Director of Development - Los Angeles Children's Chorus

Los Angeles Children’s Chorus provides choral music education and performance opportunities of the highest quality for young people representing Los Angeles County’s richly diverse racial, economic, and cultural backgrounds.

The Organization

GRAMMY Award-Winning Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC) seeks an energetic, collaborative, strategic, and experienced fundraising leader to join the organization as Director of Development. The Director of Development will be a member of LACC’s senior leadership team and will oversee all contributed revenue generation for the organization. LACC is one of the world’s preeminent youth choruses. The Chorus annually serves more than 500 young people ages 6–18 from 40 communities across Southern California. The Director of Development will play a key role in leading LACC’s 40th Anniversary Campaign, as well as designing and implementing a series of special events.

The Position

The Director of Development will report to, and work closely with, LACC’s Executive Director. They will manage the Chorus’s Contract Grant Writer and a second-in-command Development team member who they will have the opportunity to hire to support the devising and implementing of strategies to grow funders, build and nurture relationships, and increase overall contributed revenue. They will work in close concert with the Marketing and Communications Manager to ensure that timelines, imagery, themes and productivity of mass and targeted communications are maintained.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate a history of maintaining the highest ethical standards in their work and embody the organization’s culture of kindness and joy. They will evidence a strong commitment to LACC’s work as that transforms lives through the power of choral music education.

Responsibilities:

Strategy Development

• Provide strategic leadership in creating implementing, and updating a comprehensive Fund Development Plan, that is integrated with its overall Organizational Strategic Plan.

Donor and Alumni Engagement

• Serve as one of LACC’s primary external ambassadors; develop and maintain close relationships with LACC’s family of supporters, including the Board of Directors, individual donors, corporate sponsors, institutional funders, alumni, and community leaders, as well as new prospects in each category.
• Serve as LACC’s primary contact with alumni, organize alumni engagement events, and identify opportunities to engage alumni in philanthropy.

Special Events

• Oversee the planning, management, and execution of LACC’s fundraising events in partnership with the Executive Director and Development Committee. Oversee volunteers and vendors who support the event, including 40th Anniversary focused events.

Corporate and Foundation Relations

• Collaborate with LACC’s grant writer to identify new funding opportunities and secure significant foundation and governmental support, and contribute to the grant-writing process by providing oversight and contributing content. Oversee and track the grants development and reporting schedule; manage relationships with existing institutional funders.
• Maintain relationships with corporate entities to secure monetary and in- kind support.

Communications

• In concert with the Executive Director, Artistic Director, and Marketing and Communications team, develop key messaging that is clear, comprehensive, and compelling in presenting an inspiring story.
• Collaborate effectively across the organization to ensure opportunities for strategic collaboration between fundraising initiatives and programmatic, marketing, and performance activities.

Other

• Create and manage the development budget.
• Serve as primary liaison to the Board of Directors’ Development Committee.
• Oversee gift processing, acknowledgment and reconciliation processes.
• Attend LACC performances; represent LACC at various civic, cultural, and other public events.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree, and 5 years of progressively responsible experience in not-for-profit fundraising, preferably in the arts and culture sector.
• Demonstrated experience devising, implementing, and managing individual and institutional fundraising efforts.
• Demonstrated experience in conceptualizing, managing, and implementing special event.
• Exceptional writing, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated experience in successfully managing and nurturing direct reports and volunteers.
• Personable, donor-centric communication with high ethical standards, discretion, tact, and diplomacy.
• Ability to successfully manage multiple projects simultaneously with a strong attention to detail.
• Strong computer skills, including fluency in MS Office, Event applications and CRMs.
• Valid California Driver’s License and access to a vehicle.

Preferred Experience:

• Experience in not-for-profit fundraising for a youth-facing organization and/or a performing arts or education-focused organization.
• Experience in working with Patron Manager (CRM) and OneCause (Special Event Application).
• Experience managing a portfolio of major individual donors, with a demonstrable track record of successfully soliciting five- and six-figure gifts.
• Relationships with donors and funders in the Los Angeles (particularly Pasadena based) philanthropic community.