Skip to main content

This job has expired

Director, Corporate & Foundation Relations (Chicago/Memphis)

Employer
New Leaders
Location
Illinois, United States
Salary
Salary Commensurate with experience
Closing date
Jun 19, 2021

View more

Position Type
Fundraising, Corporate and Foundation Relations
Fields
Education
Employment Type
Full Time

Who We Are

To afford students real opportunities in life and build schools that reflect and foster a more just and equitable world, we need determined, unwavering school leaders committed to the truth that every student can excel. New Leaders is an educational leadership organization whose mission is driven by racial equity and social justice, and by an unwavering belief in the potential of every student. Building schools and systems that lift up Black and brown students and children from low-income communities is at our core. We forge deep partnerships to equip school leaders at all levels to be powerful and positive forces for change, especially in our most marginalized communities. We provide best-in-class leadership training that ensures schools are set up to provide all students with challenging, engaging learning experiences in every classroom, every day, year after year. To date, we have developed nearly 4,000 leaders who annually reach more than half a million students across the country. To support even more children and communities, we champion evidence-based policies that reflect the transformative power of exceptional school leadership and that break down inequitable structural and institutional barriers to student achievement and educational equity. By transforming our schools, we’ll transform our society.

Position Details

The Director, Corporate & Foundation Relations will work out of a home office and will report directly to the Executive Director, Institutional Giving. Strong preference for candidates who live in the Chicago, IL or Memphis, TN regions.

Position Overview

The Director, Corporate & Foundation Relations is responsible for supporting the department’s efforts to raise meaningful philanthropic gifts and grants from regional foundations and corporations. This position will develop and lead a regional portfolio of prospects and donors, from identification and qualification to cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. 

Specific Responsibilities

Direct Fundraising

  • Manage a portfolio of regional institutional donors and prospects in at least six distinct regions, including but not limited to Memphis, Chicago, Detroit, and North Carolina, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding significant financial support from these supporters.
  • Generate bold and compelling funding proposals, concept papers, reports, and other fundraising collateral while building strong relationships that treat these financial contributors as true partners in our work while regularly sharing the tremendous impact that their philanthropy makes.
  • Regularly meet with prospects and donors, both in-person and virtually, serving as an external face of New Leaders while providing deep and meaningful cultivation and stewardship touchpoints, including school visits, observation sessions, and funder meetings and events, leading all appropriate preparation and follow-up steps.
  • Regularly utilize the department’s database software to create and maintain proposal opportunities, action steps, and other information to track progress toward goals.

Leadership and Strategy

  • Work closely with the Executive Director, Institutional Giving in establishing clear and ambitious annual and long-term revenue goals for defined geographic regions.
  • Develop a robust and growing prospect pipeline of regional institutional funders through sophisticated prospect identification, qualification, and cultivation strategies, fully leveraging the talents of leadership staff and key volunteers, including regional advisory boards.
  • Collaborate with the Executive Director, Corporate Partnerships in developing a consistent strategy around the identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of regional corporate partners for average gifts ranging between $10,000 and $100,000.
  • Build strong, collaborative relationships across internal teams within the organization to cultivate and convey a deep level understanding of New Leaders’ programs and their impact on Black and brown students and students who experience poverty while engaging in clear and compelling fundraising work grounded in the principles of race, equity, and social justice.

The Director, Corporate & Foundation Relations will perform other duties as assigned in pursuit of the organization’s overall mission and goals.

Skills, Experiences, and Competencies

Belief that every student, in every circumstance, can achieve the highest levels of academic excellence, and passionate commitment to New Leaders’ mission and vision.

  • Bachelor’s degree required.
  • At least seven years of professional experience required, including 2-4 years of fundraising, proposal writing, and corporate partnership development, ideally in a nonprofit setting required.
  • Equity-driven with demonstrated ability to work well with people from a wide diversity of demographic and cultural characteristics; must be capable of achieving results while maintaining an inclusive, collaborative leadership style.
  • A strong belief in community-centric fundraising principles, grounded in race, equity, and social justice.
  • Superior communication skills, including active listening and the ability to compellingly articulate what is inspiring about our work and why it is critical to the broader education reform movement.
  • Energetic, self-motivated, and a team player.
  • Must be energized by external communications, fundraising, and relationship management.
  • Experienced in leading in-person funder meetings and highly comfortable working with foundation and corporate executives.
  • Highly organized, detail-oriented, and strong at prioritization and time management.
  • Must excel at planning, writing, storytelling, and creating compelling collateral.
  • Must be able to travel up approximately 20 percent annually (temporarily suspended).
  • Must be able to participate in regular team meetings via phone/video conference.

 New Leaders is an equal opportunity employer. New Leaders evaluates applicants for employment on the basis of qualifications, merit and work-related criteria and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental or physical disability, handicap, pregnancy, childbirth, medical condition, marital or familial status, family responsibilities, veteran status, personal appearance, political affiliation, matriculation, or any other characteristic protected by law in administration and operation of its Programs and activities, including admission or access thereto, or treatment or employment therein. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of such status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of such status.

Get job alerts

Create a job alert and receive personalized job recommendations straight to your inbox.

Create alert