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Director Of Development 🔥


Venture For America is changing the face of entrepreneurship. We envision a world where anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur can be. We search the country for talented recent college grads who are eager to make a meaningful impact in their careers and in the community. We help them find jobs at startups in one of our thirteen U.S. cities across industries from edtech and clean energy to consumer goods. Then we help unlock their limitless potential as creators and builders by providing access to programming, funding resources, and an expansive network. Visit our website to learn more.

Location Requirement: Live within 50 miles of a VFA city which includes Baltimore, Maryland; Birmingham, Alabama; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Kansas City, Kansas; Miami, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; San Antonio, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri; Tulsa, Oklahoma

Start Date: March 2023

Salary Range: $75,000-$85,000


The Role:

Joining Venture For America's Vice President of Development and Manager of Development Operations & Grants is an opportunity to join a growing team where you'll have an opportunity to create the systems and processes needed to scale a young development program. The Director of Development will report to the VP of Development and will play a critical role in defining and creating our donor cultivation and stewardship models to drive impact across our internal leaders and across our external donors and stakeholders. The Director of Development will do this by supporting a distributed team to execute VFA's overall donor strategy by creating and administering the processes, procedures, and utilization of platforms like Salesforce, iWave, Asana, and Slack.


Venture For America has just come off of a very successful 10 year anniversary. VFA's donor portfolio includes a significant number of corporate and foundation donors (almost 75% of our donor portfolio). The Director of Development will work with the VP of Development to create and build out our volunteer management systems and annual giving campaigns as part of building an individual giving program. With the individuals in our city at the heart of our impact, we are primed for a more robust and more comprehensive individual giving program. With a strong pipeline of corporate donors, there is significant opportunity to grow VFA's giving by creating opportunities at the intersection of both.


What you'll do:

Individual Giving & Strategy (50%)

  • Collaborate with the VP of Development to align national and regional donor experience and create strategy to build connectivity between stakeholders across the organization
  • Create the framework for and operationalize an annual giving program for VFA
  • Collaborate with the VP of Development to create functional strategies and specific objectives, develop policy and procedures to support the functional infrastructure for the Development department
  • Manage the cultivation, solicitation, and stewarding process for individual donors and support the VP of Development in their major gift donors work that includes:
    • Work with the Directors of 13 cities (Community Director or Community Partnerships team) to build out VFA's individual donor pipeline to take VFA's individual gifts from 14% of our fundraising portfolio to 25% to start, and create a plan for getting closer to a national nonprofit "norm" of about 69%
    • Work with VP of Development and Community Partnerships team to identify and cultivate major gift prospects in each of our 13 regions
  • Develop a "moves management" process and implement best-practice procedures to communicate with donors and stakeholders and appropriately document relationship growth and opportunities across the organization
  • Work with Development team and other VFA teams to build infrastructure and internal processes to track donor relationships and individual giving, including data management and reporting utilizing platforms like Salesforce, Asana, and iWave
  • Collaborate with the CEO, VP of Development, VP of Venture Growth, and VP of Programs to lead donor-initiated and donor-funded programming including Venture Catalyst Awards and Braintrusts
  • Partner with the marketing & communications department to develop and assess multichannel fundraising campaigns and appeals
  • Identify emerging trends and opportunities in philanthropic fundraising relevant to VFA's mission and work

Volunteer Management (20%):

  • Create the framework for and operationalize a volunteer management program encompassing all volunteer processes, information, and involvement in VFA events to properly engage new and returning volunteers
  • Collaborate with the VP of Development, CD team, and the Talent team to lead volunteer efforts as part of our Fellow Selection process

Development Support & Coaching (20%):

  • Be a team player on the growing Development team and work collaboratively to create opportunities for the growth of VFA's fundraising operation
  • Manage the day-to-day development functions that may include but are not limited to compliance with financial guidelines and oversee up-to-date fundraising materials including thank you letters and proposals
  • Collaborate with the VP of Development to build out a training, coaching, and a professional development program for Community Directors and others on the VFA team to build our organization's fundraising "muscle" and create a solitary external fundraising "voice" for VFA

Organizational Requirements (10%):

In addition to the responsibilities unique to the Director of Development described above, all Team members devote a portion of their time to supporting strategic efforts across our teams that advance the organization. Activities include but are not limited to:

  • Evaluating written Fellowship applications, conducting candidate interviews, and traveling for and facilitating Selection Days (our final all-day interviewing event). The amount of each will vary based on needs and will be set by the Talent Team
  • Supporting VFA's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, as is expected of all Team members
  • Taking part in additional organizational initiatives, priorities, and responsibilities, as needed

Skills and Abilities:

  • Exceptional ability to analyze data and make strategic decisions efficiently and routinely
  • Excellent organizational skills and detail-oriented, demonstrated by the ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment
  • Extraordinary time management skills and ability to prioritize, both for yourself and a team
  • Compelling and clear communicator (written and verbal), both internally when managing others and externally with prospective candidates
  • You work well with a big picture and enjoy defining goals and processes to get there
  • Strong attention to detail, accuracy and thoroughness
  • Ability to work effectively with all levels of the organization
  • You are an advocate for stakeholders and might have experience working with advisory boards
  • You enjoy processes as a way to bring people together and are can work effectively as a leader and as part of a team
  • You are self-directed and able to work independently and function effectively in a freshly developed department
  • You are self-aware, and apply a DEI lens to your work and adjust your approach accordingly

Education and Experience:

  • You have 5+ years in development, possibly in a regional capacity, with strong experience working as a front-line fundraiser and collaborating on strategy with other front-line fundraisers
  • You have experience or familiarity with resources to create ongoing fundraising training
  • You have experience with Salesforce, Google Suite, Slack, various development platforms

Work Demands:

  • Given the mission of our organization, VFA team members are expected to live within 50 miles of our cities in order to facilitate participation in local programming. We provide staff one (1) year to relocate if they currently do not live in one of our cities. Current cities include: Baltimore, MD; Birmingham, AL; Charlotte, NC; Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI; Kansas City, MO; Miami, FL; New Orleans, LA; Philadelphia, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; San Antonio, TX; St. Louis, MO; Tulsa, OK
  • Staff members work remotely from a home office and work with colleagues working remotely in each of our 13 cities. Limited co-working arrangements may be possible in the future starting in 2023. We provide a $750 tech stipend (renewed every three years) to support staff members' technology needs in their home offices.
  • Support our Fellow recruitment and selection process by evaluating written applications, conducting interviews, and facilitating Selection Days (virtually and/or in-person). The amount of each will vary based on needs and will be set by the Talent team.
  • Travel to VFA cities to lead or participate in VFA Programing including:
    • Occasional Selection Day participation (~2 days per trip, up to 3 times per year)
    • Occasional team retreats (dates and duration vary)
    • Occasional nights and weekends as necessary

The good stuff:

  • High performers at VFA are given substantial opportunity to grow and develop
  • You'll participate in a robust performance management system that will support in annual personal and professional goal setting
  • You'll earn a competitive salary, commensurate with experience
  • We offer inclusive benefit packages with VFA covering majority employee premiums in medical, dental and vision with FSA and HSA eligibility, wellness and professional development stipends
  • We have a generous vacation policy, plenty of paid holidays, expansive parental leave policy and a remote work environment
  • VFA is a dynamic mission-driven environment with varied responsibilities and a different challenge each day (we mean it – there are always plenty of interesting problems to work on)
  • You'll work alongside an inclusive team of exceptionally motivated, high-caliber people

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