Director of Development National Academy of Sciences Details

Director of Development National Academy of Sciences

The National Academies - Washington, DC

Employment Type : Full-Time

Job Description Summary:Serves as Development Director of assigned academy or assigned development functional area of significant complexity with responsibility for securing major gifts. As an Academy Development Director, plans, implements and evaluates all fundraising programs for NAS, reporting to the Chief Development Officer. Serves as a partner to the President, Chief Development Officer and Academy leadership in setting and achieving goals for private support. Participates as a senior leader in strategic and annual planning, in identifying priority initiatives, and securing private philanthropy to deliver organizational plans. Manages a portfolio of major gifts and principal gift prospects including cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. Develops and oversees the assigned development programs of significant scope and complexity, such as Corporate & Foundation Relations or Planned Giving. Works with the Chief Development Officer (CDO) to develop fundraising strategies and campaigns.

Works closely with senior colleagues of the Academies’ development office in planning and coordinating events, stewardship, annual giving, institutional giving, planned giving and operations. Actively participates in building a culture of philanthropy across the organization and a high performance team. Works collaboratively across a decentralized development office. Supervises staff.

Has primary responsibility for fundraising activities of assigned Academy or oversees assigned development initiatives/activities for the organization. Establishes processes and procedures to ensure the effective and efficient operation of function. Has authority to take whatever action deemed advisable or necessary, subject only to organizational and departmental policies and rules. Provides innovative solutions to complex problems that impact Academy’s fundraising success. Serves a resource to others. Supervises employees.

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES:

• Provides support and guidance for the President and Executive Officer in all fundraising activities for the Academy.
• Manages a portfolio of donors including identification, cultivation, and solicitation with an active program of face-to-face meetings and travel.
• Prepares corporate, foundation and individual major donor proposals and approaches in collaboration with colleagues in the Development Office. Manages the internal process by which proposals are prepared, and reviewed prior to submission to prospective donors.
• Participates in the rating and screening process for assigned major gift and principal gift prospects.
• Prepares written contact reports for all relevant fundraising meetings, promptly distributes to colleagues and records project and prospect activity using Raiser’s Edge.
• At the direction of the CDO, identifies, plans, and implements appropriate fundraising strategies for the National Academies. Ensures overall strategies and corresponding policies to meet the needs of the three Academies while minimizing risk to the institution.

Depending on assigned program responsibility, incumbent:

• Oversees all foundation-related development activities of the organization. Works with boards and committees in program units to identify potential founders for their projects and activities. Works with program staff to develop their case for support, emails/letters of inquiry and other correspondence.
• Directs the planned giving activities for the organization. Plans, organizes, and conducts a comprehensive estate planning and deferred giving program pursuant to the developmental goals of the organization. Supports program units for planned giving initiatives. Designs and delivers planned giving marketing materials including guides for each Academy, e-newsletters, email campaigns, publications and inclusion of planned giving messaging in collateral materials. Conducts face-to-face meetings with individual donors. Runs planned giving workshops for the membership.
• Plans, implements and evaluates all annual giving and development communication activities. Sets dollar and participation goals for each annual fund, and develops strategies for reaching the goals. Identifies and visits with prospects to build relationships and solicit gifts from annual fund donors. Prepares strategies and proposals for high end annual fund donors. Evaluates current annual giving program and creates new opportunities to grow the donor base. Analyzes progress towards goals, prepares reports, evaluates results, and reports on progress to senior leadership. Creates communication plans and materials that support Academy development activities. Serves the needs of internal customers for directors of development, planned giving, advancement services and operations in delivering consistent development messaging.
• Collaborates with other development staff and teams in delivering fundraising goals.
• Reports on prospects and projects at ongoing Development Office and Academy meetings.
• Participates in strategic planning efforts. Identifies funding sources and opportunities. Develops strategies to cultivate, solicit, and steward prospects.
• Prepares annual fundraising plans including key performance indicators, revenue targets and expense forecasts following direction from the Chief Development Officer and contributes to the establishment of methods for measuring performance across the Development Office.
• Actively participates in building a culture of teamwork, collaboration, creativity and high performance with employees of the Development Office, employees of the Academies, volunteers, donors, and members of the Academies.
• Represents the Development Office in conferences, seminars and other public and private events to advance the goals of the organization.
• Provides leadership and mentors employees. Trains and develops employees to successfully perform current responsibilities and encourages development of staff for future roles. Forms effective teams and cultivates a work environment that fosters teamwork. Interprets and ensures consistent application of organizational policies. Initiates personnel actions, including performance and compensation reviews and disciplinary actions.
• Remains current and fully informed of laws, techniques, and advancements in the fundraising profession.

NONESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES

• Related duties and special projects as assigned.

JOB SPECIFICATIONS

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: Appreciation of the importance of sciences, engineering and medicine and the mission of the Academies. Thorough understanding of philanthropy and trends in the profession. Knowledge and understanding of sophisticated fundraising practices including corporate giving, annual giving and planned giving techniques. Ability to conceptualize, plan, and implement a programmatic approach to building relationships and securing philanthropic support including setting ambitious goals, developing strategies for prospects, prioritizing activities, asking for gifts, and orchestrating the involvement of volunteers and organization leadership. Ability to solve problems of substantial variety and complexity. Ability to undertake tasks broad in nature, requiring ingenuity, and originality. Ability to serve as a resource to others in the resolution of complex problems and issues. Ability to operate independently, and exercise significant latitude for independent judgment, discretion, and action. Experience working in complex environments with a high degree of organizational effectiveness. Ability to train and develop staff. Ability to work successfully in a team environment and to form and maintain effective teams. Ability to develop relationships with co-workers and employees in other departments through effective communication. Excellent communication skills with a proven ability to effectively interact with all levels of employees.

Minimum Education/Training Requirements: Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration or related field, or equivalent knowledge.

Minimum Experience: Eight years of related professional experience; two of which were in a supervisory capacity.

Physical Capabilities: Ability to work at a computer for extended periods of time.

Required Licenses, Certification or Registration: None.

Supervisory Responsibilities/Controls: Reports to the Chief Development Officer. General direction is provided. Supervises assigned staff.

Work Environment: Office environment with frequent travel between National Academies’ facilities and off-site locations.

Any qualification to be considered equivalent, in lieu of stated minimum, requires the prior approval of the Office of Human Resources.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of personnel so classified. Some functions in this description may be specific to a particular unit of the National Academies and not applicable to other units.