Director of Philanthropy and Enterprise Development

THE SEARCH

The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) seeks an energetic, innovative leader to serve as Director of Philanthropy and Enterprise Development. Reporting to NACAC’s Chief Education and Policy Officer, the Director will be a creative thought leader, strategist, and savvy collaborator with expertise in cultivating foundations and high-dollar sponsors to generate support for innovative programs and services. Armed with foundational documents that include the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of Leadership in College Admission, recently refreshed mission and vision statements, and equity-focused advocacy and research, the director will play a key role in leveraging grant funding and sponsorship support to overcome long-standing capacity limitations that serve as barriers to expansion and development of initiatives to lead the college admission counseling profession into a new and more equitable future.

THE ASSOCIATION

NACAC is the largest association in the world for professionals who serve students during the transition from secondary to postsecondary education, with a membership of more than 26,000. The association works to expand access to higher education through policy, advocacy, networking and convening, and education and training. NACAC’s membership is comprised of postsecondary admissions professionals, high school counselors, independent educational consultants, and others throughout the United States and, increasingly, around the world. NACAC is fortunate to partner with 23 state and regionally based affiliate organizations that share a common mission to serve and support the needs of admission and counseling professionals.

STRATEGIC DIRECTION

NACAC is undergoing a transformation as it seeks to adopt a more forward-looking vision to create a more equitable future for postsecondary access. In that process, the association is pursuing creative ways to innovate in spaces where research and development, start-up, and maintenance of effort have historically proven challenging. The need for funding support spans three major categories: support for existing programs (traditional sponsorship), seed funding for new initiatives (grants and high-dollar social enterprise capital start-up investments), and broad organizational support (grants and sponsorships to support organizational underwriting and infrastructure). This work of the director will be particularly focused on seeding funding for new initiatives and broad organizational support and underwriting. The Director will liaise with NACAC’s existing staff and partners to ensure that the major development pursuits are coordinated with our traditional sponsorship activities.

NACAC will focus on the following strategic priorities as primary building blocks for our future:

• A movement toward greater access and success in postsecondary education
• College admission counseling professional workforce development
• Professional leadership to envision a more equitable future beyond current practice
• Support for research-based best practices in college admission counseling
• Commitment to ethical college admission practices

Framing Philanthropy and Enterprise Development at NACAC

With support from the association’s leadership team, the Director will oversee the development and implementation of a strategy to secure major grant and sponsorship funding to support the association’s priorities. Based on the organizational priorities outlined above, the director’s role will encompass four broad areas of responsibility:

Organizational Underwriting

Develop and implement strategies to secure major grants and/or sponsorships from corporations, foundations, and other interests to ensure that NACAC has the resources, staff, technology, and other structures necessary to bring its mission to fruition. Examples include:

• Mission implementation
• Broad support for access and equity initiatives
• Support for organizational social investments and charity
• Development of standards for best practice
• Support for efforts to promote public trust and transparency in college admission

Programmatic Innovation

Develop and implement strategies to secure major grants and/or sponsorships to support development of new programs, services, or resources.

• Education and training
• Student/university connections and fairs
• Public school counselor or Title I school membership
• Product development
• Market assessment and capital needs for specific reforms
• Technology infrastructure for specific programming
• Research

Strategic Positioning

Ensure that NACAC is aware of the social enterprise development grant and sponsorship landscape and develop strategies to position the association to successfully seek funding.

• Set an affirmative direction beyond current boundaries
• Scan environment to identify funding support
• Cultivate of potential funders
• Represent NACAC at conferences, events, and meetings where funders congregate

Support for Existing Programs

As noted above, this function is supported by existing NACAC staff and partners. The director will coordinate with existing staff to ensure that funding for new initiatives complements effort ongoing work to support existing program implementation, assessment, and improvement. Existing programs include, but are not limited to:

• NACAC Conferences and events
• College fairs and student connections
• Publications
• Web site
• Research
• Education and training

POSITION OVERVIEW

The director of philanthropy and enterprise development occupies a critical position that links NACAC’s future visioning with tangible actions to transform vision into reality. The leadership team’s determination of organizational priorities that require an infusion of external funding will provide clarity for the Director, who will be tasked with developing and implementing a strategy to obtain funding and support necessary.

The Director will report to with the Chief Education and Policy Officer, who also oversees Education and Training, Research, Advocacy, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. While this position is housed in the Education and Policy department, the Director will be in close contact with the leadership team and with staff from all other NACAC departments. In addition, the Director will work closely with the CEO to plan and implement fundraising strategy. Likewise, the Director will be able to rely on support from leadership and staff in the development and implementation of strategies related to philanthropy and enterprise development.

The Director will be assisted by an associate who is exclusively dedicated to this function.

THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE

Success in the role will be defined as securing funding, with the support of the NACAC leadership and staff, for new and innovative resources aligned with priorities identified by the association’s leadership. Successful strategy development, implementation, and coordination across function areas will contribute to overall success in the position.

The successful candidate will be an inspirational and effective leader who enjoys processes and strategy and is comfortable working across multiple areas of the association. The successful Director of Philanthropy and Enterprise Development will possess the following qualities and qualifications:

• Experience in donor prospect identification and cultivation
• Ability to form and maintain relationships with aligned organizations
• Knowledge of methods and strategies for fundraising from high-dollar sponsors
• Familiarity with foundation cultivation and grant applications
• Experience in grant implementation strategy
• A strong ability to develop, implement, and assess strategies for achieving clear objectives
• Familiarity with organizational growth and development
• Experience soliciting funds for programmatic innovation
• Start-up mentality with experience in building successful funding strategies from the ground up
• Ability to thrive in ambiguity and to adapt to changing circumstances

A Bachelor’s degree is a minimum requirement for the position.

SALARY RANGE

The salary range for this position is $135,000-145,000, commensurate with experience.

TO APPLY

To inquire further, or apply for this role, please email your cover letter and résumé to recruiting@nacacnet.org.

 NACAC is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law.

NACAC offers competitive compensation, an excellent benefits and retirement package, and a convenient location in the Washington, DC metro area. NACAC currently operates as a flexible hybrid work environment.