Deputy Director, Development and Fundraising

Who We Are:

Situated at the forefront of the national stage in the racial justice movement, Advancement Project is a cutting-edge, no-holds-barred national organization dedicated to building local power in communities of color. Centered on a movement lawyering approach, defined as community-centered racial justice lawyering, Advancement Project supports power building in grassroots organizations working to eliminate oppressive structures in our laws and institutions and shift narratives towards transformative change. From ending the school-to-prison pipeline to the fight to expand the right to vote, from calling for a complete overhaul of how we view the police and carceral state, to fighting for immigrant justice, Advancement Project impacts real change from the ground up. Building on more than 20 years, we continue to evolve our strategic thinking and creativity to imagine a more just world in which people of color can thrive, be safe, and free. – and we are excited to bring new talent to advance our vision.

The Advancement Project’s track record of success includes:

• Pioneering the movement to end the school-to-prison pipeline and winning significant victories in several school districts nationwide to reform disciplinary policies and practices and remove police from schools entirely, including building and nurturing a grassroots movement of parents and youth. This work led to federal guidance on racial discrimination in school discipline.
• Launching the National Police Free Schools Campaign with the Alliance for Education Justice, supporting local youth-led campaigns to end policing in their schools, and calling for national demands for change for safety in public schools.
• Serving as legal counsel in a key 2000 presidential election case in Florida, successfully challenging North Carolina’s 2013 voter suppression law, and being a founding member of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition that won the ballot initiative to strike down the state’s ban on voting for those with felony convictions. Supported legislative efforts to pass the Virginia Voting Rights Act, the first state voting rights statute of its kind in the South.
• Supporting the Close the Workhouse Campaign in St. Louis, led by Action St, Louis, and securing an agreement with the city to close a jail and reinvest money into the community.
• Working with survivors of Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans to ensure their voices were heard in the process of reconstructing the city.

Position Overview:

The Deputy Director of Development will help to lead the fundraising strategy for the organization, strengthen the organization’s revenue picture, and maintain a strong funder relationship for the organization. The Deputy Director will also assist in developing and executing plans to meet the overall revenue goals each year and will play a key role in building the reputation of Advancement Project’s work with donors and corporate funders.

This is a management role on the Development team with direct reports and will report to the Managing Director of Development.

This position will be based in Washington, DC.

What You’ll Do:

Fundraising Strategy and Funder Relationship Management

• Independently manage and implement fundraising strategies for three fundraising portfolios: corporate giving, special events, and special digital campaigns.
• Oversee the organization’s corporate fundraising strategy inclusive of corporate gifts, sponsorships, and partnerships. Independently hold a portfolio of relationships with corporate prospects and current funders to ensure we maintain strong relationships with our institutional funders, remain in good standing, and strengthen our reputation with funders. This includes meeting with contacts, regularly communicating about our work, and managing strategies for solicitation and proposal submission.
• Responsible for special event planning and fundraising efforts. This includes managing special anniversary events that happen every five years, as well as conceiving other opportunities to host events that could raise money and awareness for the Advancement Project.

Revenue Management

• Oversee internal coordination and finance/revenue controls to ensure our fundraising records are reconciled with accounting, and that we have appropriate backup documentation filed for all donations.
• Manage the annual reporting and development team's general reporting process. Produce financial reports for the Managing Director of Development, Senior Leadership team, and Board of Directors and related committees to report fundraising revenue, utilizing metrics to track progress and areas of opportunity, and to keep the leadership team apprised of challenges by identifying cultural trends related to philanthropy.
• Lead the process to develop yearly revenue projections and goals for the development team in partnership with the Managing Director of Development.

Funder communications management

• Envision and manage funder briefings to engage prospects and current funders in our work in meaningful ways and build relationships between our program experts and institutional funders.
• Serve as an expert resource for AP staff who may have questions related to prospective funders, narrative framing for their work, and matching our prospects to their project opportunities.
• Manage the process for creating an Annual Report for the organization every year, including being the primary contact for the Communications Team to coordinate on design and release of the report.

Provide leadership and management within the Development team

• Lead team meetings and coordinate team-wide activities in coordination with the Managing Director.
• Directly manage assigned team members, including training, assigning and directing work, providing performance feedback and reviews, employee discipline, and addressing employee concerns as well as making recommendations for employee separations, promotions, or special assignments.
• Be a resource for other team members, and provide advice and guidance on team norms and work.
• Manage special initiatives of the team when necessary.

Other duties as assigned in the full job description.

What You Need to be Considered:

• 7 years of experience in fundraising or related non-profit experience.

• Bachelor's degree and 3 years of experience managing others.

• Strong written communication skills, including the ability to advocate and communicate with authority.

• Maintain advanced working knowledge of fund-raising techniques, including storytelling skills, donor rights, code of ethics, as well as internal policies and procedures.

• Demonstrate organizational, interpersonal, and follow-through skills necessary to execute public and private events and successfully manage projects.

• Effectively communicate information and ideas to executives, board members, and other high-profile groups and individuals, as well as compose precise, effective, and grammatically correct reports, procedures, legal documents, and business correspondence appropriate for the intended audience.

• Ability to read and comprehend grant reports, applications, and related budget reports and statements.

• Manage a high volume of tasks at one time, including organizing and prioritizing your work.

• Demonstrate flexibility and adaptability in a fast-paced environment.

• Make sound and timely informed decisions in complex situations.

• Work independently with minimum direction while also working as part of a team and collaborating with others.

• Demonstrate initiative, including proactively identifying and addressing issues and making recommendations.

• Demonstrate a high attention to detail.

• Maintain advanced working knowledge of software programs, such as Microsoft Office including, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook, and Raiser's Edge and other grants management software programs.

Please submit a writing sample with your cover letter

This position pays between $113,000 and $137,000 depending on experience.

Keywords

FundraisingManagementStrategyFunderRelationshipRevenueCommunicationLeadershipDevelopmentNonprofitEvents