Director of Development USA

Location:   New York City based.  Working from home currently and then flexible

Reports to: Director of Global Fundraising and Engagement (UK based)

Direct Reports: Fundraising Manager-Donor Engagement, US

Annual salary:  $120,000

About Lumos

Lumos is an international children’s charity founded in 2005 by children’s author J.K. Rowling to end the harmful practice of institutionalisation of children. Lumos’ mission is to fight for every child’s right to a family by transforming care systems around the world.  Our vision is for all children to grow up in safe and loving families. 

Despite clear evidence of the harms of institutionalisation, an estimated 5.4 million children worldwide continue to live in institutions. Separated from their families and communities, these children are deprived of the love, attention, and opportunities they need to thrive. We have made important progress in closing harmful institutions and reuniting children with their families. And where children are unable to live with their birth families, we promote alternative family-based care, such as kinship care and quality foster care.

Thanks to our tireless efforts alongside many other champions of care reform, the harms of institutionalisation are now more widely understood. A global movement is underway and the UN, the EU and some large development agencies have joined individual countries in pledging to change how they care for vulnerable children.  We are committed to ensuring that global policy commitments are translated into local action, leading to sustainable change for vulnerable children.

Over the past 15 years Lumos has worked directly in different countries around the world to demonstrate that it is possible to change systems of care and fulfil children’s rights.  Building on our heritage and direct experience of systems reform, our new strategy focuses on sharing learning with others to reach more children and amplify the impacts of our work on children’s lives. Our new strategy for 2021-2023 has three priorities:

Building Global Expertise: We will use our knowledge and experience to support those responsible for reforming care systems in their own countries. This will include providing technical support, evidence, and guidance to help design and run better care systems, as well as learning exchanges where they can share experiences and challenges.

Catalysing Change: We will use evidence to motivate and press governments to reform the way they care for children. This will involve leading targeted research and advocacy campaigns to identify and tackle the drivers of institutionalisation, promoting accountability by tracking and highlighting progress, and influencing international funding, programmes, and policy.

Demonstrating & Innovating: Building on our heritage of successful programmes showing how care systems can be reformed, we will use what we have learnt in the past to support partners with their own reform efforts. Over the next two years, as we complete our current country demonstration work in Eastern Europe, we’ll identify programmes in new regions – building expertise and evidence of what good care reform looks like in new and challenging contexts, particularly for those children that typically get left behind.

Role Description

Based in New York City, the Director of Development USA, will report to the UK-based Director of Global Fundraising and Engagement to set and meet fundraising targets for North America. As a key member of the global fundraising team, this role will raise funds for the important work of Lumos. They will plan, organize, and lead fundraising for Lumos in the United States, ensuring that targets are met and exceeded, and that Lumos USA’s fundraising is carefully coordinated within its global strategy and structure.  

Responsibilities

• Plan fundraising activity, setting annual and longer-term targets
• Identify new corporate, trust and foundation prospects and develop strategies for engagement and cultivation of these prospects with the goal of significantly growing the base of foundation and corporate donors
• Cultivate new HNWI and expand the donor base and increase giving among existing supporters
• Create strategic, tailored cultivation and stewardship plans for every prospect and donor that results in successful retention of current donors, and that maximizes the giving potential of both prospects and current donors
• Create and maintain the operational systems required to manage donor cultivation, stewardship, and research to ensure efficiency, effectiveness, and alignment with all corporate and foundation grant guidelines
• Work collaboratively with global fundraising team (including the Heads of Philanthropy, Marketing, Trusts & Foundations in the UK, and the Head of Wizarding World in the US) and across other divisions within the organization to promote a culture of philanthropy and to write, develop and submit high quality written communications at all stages of the development process, including letters of intent, proposals, and mid-year and final reports, drawing on input and expertise from program staff
• Project and monitor annual revenue and feed into the global budgeting process
• Lead an annual fundraising gala in the U.S.
• Work with colleagues to formulate and submit high-quality applications and reports to a broad range of funders
• Coordinate fundraising activity with local and global colleagues; develop and maintain excellent relationships with colleagues in the US and at the London head office
• Work with colleagues, boards and/or external agencies to manage fundraising and cultivation events

Qualifications

The successful candidate must be committed to the Lumos mission. Additional attributes include:

• Demonstrated experience working successfully with a range of high-value donors including at least two of the following: individuals, foundations, governments, and corporates
• Proven track record of raising six and seven figure gifts annually, including identifying new donors, putting in place excellent donor management and cultivation strategies, and asking for major and principal gifts
• Experience working with boards to raise major gifts
• Proven ability to plan and execute major gift activities; creative and strategic thinker who can create tailored approaches to donors
• Skilled and enthusiastic relationship- and network-builder who can build partnerships to achieve ambitious income targets
• Ability to work independently, with mature judgment and a strong work ethic, while maintaining collaborative relationships with global colleagues
• Strong planning and organizational skills with exceptional follow-through
• Excellent leader and motivator of staff, volunteers, and board members
• Proactive, self-motivated, results-driven professional who thrives in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to prioritize and manage complex situations and deliver to tight deadlines
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal skills; able to communicate and negotiate with a wide range of people
• Positive attitude, well-informed individual able to represent Lumos in any situation
• Ability to organize and present data to create meaningful messages for a variety of audiences
• Strong budgetary and financial acumen; ability to source and cost bids/projects, as well as to forecast, analyze, and monitor financial performance
• Understanding of US funding landscape
• Diplomatic, analytical, trustworthy, and of the highest personal and professional integrity

Safeguarding Statement

Lumos recognizes that the rights of safety and security are aligned with its core mission of ending institutionalization.  Effective and robust safeguarding sit at the heart of our mission and values, and accordingly, Lumos is committed to ensuring the safety and protection of children and vulnerable adults in all its work.  We expect all staff, associates, and volunteers to share this commitment.  Lumos will carefully screen all applicants and any offers of employment are subject to appropriate employment and background checks, as well as suitable references from previous employers.

Lumos is committed to ensuring the safety and protection of children and adults at risk in all of our work.   All staff and associates must:

• Carry out all duties with an awareness and understanding of the Safeguarding requirements within their area of responsibility.
• Ensure work complies with all safeguarding policies and procedures that apply to the role.
• Ensure the that their behaviors and actions support the safeguarding of children, young people, and adults at risk as appropriat

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Statement

Lumos is wholly committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion and against all forms of discrimination.    

We are committed to creating and sustaining a positive working environment that encourages, supports, and gives a voice to all, so that we can best support the children we serve.   We must ensure that all staff are equally valued, included, empowered, and respected across the organization and in everything we do. Lumos is fundamentally built on diverse, multi-national and multi-cultural teams.   This is something we cherish as a key strength and an integral part of our identity. Our organization values and celebrates the diversity, culture, and experience of each member of staff, provides equality of care, and support to everyone.    

We pledge to listen carefully, to educate ourselves continually, to promote open dialogue, and to seek out and deal with discrimination and prejudice wherever it occurs in Lumos. 

Our Values

Children are at the heart of everything we do. Every child needs love and care in order to flourish – and we are proud that this is reflected in the values we hold within our organisation. We want to see all children grow up in safe and loving families. Our core values drive us forward in our vision, underpin

every aspect of our work and strategy and are critical to helping us maintain a thriving and effective organisation. By making sure every individual feels valued and empowered, we can bring about the very best outcomes for the children we serve.

• We embrace COLLABORATION
• We strive for EXCELLENCE  
• We show RESPECT
• We always CARE
• We are PASSIONATE

To apply for this role

Please send a letter of application stating the skills and approach that you would bring to the post with your CV/resume (no photos) in strict confidence by email only to Zoe Oldham at zoeoldham@darylupsall.com.

Please ensure that they are sent as Word documents with the titles “your name cover letter” and “your name CV” Please put “Lumos – Director of Development USA” in the email subject line. Also please let us know where you saw the post advertised.

The deadline for applications is Sunday the 2nd of April 2021

Daryl Upsall International actively promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion. In recruiting candidates, we seek candidates with the proven skills required, irrespective of race, gender, religion or belief, age, disability, or sexual orientation.