Reading Partners is changing the education landscape. We are a leader in working to solve the literacy crisis in our country by leveraging community volunteers in under-resourced schools. Our diverse and expansive volunteer base provides one-on-one tutoring to students twice weekly, and our program is proven to help children master the reading fundamentals they need to unlock their potential as successful, happy and confident readers in school and in life. Our people are our heartbeat and our greatest resource; we are all passionately rallied around our mission to help children become lifelong learners by empowering communities to provide individualized instruction that works. Join our stellar team leading the charge to deepen our impact and expand our service. Watch this video to learn more about Reading Partners.
The High Level
The Director of Philanthropy is the lead on Silicon Valley’s fundraising strategy and part of a dynamic regional team working to support Reading Partners’ strategic growth plan. Reporting to the Executive Director, the Director of Philanthropy’s main roles are to create and implement the overarching regional fundraising strategy, lead cultivation and stewardship of many high-level external relationships, and lead, develop, and mobilize local support to achieve ambitious fundraising goals. As a trusted advisor and strategic thought partner to the Executive Director, the Director of Philanthropy is a senior leader in the region who catalyzes regional growth as a resource mobilizer, as a fundraising and external relations expert, and as a savvy people leader and relationship builder.
The Director of Philanthropy is a highly collaborative, detail-oriented, compelling writer and driven relationship builder, excited by both higher-level strategy and on-the-ground operational work. The Director of Philanthropy will also lead all aspects of fundraising operations including:
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Creating and implementing regional development systems and tools
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Leading Salesforce data entry, management, and improving data integrity
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Providing support services to the fundraising network, including training and customer service coordination
What you’ll do:
Create, lead, and drive overarching fundraising strategy, operational plans, and all revenue activities to meet or exceed the fundraising goal of $1.7 million for the Silicon Valley Region.
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Manage a portfolio of existing and new foundation, corporate, and individual relationships to meet annual fundraising goals by the end of fiscal year.
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Maintain, renew, and upgrade current portfolio of donors
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Support the region in raising 3% more than previous year revenue goal
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Collaborate with ED to develop and implement innovative strategies to increase support from new funding streams.
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Create a fundraising strategic plan for the next 3-5 years
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Drive regional external relations and local brand
Drive regional development operations and provide administrative support by:
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Supporting Salesforce data analysis to track fundraising and revenue generation progress, including maintenance of dashboards and key reports
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Ensure timely and accurate gift entry, acknowledgment, and reporting in Salesforce for all revenue streams
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Assemble donor lists for annual appeal and other requests
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Identify additional system improvement opportunities including, but not limited to: corporate donation tracking, annual revenue planning, annual report donor list development, gift acknowledgment protocols, etc.
Maintenance and enhancement of all internal systems and processes to support external revenue activities to meet or exceed ambitious fundraising goals for the entire region.
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Lead on writing for fundraising and external relations including grant writing, meeting brief creation, donor cultivation tracking, event planning, prospect research, and data aggregation.
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Conduct prospect research to identify and qualify foundation, corporate, and major gift prospects.
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Develop collateral such as decks and one-pagers for funders and events as needed.
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Provide support in implementing the annual appeal as well as peer-to-peer campaign support.
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Provide logistics and support on future in-person and virtual events.
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Support all shared development team responsibilities including board and committee meetings, annual mailings, site visits, etc.
Other duties as needed
How you’ll do it:
Relationship Development:
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Demonstrate experience in external relations and relationship development. Demonstrate a genuine joy in connecting with donors, and all external stakeholders.
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Internally, establish highly collaborative relationships with all team members. .Demonstrate a hunger to learn, grow, support, and add great value Regularly seek to understand all aspects of our model to convey externally.
Strategic Planning:
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Demonstrate an ability to devise innovative regional strategic fundraising plans, create action steps, and mobilize many stakeholders to achieve fundraising goals. Build sustainable plans to maximize market opportunities, meet goals, and significantly grow funding.
New Revenue Generation:
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Demonstrate a proficient ability to conduct research, to prospect, and to drive ongoing external development efforts in rapidly growing organizations, particularly within the Silicon Valley region.
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Demonstrate excitement to steward and leverage relationships that result in meeting or exceeding target fundraising goals. Boast an entrepreneurial spirit and actively seek to deepen current donor relationships and forge new ones.
External Relations and Communication:
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Effectively write high-quality donor communications that demonstrate deep knowledge of our program and promote our mission.
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Demonstrate the ability to write customized and compelling grant reports, proposals and letters of intent.
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Externally, serve as an ambassador of Reading Partners. Quickly establish credibility when promoting Reading Partners to external audiences. Demonstrate a high degree of comfort and poise with donors, corporations, and prospects.
Development Operations Management:
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Demonstrate a strong detail orientation, a strong drive for accuracy, and the ability to manage projects independently, and as part of a team. Execute all work in a highly organized, analytical, and data-driven manner. Demonstrate the ability to prioritize, and problem-solve.
Project Management:
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Create clear project plans with diligent implementation making sure all assigned projects are thoroughly completed on time. Identify and communicate all contributors, deadlines, and expectations before and during a project. Understand the vision and distill it into actionable and manageable pieces.
About you!
You’ll be successful in this role if you:
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Have 5+ years of increasing responsibility in a development or related role
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Are achievement-oriented and have a demonstrated track record of exceeding significant fundraising goals
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Have 5+ years of increasing responsibility in a development or related role
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Experience building strong and productive relationships with regional/national philanthropic organizations, individual donors, stakeholders, and peers
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Comfort working within a startup fundraising environment and working on small teams
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Have demonstrated experience in planning, leading, and managing development projects, to achieve desired outcomes, and tracking and reporting on progress to leaders
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Can demonstrate experience managing virtual and in-person fundraising events
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Are an exceptional and persuasive communicator in written and verbal communication
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Have experience in fundraising marketing and/or campaign communications
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Hold a Bachelor’s degree and/or equivalent experience in business, nonprofit management, or a related field
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A desire to root your work in our mission and core values
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Ability to prove eligibility to work legally in the U.S.
Bonus points if you:
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Are an AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, or other national service alum/alumna
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Have a high degree of comfort with Salesforce or other fundraising databases
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Experience work in education or literacy
What we offer:
Reading Partners’ compensation and benefits programs are designed to attract, motivate, engage, and retain top talent to propel our mission forward. We aim to set salaries based on objective, external, high-quality market data. Our salaries are adjusted for candidates in different geographic regions. We do our very best to ensure that we’re bringing our best offer - therefore we do not engage in salary negotiations.
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This is a full-time, exempt, salaried position. The pay range for this position is $120,000 - $125,200.
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We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, flex spending accounts, generous paid time off, commuter benefits, an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and currently a 403(b) match option.
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Professional development reimbursement fund up to $1,000 per year.
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Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO) benefits for regular employees scheduled to work 30 hours or more per week
The other things you need to know
What’s Next?
If you’re interested in joining our Reading Partners team, please submit the following application materials to our online job posting:
Reading Partners is an Equal Opportunity Employer, with a strong commitment to diversity in the workplace.
