Skip to main content

This job has expired

Director of Foundation Relations

Employer
Americans for the Arts
Location
Washington, DC
Closing date
Jan 28, 2021
ABOUT AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS Americans for the Arts builds recognition and support for the extraordinary and dynamic value of the arts and serves, advances, and leads the network of organizations and individuals who cultivate, promote, sustain, and support the arts in America. The vision of Americans for the Arts is that the arts are recognized as integral to the lives of all people and essential to healthy, vibrant, and equitable communities across the nation. Founded in 1960, Americans for the Arts is the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education. Americans for the Arts has headquarters in Washington, DC and a second office located in New York, NY. POD SUMMARY The Resource Development Pod is responsible for generating the contributed revenue necessary to sustain the organization's programs and operations and for developing key relationships that heighten the visibility; deepen the influence; and increase the access of Americans for the Arts to sources of future support. Pod members work to cultivate new as well as steward existing connections with foundation and corporate leaders; government funders; individual patrons; artists; and other influential thought leaders and to collectively leverage those relationships in service of the organization's mission to advance the arts and arts education. TEAM SUMMARY The Development team is responsible for generating contributed revenue, building and sustaining relationships with individual, corporate, foundation, and government donors to generate the funds necessary to support Americans for the Arts' work. Development team members partner closely with program staff throughout the organization as well as volunteer solicitors, including board members and other donors, on the fundraising effort. Overall, Development team responsibilities include strategy development; prospect research and identification; relationship building; volunteer management; proposal and report preparation; gift processing and acknowledgement; donor benefit fulfillment; and donor stewardship. The Development team raises both unrestricted and restricted revenue and is organized to meet those objectives. There is a unit that focuses on unrestricted revenue whose work concentrates on individual donors to the Annual Fund and there is an institutional giving unit whose work focuses on restricted revenue and works primarily with corporations, foundations, and government donors. POSITION SUMMARY The Director of Foundation Relations plays a key role in Americans for the Arts' institutional giving program, helping to develop and implement an overall fundraising strategy to secure new and renewed funding in support of Americans for the Arts' mission and goals. She/he/they is part of a three-person Institutional Giving unit and is responsible for generating approximately $2.5 million in annual contributed revenue from foundations and government funders. He/she/they manages a portfolio of 75 to 100 prospects and concentrates on five to six-figure gifts. The Director carries the primary responsibility for stewarding existing relationships while continuing to grow his/her/their portfolio through the identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of new foundation and government prospects. This position reports to the Vice President of Development and works closely with the executive office and program staff throughout the organization. The Director works across multiple program areas within Americans for the Arts, identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding foundation and government funders in support of a broad array of programs and services. The Director helps to set annual benchmarks for the institutional giving program and to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy that addresses current fundraising needs while building support for future work. The Director also represents Americans for the Arts at donor meetings and at functions, where appropriate. Some travel and evening work is required. KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Key duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Identify, qualify, cultivate, and solicit new foundation and government prospects while overseeing the stewardship of existing donors. Develop and implement a clear annual plan for moving prospects along a path to secure and/or increase grants, utilizing personal visits, meetings, proposals, and other forms of outreach as appropriate. Write customized letters of inquiry, grant proposals, and concept papers; prepare local, state, and federal government grant requests and responses to RFPs. Write interim and final progress reports as well as other stewardship reports for donors; collaborate with finance and program staff colleagues to prepare these materials. Work closely with program staff to package ongoing programs and services and develop concepts and cases of support for new initiatives; this requires ongoing effort to build and maintain a thorough knowledge of Americans for the Arts' priorities and activities. Play a key role in coaching program staff in how to effectively cultivate new as well as steward existing donor relationships; assign and manage prospects to program staff and support program staff in their ongoing work with those prospects; this work includes facilitating meeting logistics and follow up; preparing advance background briefings for meetings, creating contact reports, coordinating future action steps, etc. Support executive staff, Resource Development Committee/Board members, and volunteers in their engagement of foundation and government donors and prospects. Help manage administration of current grants, including tracking proposal submission and reporting deadlines, updating internal financial tracking and audit reporting systems, collecting information from program staff, working with the finance department on grant expense reconciliation and reporting, and maintaining donors' hard and electronic files. Participate in regular monthly prospect review meetings (meetings held for each department within Americans for the Arts). Collaborate with the Vice President of Development to project foundation and government income for the organizational budget; quarterly budget update reports; and resource development committee work as needed. Tracks personal assignments and activities utilizing development database systems, ensuring that assigned action steps are completed and regularly updated. Stay up to date on current trends in foundation and government giving and engage in trainings and professional development opportunities as appropriate. Support organizational events as necessary and participate in departmental and organizational planning and organization-wide committees. Participate/represent development as core member of cross-program teams assembled for major initiatives. Represent Americans for the Arts in donor meetings and on solicitation calls. Assists with other departmental projects and related work as assigned by the Vice President. QUALIFICATIONS A minimum of five (5) years of development experience, with at least two (2) years of foundation work; demonstrated track record of success in securing five- and six-figure grants and in developing effective, compelling sponsorship packages and proposals. A positive attitude and an earnest interest in providing quality customer service to our members, stakeholders, and partners. Ability to maintain healthy interpersonal relationships. Bachelor's degree preferred. Database experience required, experience with NetForum a plus. Entrepreneurial self-starter with the ability to work both independently with minimal supervision and as member of a team. Excellent attention to detail and problem-solving skills, including ability to anticipate problems and use judgement appropriately to plan solutions. Excellent customer service skills. Excellent interpersonal, mentoring, and coaching skills; supervisory experience a plus. Excellent written and oral communication skills. Knowledge of and/or an interest in the arts and arts education; experience working in the research, advocacy, community development, and policy arenas a plus. Strong organizational, team leadership, and time-management skills, proven ability to plan, meet deadlines, and efficiently manage multiple tasks and priorities under tight time constraints. Strong Personal Computer (PC) skills, including Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint); Adobe; online prospect research tools including FC Search, Instrumentl, iWave, etc.; a basic knowledge of any Content Management System (CMS) and PC troubleshooting. WORKING CONDITIONS This position is eligible to work from our Washington, DC or New York, NY offices This position works 37.5 hours per week Monday through Friday around core business hours (10:00 am - 4:00 pm ET) Some travel may be required CULTURAL EQUITY COMPETENCIES Americans for the Arts acknowledges the existence of systemic and structural biases and believes it is necessary to be strategic and intentional in pursuing cultural equity in all aspects of governance, operations, and programming. As an employee, you are expected to: Pursue substantive learning to achieve greater cultural consciousness by attending at least one Americans for the Arts Learning Lab per quarter and/or other professional development opportunities. Support adoption of best practices to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive work experience for colleagues and external partners. Strive to consider the people, places, and cultures that might be missing from your work and look for opportunities to increase inclusivity in all the work you do. Support the mission and vision of Americans for the Arts in all interactions with colleagues, members and stakeholders. Encourage colleagues and external stakeholders to advance cultural equity by adhering to the standards outlined in the Staff Values & Behavior Agreement in all interactions. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Americans for the Arts believes that one of its greatest strengths is the rich diversity of its staff. We provide equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, creed, gender and gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, medical condition, including pregnancy and childbirth, religion, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, ancestry, genetic information, political belief or activity, veteran or military discharge status, or any other basis protected by local, state or federal law and regulations under Title VII. The policy applies to all employment practices, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, training and development, promotion, transfer, termination, layoff, compensation, benefits, social and recreational programs, and all other conditions and privileges of employment in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. All employees have the right to work in a workplace that is free of discrimination. Any person who believes they have been subjected to discrimination of any kind should contact their immediate supervisor or Human Resources. All complaints will be thoroughly investigated and any person violating this policy may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. The law prohibits retaliation against any employee for reporting discrimination or perceived discrimination, or for participating in an investigation of incidents of discrimination or perceived discrimination. BENEFITS Twelve days paid vacation first two years of employment, 15 days in third year and 20 days in fifth year and beyond with the ability to carryover your full years vacation to the following year Twelve sick days per year with the ability to maintain up to 20 days in your accrual balance Paid Volunteer time off Individual HMO Advantage health insurance, dental and optical with option to upgrade to a PPO or add dependents Healthcare, Dependent Care and Transportation pre-tax flexible spending accounts A full list of benefits can be found on our website at: https://www.americansforthearts.org/about-americans-for-the-arts/careers-at-americans-for-the-arts/employee-benefits PandoLogic. Keywords: Fundraising Director, Location: Washington, DC - 20005

Get job alerts

Create a job alert and receive personalized job recommendations straight to your inbox.

Create alert