solicit and secure funds and resources via major gifts, foundation grants, corporate appeals, annual fund, and special events.
• Work closely with Founder/President on board development and management.
• Act as an integral part of the leadership team and be responsible for the implementation of development goals.
• Develop a deep knowledge of the core programs and operations.
• Ensure that Publicolor effectively communicates the result of its programs and the passion of its Founder.
• Oversee the continued enhancement and full functional use of Publicolor’s database.
• Plan and prepare the development fundraising budget to maximize resources using best practices in the field, working closely with the CFO.
• Hold the fundraising team accountable.
• Develop and implement an effective legacy gift campaign.

What you’ll bring:

• 10 years at least of experience in institutional fundraising and proposal writing.
• Deep knowledge of the philanthropic landscape in New York.
• Can speak and write credibly and convincingly about the intersection of design thinking, youth development, educational equity, and how this affects high-risk students. Ability to articulate the organization’s mission, programs, and its uniqueness in a creative, compelling, and effective manner.
• An analytical, and strategic thinker with good judgment and sensitivity.
• Ability to thrive on setting and scaling ambitious fundraising goals.
• Excellent written, verbal, editing, and interpersonal skills.
• A clear passion and commitment to empowering at-risk students to realize their potential.
• Event experience/familiarity.
• An informed appreciation of our use of design-based programs to successfully engage high-risk students in their education.
• Ability to work collaboratively with Publicolor staff across various functions.
• Experience in using DonorPerfect, Microsoft Office, and wealth screening software.
• Systems and database competence.
• Strong management skills.
• A commitment to high bar for quality and high level of productivity.
• An understanding of the importance of segmenting our data so we can market Publicolor to different segments instead of creating one campaign to our constituent base.
• An understanding of coding and how it affects reporting.
• An understanding of how to leverage our database to drive Publicolor’s message and create a blueprint to acquire major donors using the database and prospect researching tools we have.

About Publicolor:

Pubilcolor is a 25 year-old youth development organization that engages high-risk students in their education through a multi-day, multi-year continuum of design-based programs that empower them for success in school, college, career, and life. Unlike most other youth organizations that focus on high-achieving, low-income students, Publicolor deliberately targets those students who are at high risk of dropping out. Our project-based learning models succeed in engaging them in their education year-round. 240 New York City schools and 231 under-resourced community sites have been Publicolored since 1996 – affecting 880,000 students + teachers and 2,495,000 residents of low-income communities. And for the past years, 100% of our students finished high school on time, and 100% went on to college or to post-secondary accreditation programs. Publicolor has been honored twice at the White House (Clinton and Obama).

What We Offer:

Compensation is competitive and commensurate with experience. Publicolor offers a competitive benefits package and is an equal opportunity employer organization.

Apply:

All applications MUST be accompanied by a cover letter. Those without one won’t be considered. Please send resume and cover letter to jobs [at] publicolor.org.

Job Type: Full-time