Nonprofit Remote Digest - Issue #487
Nonprofit Remote Digest - Issue #487
Springboard Collaborative closes the reading achievement gap by coaching teachers, training family members, and incentivizing learning so that our scholars have the requisite skills to access life opportunities.
Springboard — www.springboardcollaborative.org Springboard Collaborative closes the literacy gap by closing the gap between home and school through summer, afterschool, and in-school programs.
Director of Development
Children spend 75% of their waking hours outside the classroom, yet our nation does shockingly little to capture educational value from this time in marginalized communities. Picture a child’s time as an orange. Their classroom experience is a wedge from which the education field is fixated on squeezing more juice. Springboard helps schools juice the rest of the orange, dramatically improving outcomes by harnessing the untapped potential in family engagement.
Low-income parents—often perceived as liabilities rather than as assets—have been left out of the teaching process. With limited access to learning time, their children make slow academic progress during the school year, and they experience chronic regressions over the summer. Research finds that up to two-thirds of the achievement gap in high school is attributable to summer learning loss in elementary school. It took a long time for the field to embrace the idea that all children can learn. It is Springboard’s ambition—and our charge—to prove that all parents can teach.
Springboard Collaborative closes the literacy gap by closing the gap between home and school. We coach educators and family members to help kids learn to read by fourth grade. Springboard envisions a world in which all children have the requisite literacy skills to access life opportunities. Springboard’s programs help teachers and parents achieve learning goals with children through 5-10-week interventions that combine personalized instruction for pre-K through third-graders, workshops training parents to teach reading at home, and professional development for teachers.
Since our founding in 2011, Springboard has scaled from 40 students to ~20,000 this year. Our programs consistently deliver best-in-class results, showcased in these interactive infographics. Weekly parent training workshops average 90%+ attendance. Family workshops and other aspects of our work have been featured in outlets such as Forbes, NPR, and the New York Times. We are out ahead of the field proving a simple but powerful truth: parents’ love for their children is the single greatest and most underutilized natural resource in education.
About the opportunity
Springboard Collaborative is seeking an ambitious development professional to make a big impact on the growth trajectory of a rapidly scaling social enterprise that aspires to help 100,000 children reach their reading growth goals by 2023. Our next development leader will covet the opportunity to immediately build and grow a team to shape and steward our approach to development for the coming decade.
Springboard’s institutional relationships are stable and currently stewarded by regional Executive Directors. Our Founder/CEO is active in funder cultivation as well. As Springboard experiences rapid year-over-year growth--primarily driven through fee-for-service contracts--we seek to bolster our development operation to keep pace with the increased demand for our services in marginalized communities.
The Director of Development will enjoy the challenge of structuring a sustainable development operation, building and coaching a high-performing development team, and creating smooth processes that cut across departments.
This role combines strategy and execution, and requires a strong collaborative spirit to successfully nurture relationships across multiple teams.
The Director of Development will report to Springboard’s Vice President of Partnerships and will work closely with Regional Executive Directors, the Founder/CEO, as well as members of finance, impact, and communications teams. Upon hire, the Director of Development will be empowered to structure and build-out the department over the next 18 months.
By supercharging Springboard’s fundraising capacity, the Director of Development will play an essential role in bringing our ambitious vision to life: catalyzing a culture shift in the education sector to make family engagement a matter of course.
What we’re looking for:
Systems thinker/Process builder: After studying how things are, you move quickly to build systems ‘as they should be.’ You design processes that facilitate efficient work flow and that help teammates to maximize their output.
Customer-centric: Executive Directors appreciate how you orient towards their needs and thoughtfully strategize to create winning results. Funders marvel at the way your team structures proposals that help them advance their philanthropic priorities.
Attention to detail: Under your leadership, your team takes pride in copyediting, in meticulous follow-through, and in strong meeting prep. Supervisors love how you pay attention to the small things that mean big things to your stakeholders.
Persuasive communicator: You are skilled in crafting emotional stories that engage key supporters. You’re a flawless writer and astute listener who can tailor messages to the needs of diverse audiences.
Key responsibilities
Drive towards the achievement of organizational fundraising goals
Build, manage, and coach a fundraising team to own the grants lifecycle, including prospect research, proposal and report writing, and renewals
Ensure the Founder/CEO’s fundraising efforts with major donors is supported
Ensure development team maintains a robust pipeline that is meticulously managed
Manage Springboard’s annual individual-giving fundraising campaign
Evolve existing fundraising systems to improve workflow and efficacy
Build scalable systems and expectations for donor research, donor cultivation, donor stewardship, grant writing, and grant reporting; develop moves management process
Collaborate with Partnerships Associate to ensure all fundraising data, dashboards, and reports provide meaningful data to drive decisions and trigger next steps
Partner with Executive Directors to facilitate their donor cultivation and stewardship work
Own the creation of a development toolkit that the development team can easily turnkey for grants and funder-facing materials
Design and implement strategies to drive new revenue
Influence annual campaigns to engage our dominant stakeholder groups (families, teachers)
Design and implement strategies that strengthen our corporate donor portfolio
Establish infrastructure to seed a more formal major donor program
Collaborate with marketing/communications team to nurture social media campaigns that cultivate new prospects and/or drive new revenue
While this description is meant to provide a comprehensive overview of the job’s core areas of responsibility, we are seeking candidates who demonstrate flexibility and can adapt to evolving needs in an entrepreneurial environment.
Desired skills, qualifications, and characteristics:
7+ years of development leadership experience, with evidence of strong results
You are a capable coach that thrives helping others reach goals
Demonstrated experience in prospecting and conversion
Deep understanding of Salesforce, donor databases, and other fundraising platforms
Must be willing to travel up to 20% as needed (and once pre-COVID norms resume)
Compensation
This is a full-time position. Springboard Collaborative will offer benefits and a salary within the range of $110,000 to $125,000, commensurate with experience.
Location
This is a remote position, with periodic travel required. Springboard Collaborative’s headquarter office is in Philadelphia, PA. Local candidates can choose to work from our Philadelphia location. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all Springboard Collaborative offices are closed through the end of 2020.
How to Apply
Please note that you will be required to upload a resume and cover letter.