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 leads Los Angeles fundraising efforts, building relationships and cultivating local opportunities to support Reading Partners’ strategic growth plan. Reporting 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. They are responsible for the creation and implementation of the regional fundraising strategy.
At Reading Partners Los Angeles the Director of Philanthropy’s main roles are to:
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Create and implement the overarching regional fundraising strategy;
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Lead cultivation and stewardship of many high-level external relationships; and to lead, develop, and mobilize the local development operations to achieve ambitious fundraising goals. This includes: corporate engagement, individual and institutional giving as well as event fundraising.
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Directly manage a full-time Development Manager
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Sustain and support board management in close partnership with the Executive Director
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Generate new fundraising relationships and streams
What you’ll do:
Each year, create, lead, and drive overarching fundraising strategy, operational plans, and all revenue activities to meet or exceed annual private fundraising goals, starting at $2 million for the Los Angeles region.
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Independently manage a robust portfolio of existing and new foundation, corporate, and individual funding relationships to exceed annual fundraising goals.
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Maintain, renew, and upgrade the current portfolio of donors.
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Support the region in raising a minimum 10% more than previous year’s revenue goal.
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Work closely with a Development Manager to own, develop and implement innovative strategies to increase support from new funding streams.
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Collaborate with Community Engagement and Program teams to develop compelling and reflective narratives about community impact.
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Translate and promote understanding of racial equity, diversity, and inclusion (REDI) principles throughout fundraising relationships.
Strategic revenue growth
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Create an annual fundraising strategic plan for the next 3-5 years.
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Produce and execute strong cultivation plans for donor prospects.
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Create timelines, touch points and connections for individual donors.
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Increase corporate giving partnerships by 20% in the first year.
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Develop and implement strategies to raise 30% of upcoming fiscal year revenue in the previous fiscal year.
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Produce and analyze reports and data to drive progress.
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Create and implement cultivation strategies to build progressive, multi-year and planned giving.
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Work with the Reading Partners Los Angeles (RPLA) team to integrate brand and revenue development.
Cultivate funding opportunities
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Manage, renew and upgrade a portfolio of existing and new institutional, corporate, and individual relationships to meet or exceed annual fundraising goals.
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Work collaboratively with Board and partners to expand supporter network.
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Support Board in partner engagement and stewardship.
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Use wealth screening tools to identify current and new stakeholders to build relationships with potential donors.
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Develop, cultivate and inspire relationships with corporate donors as sponsors and long-term sustainability partners.
Fundraising event planning and execution
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Manage Reading Los Angeles’ signature fundraising event and other in-person events; expand revenue, attendance and participation.
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Develop creative strategies to keep fundraising campaigns and events fresh and engaging to serve successful introduction and retention points with the organization.
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Provide staff leadership to the Development Committee and Board Fundraising Committee to develop effective strategies for fundraising events and activities.
Lead, inspire and shephard the RPLA Fundraising efforts and local champions
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Manage and collaborate with the Development Manager to execute the annual fundraising plan.
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Work with the Executive Director to build and support a highly invested board.
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Manage annual Board fundraising planning and goal achievement.
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Develop high-quality, mission-aligned email and social media content to steward donors and grow brand awareness.
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Lead team, both paid and volunteer, to execute their responsibilities with excellence and creativity, by providing clear and compelling strategies, coaching and constructive feedback.
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Engage Development Manager to their highest potential and inspire their career path in development.
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Continue professional and personal development to lead with confidence and humility, especially with regard to REDI.
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Translate revenue needs from RPLA team to budget and fundraising planning.
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Engage as a thought partner with colleagues throughout the Reading Partners organization.
Drive development operations and project management
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Work with Development Manager to drive streamlined development operations and event planning, ensuring deadlines are met and deliverables are of the highest quality.
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Ensure database is managed to meet local and national expectations, with minimal corrections identified on audit reports.
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Manage regional external relations and local brand in collaboration with team.
Work with a collaborative team to produce equitable education opportunities for the students in the Greater Los Angeles
How you’ll do it:
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. In addition, leverage systems, people, and resources to drive processes and track progress against goals to report on progress to senior leadership and board. Execute work in a highly organized, analytical, and data-informed manner.
External Relations & Communication
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Demonstrate advanced experience in external relations, board management and communication, and strategic stewardship and cultivation of donors. Deliver convincing messaging and demonstrate a genuine joy in connecting with donors, and all external stakeholders that reflects Reading Partners’ culture and values.
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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.
New Revenue Generation
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Demonstrate a strong track record in driving development efforts in rapidly growing organizations particularly in Los Angeles. Demonstrate ability to hit fundraising goals, generate new funding sources, and run sophisticated corporate and individual giving campaigns. Demonstrate success in cultivation. Show a strong hunger and drive to not only drive strategy internally, but also to heavily participate in external relationship building and fundraising.
People Leadership
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Positively collaborate with, and lead an internal team to meet and exceed aggressive fundraising goals. Consistently coach, grow, and create stretch assignments to grow future fundraising leaders from within.
About you!
You’ll be successful in this role if you:
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Have 5+ years of development/fundraising leadership or increasing responsibility in a development/fundraising role in nonprofit
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Have successfully lead a team for at least 1 year and consistently met development/fundraising goals
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Demonstrate a strong track record in driving development efforts in rapidly growing mission-oriented organizations particularly in Los Angeles
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Can demonstrate the ability to maintain strong long-term donor relationships
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Provide examples and demonstrate strong grant writing skills and understanding of grant writing requirements
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Have experience reading, interpreting and providing financial reports for donors
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Are an exceptional and persuasive communicator in writing and verbally
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Are achievement-oriented and have a demonstrated track record of achieving aggressive fundraising goals
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Hold a Bachelor’s degree and/or equivalent experience
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Can prove eligibility to work in the U.S. legally
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Boast a deep belief in our mission
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Root your work in our core values
Bonus Points if you:
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Are an AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, or other national service alum/alumna
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Have experience working in launch or growth phases of organizations
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Have a high degree of comfort with Salesforce or other fundraising database
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Have experience working 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 $95,152 - $118,940 annually
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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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Ten (10) vacation days with twelve (12) sick days.
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We offer an exciting and dynamic culture, and we commit to investing in and supporting our amazing people to grow their careers with us.
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:
At Reading Partners we respect and honor the diversity in our workforce, and we are an Equal Opportunity Employer.
