Director of Advancement

Description

Reports to: President & CEO

Position Status: Exempt, Salaried; 40 hours/week. Salary: $100,000-$118,000 – robust employee benefits package detailed below

Position is based in Charlottesville, VA. Hybrid work schedule with time in the office expected. Preference will be given to applicants who reside in or are willing to relocate to the service area of the city of Charlottesville or the counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson, and Orange.

Preference will be given to those who are directly impacted by the work of the foundation. We seek candidates with diverse experiences, including those who have lived experience with the social challenges that we seek to address and with the communities that have experienced adverse effects of unequal social and economic systems.

To apply: This position will remain posted until the job is filled. The preferred application deadline is June 18, 2023. Target start date is by August 18, 2023.

Submit the following in an email to jobs@thesparkmill.com. Include “Director of Advancement – Charlottesville Area Community Foundation” in the subject line.

• Résumé
• Three references (We will not contact references until later in the hiring process.)
• Cover letter (Please address how your lived experiences and past work history have prepared you for this position—specifically how you will align with the foundation’s racial equity journey which is built upon practices of inclusivity, mutual aid, solidarity, liberation, healing, and power-building).

About the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation:

The Community Foundation was established in 1967 with a mission to improve the quality of life in Charlottesville and the surrounding counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson, and Orange. This region of more than 310,000 people includes a variety of rural and urban environments, and is home to a complex, and deeply painful American history. The region’s changing demographics present opportunities for greater inclusion, and the Community Foundation is deeply committed to being a community-centered, equity-forward organization that ensures our region is one where everyone can belong, contribute, and thrive. As a tax-exempt, nonprofit public charity, the Community Foundation works with local residents, nonprofits, and public and private organizations to facilitate philanthropy through several hundred donor funds and scholarships while making local investments through its own discretionary resources.

Our team believes that candidates who demonstrate and seek to develop the following qualities will find our organization an environment in which they can thrive:

1. Growth Mindset – to be willing and able to grow and change and do things differently. Go beyond what training or experience or upbringing has taught us and be open to having what we think we know challenged. Be humble, curious, and open-minded to explore ideas or opportunities that are new to us.
2. Innovation Orientation/Sense of Possibility – to bring to the work a “how can we” or “how could this be possible” as opposed to “we can’t” mindset. We can be in legal and ethical compliance and also question the way things have always been done and our assumptions about them in service of making change and progress.
3. Authenticity & Vulnerability – to be able to bring yourself and share yourself with the team. While we each can make choices about personal boundaries and parts of our lives and selves that we prefer to keep private, we can be genuine and true to ourselves with each other. This is crucial to building trust.
4. A Spirit of Solidarity & Differentiation – to recognize and value our shared fate and invest in each other’s success. At the same time, we appreciate each person’s uniqueness and do not equate experiences or assume that having similar identities (such as race, gender, or position) makes us the same.
5. Direct Communication – to speak our own truth and listen deeply to each other in order to really negotiate and engage in genuine relationships. We give and receive feedback thoughtfully and respectfully, recognizing that this is critical for individual and collective growth and accountability.
6. Responsibility for Learning – to do the personal work to dismantle internalized ideas about self and others, to see the larger system and our individual locations in it, and work together as effective change agents.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Director of Advancement plays a leading role in ensuring the Community Foundation has the resources and relationships to deliver on its mission to improve quality of life as a community-centered, equity-forward organization. The Director of Advancement oversees the donor education and engagement strategy, builds strategic partnerships to grow foundation capacity, and mobilizes philanthropy that aligns with foundation initiatives to address community priorities. This role works closely with other donor relations professionals who manage over 350 relationships with individuals, families, and groups who have chosen the foundation as a philanthropic partner. They also collaborate across teams to ensure that programming and resource development is aligned with strategic goals and opportunities.

Deep, authentic relationships with donors and strategic resource partnerships allow the Community Foundation to deliver on our mission now and into the future. Our community members, particularly those marginalized by unequal systems, are counting on us to make a lasting difference through our partnerships and programs so that we can become a region in which all people can belong, contribute, participate, and thrive.

The Director of Advancement helps ensure our foundation can keep our commitment to leave our community a more inclusive and equitable place for those who come after us. We are looking for a team member whose strategic leadership, resource development and advancement expertise, creativity, and relationship skills are coupled with a deep connection to social progress, personal integrity, and skilled supervision.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

The Director of Advancement reports to the President & CEO and has the primary responsibility to oversee strategic resource development, donor education, philanthropic services, and engagement events. The Director of Advancement develops and executes on a strategic advancement plan that aligns with foundation growth goals. They have primary responsibility to identify, pursue and secure strategic financial resources.

The Director of Advancement also ensures that foundation relationships with donors are authentic and meaningful, that our customized service adds value to philanthropic efforts, and that the advancement team is equipped to connect donors with impactful community initiatives. The Director of Advancement partners closely with other colleagues across the team to ensure that the foundation’s programs and social impact activities have the financial resources and sustainability to achieve their strategic goals.

Fundraising Strategy, Implementation, and Communications

• Design and implement a short and long-term development and partnership plan that builds resources for foundation priority programs and operations. This includes, but is not limited to, strategies to secure major gifts, annual events and appeals, co-funding partnerships, fund accounts, corporate gifts, donor cultivation and stewardship, and developing new approaches to diversify or expand revenue sources.
• In partnership with the CEO, serve as the chief major and principal gifts solicitor utilizing the CEO when appropriate and staffing her on all crucial solicitations.
• Ensure effective management of donor-directed grantmaking and scholarship programs that fulfills donor interests and meets foundation compliance requirements.

Donor Relationships and Engagement

• Ensure customized, high-quality donor relationship management for existing and prospective donors, including fund holders, prospective fund holders, and potential co-funding partners.

Management, Inter-office Relationships, and Infrastructure

• Supervise and develop the Senior Donor Relations Manager position, bringing cultural competency and equity practices into supervision.
• Work closely with the Director of Programs to identify resource strategies for community investment approaches that advance foundation goals.
• Create a quality advancement infrastructure that includes database management, prospect identification and management, gift processing and acknowledgement and meaningful stewardship.
• Explore, design and implement strategies to expand the donor base to include middle income or non-traditional givers.
• Building knowledge and skills of a variety of charitable-giving products and approaches as well as the unique complexities of the community foundation business model.
• Other duties as assigned by supervisor.

Qualifications: Education, Work Experience, Skills, and Lived Experiences

We encourage applications from candidates who have lived experience with the social challenges that we seek to address and with the communities that have experienced adverse effects of unequal social and economic systems. Relevant lived experiences will be weighed equally with professional experiences. The work of the foundation is explicitly but not exclusively centered in racial equity, this position will operate under this lens.

While this position leads several key areas of our work, it is not our expectation that candidates have a mastery across all areas; instead, we encourage candidates to apply who have self-awareness and humility around areas they will need to grow in and the motivation and aptitude to lead the learning required to hit the ground running. We do require that candidates will understand and value racial equity as an organizational operating principle and be committed to continued learning on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

• Total and unwavering alignment with our foundational belief that we can only thrive as a region if all of our neighbors have an opportunity to thrive. The foundation is never going to back down from the hard work of racial equity.
• Five or more years, or the equivalent, of directly relevant work experience at a Senior or Director level, with demonstrated management experience
• Experience in and knowledge of the nonprofit sector, foundations, philanthropy, and resource development preferred
• Customer service orientation
• Excellent computer and communication skills

Total Rewards Package Including Benefits:

The Community Foundation offers a robust employee benefits package, including:

• flexible work hours and location
• institutionalized ½ day Fridays that don’t require PTO
• paid parking
• 100% of employee health insurance paid
• the opportunity to participate in a 401(k) with up to 6% employer match
• 25 days of personal time off in the first year of employment, plus 15 paid holidays
• $100 per month maximum telecommunications reimbursement to offset phone/internet expenses
• up to 12 weeks paid parental leave (16 weeks for multiples)
• 60% Short Term Disability and 60% Long Term Disability + $100K life insurance
• opportunities for professional development and growth

The Community Foundation provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristics protected by federal, state, or local laws. This applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruitment, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, leaves of absence, compensation, and professional training.

The Spark Mill is conducting the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation’s current search for this position. The Spark Mill is a Consulting Firm that supports organizations through change and champions diversity, equity, and inclusion while supporting agencies with strategic planning initiatives, change management, and people operations.