Nonprofit Remote Digest - Issue #623
Nonprofit Remote Digest - Issue #623
She’s the First is a leading girls’ rights organization, established 11 years ago and reaching 138,000+ girls annually across 26 countries. We have a $1.5M budget and are pushing to grow and sustain our work at the $2-$3M level. We have office hubs in New York City and Nairobi and a remote work policy, though there will be times you’re needed in NYC for meetings and events.
She's the First — shesthefirst.org She’s the First fights for a world where every girl chooses her own future. We team up with local organizations to make sure girls are educated, respected, and heard.
Director of Development
The Director of Development will be responsible for all aspects of fundraising and development for She’s the First, including updating, establishing, and executing a multi-year She’s the First development plan and building a pipeline to support it.
You will play a critical role as a member of STF’s senior leadership team, working closely alongside a Director of Strategic Partnerships, who manages our corporate relationships and community engagement strategy; a Director of Programs, who will help you articulate the impact achieved; and a Communications Specialist, who creates content that engages donors and advances our advocacy goals.
Our perfect match is someone who is looking to step into a transformative role, who considers themselves a builder of pipelines, projects, and teams. This is the leadership opportunity for you if you have an entrepreneurial drive and are excited to lay new tracks in our organization. A significant part of this role is building up a department, including raising the funds to hire full-time, mid-level support staff. Until those funds are secured, you must be comfortable handling small tasks on your own, with intern and part-time help, while managing your bigger priorities.
You will be a thought leader in the organization and a close partner to the CEO. You will work with her to implement and further advance diversified fundraising plans and communications, particularly individual giving programs (major, mid-level, small); board development; special events; and foundation grant programs.
You need to be analytical and results-driven with experience in using data to drive fundraising success. You are skilled at quarterbacking others—be it co-founders, board members, programs staff—in situations where they can help hit a fundraising home run. You know how to best utilize time with executives by presenting strategic plans, roadmaps, and dashboards; you can flag and troubleshoot challenges early on, without prompting, to keep plans on track. Ideally, you have experience working within an organization that is larger than STF is right now, and you can apply your learnings to help us reach the next level.
While the first year in any new development role involves planting seeds that may not blossom immediately, it is expected that within 6 months, you could secure at least $50k in new donations and will be actively stewarding 5 or more new major donors that do not currently exist in STF’s ecosystem of contacts. Within a year, we expect you to fully own your sphere and the overall fundraising strategy for the organization, with demonstrable growth and a strong pipeline.
Responsibilities:
Use data to create a development plan that meets yearly budgetary goals, with an eye toward growth
Be skilled at building pipelines and take ownership over specific fundraising goals
Collaborate with CEO and leadership team to help develop narratives that demonstrate organizational impact and opportunities
Project manage STF’s foundation grant pipeline, collaborating with the Programs staff on opportunities and overseeing any consultant who may be hired to write larger grants
Coordinate with CEO and/or CPO to ensure all programs and budgets are accurately described and accounted for with regard to grant proposals and reports
Oversee all donor acknowledgement and relationships at all levels
Collaborate with and quarterback the co-founders to fully support fostering and maintaining relationships with major donors, and work proactively to identify new prospects through those warm relationships
Create a stewardship plan for major donors and directly manage the multi-year Luminary Circle program
Oversee the strategy of the monthly giving community, the Front Row, and manage it until it can be delegated to an assistant
Refine and oversee efficient processes for an administrative assistant who handles invoices/receipts; create checkpoints to ensure accuracy of their work
Collaborate with the CEO to increase Board involvement in fundraising
Set fundraising goals and strategy for in-person and virtual events and campaigns
Actively participate in STF’s commitment to anti-oppression and anti-racism through your leadership decisions and example you set
Requirements:
8+ years of nonprofit fundraising experience
Located in the United States, with EST availability
Relationships and networks with funders and philanthropists in the girls’ rights, girls’ education, and gender equity spaces
Experience writing winning fundraising plans
Familiarity with Salesforce is strongly preferred
Proven and highly effective written and oral communication skills, with an ability to distill complex information into easy to understand messages; strong attention to detail
Experience managing staff and consultants as well as working horizontally across a leadership team of directors with distinct spheres of influence
Impeccable project management skills to juggle multiple projects simultaneously and ensure no follow-up falls through the cracks
Experience producing live and digital events and running fundraising campaigns
Ability to work independently, with a commitment to clear and honest verbal and written communication
A personal connection and deep passion to our mission of fighting for a world where every girl is educated, respected, and heard; experience centering the voices of young people
Salary
Up to $80,000
first-year salary, with opportunity for annual merit raises and pathway for promotion
Benefits
Option to enroll in employer-sponsored health, dental, and vision insurance
21 days of PTO and 13 holidays
Flexible working hours
Culture of STF:
The She’s the First staff has a strong work ethic, but we value flexibility in our workplace. We enjoy flexible hours and make accommodations that set us up for maximum success, individually and as a team. However, this requires excellent communication, trust, and prioritization skills to work well, so we seek a teammate who would enjoy and respect this work culture.