Director of Development, West Coast

The Position: 

The Director of Development, West Coast directly contributes to reaching The Intercept’s ambitious fundraising goals and ensuring that a major digital news organization is sustainable for years to come. This role focuses on planning and implementing an annual fundraising plan, soliciting major individual and institutional donors. This position is responsible for managing a portfolio of current and prospective donors, with an emphasis on acquiring new funders and improving the retention of current funders. Working closely with the Senior Director of Development, this role supports planning and implementing major giving campaigns, and identifying and cultivating new supporters. This position manages the majority of The Intercept’s foundation relationships regardless of region and will oversee West Coast fundraising activities.

Reporting directly to the Senior Director of Development, this position collaborates with The Intercept’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Strategy Officer in their work duties. While The Intercept works remotely with team members across the United States, this role is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. This position will require regular local travel for mission critical duties, as well as 4-6 trips to New York or D.C. annually. As with most development roles, some evening and weekend commitments are expected.

The Intercept seeks candidates with a passion for development, relationship management, and prospect research. The ideal candidate will be team oriented, self-directed, and have experience securing five- and six-figure gifts. Familiarity with the Bay Area philanthropic community and fundraising in journalism are pluses.

Responsibilities:

Fundraising Strategy

● With the Senior Director, develop and implement an ambitious fundraising plan to support short- and long-term sustainability efforts;

● Assess progress toward goals and make recommendations on strategy to support fundraising objectives;

● Proactively identify, qualify, and cultivate prospective major individual and institutional donors to strengthen the supporter pipeline and to increase giving with a focus on five- and six-figure gifts;

● With the Development Coordinator, prepare research profiles and meeting briefs.

Major Donor Individual and Institutional Fundraising

● Oversee the majority of institutional funding relationships, including managing the submission calendar;

● Lead solicitation, stewardship, and engagement for a portfolio of institutional funding partners and high-net-worth individual donors and prospects in the Bay Area;

● Write fundraising materials, including grant proposals and reports, impact updates, and other fundraising collateral.

Project Management and Data

● Provide reports on fundraising activities;

● Use CRM (Salesforce and ActionKit) to gain insights into donor portfolio progress, including running reports;

● Collaborate with the Development Coordinator to ensure donor data is accurate and up to date.

Background & Qualifications

● Respect and alignment with the importance and integrity of the organization’s mission

● A minimum of four (4) years’ of front-line fundraising experience with demonstrated ability to manage five- and six-figure gifts

● Experience fundraising in journalism and media is a plus

● Highly organized and able to track and manage multiple projects simultaneously, including ability to prioritize work projects and meet deadlines

● Eagerness to work collaboratively in a team-oriented and goal-driven environment with the utmost level of integrity

● Competency with Salesforce operations or demonstrated ability to adapt from an equivalent CRM platform

● Demonstrated critical thinking skills to analyze data and understand its relationship to the overall fundraising objectives

● Proficiency with G Suite, particularly Sheets

● Familiarity with prospect research tools, such as Foundation Directory Online and iWave

● Strong skills in oral and written communications