Director of Development

Position Location: Brooklyn, NY preferred. Will also consider applicants in Washington, DC or highly qualified remote applicants

The Center for Popular Democracy/CPD Action is seeking a full-time Director of Development.

About CPD + CPDA

The Center for Popular Democracy and CPD Action (together, CPD/A) work to promote equity, opportunity, and a dynamic democracy in partnership with innovative base-building organizations, organizing networks and alliances, and progressive unions across the country. We currently work with more than 45 partner organizations in more than 38 states, Puerto Rico, and D.C., and build the strength and capacity of democratic organizations to envision and advance a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial and economic justice agenda. We are a rapidly-expanding, changing organization that partners with organizations across the country to build political power and win tangible victories that improve the lives of low-wage workers, immigrants, and communities of color.

About the Position

CPD/A is seeking a Director of Development who will help envision and drive the implementation of CPD and CPDA’s development strategy. The Director is responsible for the organization’s income generation strategy and success, working closely with the Senior Leadership Team to ensure that the strategy is in line with CPD’s institutional priorities and plans for growth. They will ensure that CPD/A raises funds to meet ambitious growth goals, which include building independent revenue as a significant source of funding for the organization. The Director’s focus will be on building a diverse, strong, and expanding base of funding from foundations, unions & partner organizations, while significantly growing independent revenue from individual major and small donors. We are looking for a talented, capable leader to help capitalize on CPD/A’s talents and relationships to help realize those goals. 

The Director is responsible for the oversight and growth of the development department staff (currently at 7 but with immediate plans to grow to 10), as well as improving and implementing systems for advancing fundraising work that is done by the co-Executive Directors, department directors, and multiple other fundraisers across the organization. The candidate will be able to work across diverse teams and workstyles, and help the organization design and administer systems that make our workflow more efficient. The candidate should care deeply about the mission, have experience working in the progressive funding world, and enjoy strategy and systems.  The Director will lead all fundraising work in the organization, and reports to the COO.

Primary Responsibilities

The Development Director will:

  • Create and oversee execution of strategy to dramatically grow CPD/A’s fundraising over the next 5 years, to include:
    • Oversee fundraising efforts from foundation and other institutional sources, stewarding current funders while growing revenue from new sources. This includes: spearheading prospecting for new funding opportunities, overseeing and improving systems for managing assignments to fundraising staff, managing deadlines, reviewing and approving content, and coordinating timely and high-quality submissions, assist with proposal and report drafting. In addition, the director will oversee funder cultivation events such as funder briefings, mailings to funders, etc. and ensure foundation contacts have excellent plans for cultivation and relationship maintenance. 
    • Strengthen and oversee the execution of major gift program, to contribute significantly to the growth of independent revenue for CPD/A. Moves management plans likely include mailed solicitations, individualized donor cultivation, special events, and other relationship building and enhancing activities. Ensure excellent cultivation and relationship maintenance. Oversee staffing of Strategic Partners Council, a group of major donors committed to supporting CPD/A’s growth. Effectively integrate participation of ED’s and other fundraisers into this work. 
    • Oversee the building of a strong and expanding base of low-dollar individual donors, also contributing to CPD/A’s ambitious independent revenue goals. Work closely with the PASC (Public Affairs and Strategic Communications) department to grow CPD/As list and successfully fundraise from it. Integrate this list into CPD/A’s goal of creating a network of 1 million individuals in the next 5 years who care about its mission, take action, and support the organization financially.
    • Continue to grow income from organizations, partners, and other sources. Work with Deputy Director of Development to innovate new streams of funding, such as revenue-generation opportunities through partnerships with nonprofit and for-profit entities.
  • Establish strong internal systems for coordinating and tracking development work. Ensure all fundraisers in the organization have clear fundraising workplans and goals, and oversee tracking and transparent reporting of progress towards goals. Responsible for the integrity of the filing system in Salesforce and the server. Oversee timely grant notifications, coordination of financial reporting, and allocations of grants. Lead monthly fundraising meetings w/ the Senior Leadership Team, and serve as the lead development staff person supporting a subset of fundraisers.  
  • Materials Development: oversee creation and maintenance of standard CPD materials, such as CPD concept papers, high-quality overview text on the organization, 2-pagers on CPD departments or project, and any other materials regularly used to publicize CPD's work or solicit funding. 
  • Provide excellent and regular supervision and support to development staff. Clarify roles among development team members. Provide the vision and leadership to grow CPD/A's Development Team to 10 by the end of 2020, likely growing beyond that in 2021. In addition, provide coaching and support to CPD fundraisers across the organization in building their skills and success. 
  • Responsible for developing organizational income projections, accurately tracking progress towards those goals, and ensuring that the goals are met and that the organization operates with a positive net operating income and continues to grow. Work closely with the Director of Finance to ensure that updated income projections are reflected in the CPD/A budget projections. 

Job Requirements

Applicants for the Director of Development position should: 

  • Be a strong supervisor & manager - Demonstrate experience effectively managing large teams and across teams. Possess strong supervision skills, able to build rapport among their team while challenging staff to achieve ambitious goals.  
  • Be committed to CPD/A’s mission - Possess a commitment to racial equity, social justice, and community organizing. Be sensitive to the challenging dynamics of raising money for an organization fighting racial capitalism in a capitalist system, and comfortable navigating those dynamics. 
  • Have strong interpersonal skills - Possess a high level of emotional intelligence and awareness of interpersonal dynamics to work with a diverse group of colleagues, building support and consensus around fundraising priorities. 
  • Be a successful fundraiser - Possess at least 10 years of demonstrated successful fundraising experience and a strong familiarity with the progressive funding universe. Particular expertise or knowledge in one or more of the following highly desirable: foundation fundraising, major gifts, low-dollar individual fundraising, C4/political fundraising. 
  • Possess superb writing and editing skills. 
  • Demonstrate solid financial management knowledge - comfortable developing and navigating budgets, familiar with basic nonprofit financial management & reporting practices. 
  • Have extremely strong organizational skills, an ability to deal with many tasks and prioritize while being on top of details, reflecting the fact that CPD and CPDA are large, complex, multi-faceted organizations. Work effectively on a tight schedule and be able to set and meet realistic deadlines.
  • Show a passion for excellence and eagerness to help the organization meet its goals,
  • Show ability to work across multiple infrastructure and programmatic teams, with staff spread across the country, to meet goals,
  • Have facility with spreadsheets, Microsoft Office suite, database management (ideally Salesforce).
  • Have experience working closely with senior management and Boards, and ideally in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic work environment.

Salary and Benefits

Salary will be determined according to a salary scale which takes into account years’ experience, location, job category, and other factors, but is expected to be $125,000- $150,000. We have a generous benefits package, including health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, 14 vacation days per year, 10 sick days per year, 12 paid holidays per year, and contributions to individuals’ 401K plans.

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit your cover letter and resume via our HiringThing Portal: https://cpd.hiringthing.com/job/170112/director-of-development

CPD/A is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and actively recruits people of color, women, individuals with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ community.