Description

Summary

The Director of Advancement collaborates with the executive leadership of WITF, LNP, and The Steinman Institute of Civic Engagement, and leads an advancement team to set and achieve annual and long-range fundraising goals for the three primary pillars of WITF’s vision. The Director of Advancement collaborates with staff across the organization to support funding needs and priorities.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

Development, Stewardship, and Communications

• Develops and oversees implementation of Development Plan in consultation with leadership and advancement teams.
• Manages a portfolio of donors and prospective major donors by leading in cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship; maintains current documentation of activity.
• Develops and strengthens relationships with individuals, corporations, government agencies, and foundations.
• Develop relationships and cultivate donors with the Central Pa region.
• Delegates and oversees creation of donor-related materials including print and electronic appeals, stewardship communication, and meeting packets.
• Collaborates with leadership team to coordinate annual fundraising targets with organizational strategic objectives and the annual budget.
• Work alongside the finance team on impending gifts to ensure proper accounting procedures and revenue recognition requirements are met.
• Conducts and records outcome of measurable number of face-to-face visits with donor prospects to solicit major and planned gifts.
• Prepares or delegates preparation of written and verbal proposals, concept and informational materials, endowment and planned giving agreements, and other materials needed to secure major gifts in collaboration with colleagues, as appropriate.
• Solicits a measurable number of major gifts annually while growing a pipeline of new opportunities to support future major gift solicitations and budgeted financial goals.
• Represents organization publicly as needed to strategically grow community of stakeholders, working with other staff to coordinate strategic meetings and small-scale events as needed.
• In coordination with senior leadership, creates opportunities to increase the visibility of the organization across the region through strategic partnerships, events, and special initiatives as schedule and budget permit.

Management 

• Coaches, supervises, and evaluates advancement team and ensures staff members have the tools needed to accomplish their jobs; this includes major gift officers, grant officers, and public media membership teams. 
• Provides guidance to the advancement team and tracks performance against strategic and budgeted plans.
• Communicates regularly with advancement team to strategize about status of stewardship, prospecting, proposals, and appeals; evaluates areas needing focus and growth.
• Provides guidance on professional growth opportunities for the advancement team that align with the professional goals of the team members and the organization.

Leadership Team and Board

• Participates actively in leadership team meetings to strategize and align the goals of the advancement team with the other leaders of the organization.
• Collaborates with Board members to cultivate and solicit for major gifts for organization work and to grow our network of new investors.
• Coordinates meetings with Development Committee Chair and prepares Board Development Committee activities, reports, and meeting agendas.

Requirements

Qualifications: The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required for this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties and responsibilities.

• Education and/or Experience: Requires a bachelor's degree with at least 5 years of experience in leading a development program with annual fundraising goals of $10MM annually, or an equivalent amount of experience in lieu of the minimum education. This includes experience hiring and managing a team, setting annual goals and objectives, and the ability to delegate tasks. 
• Language Skills: Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business and broadcasting related periodicals, journals, technical procedures, and/or governmental regulations. Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals. Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, donors, and the general public. Must have the interpersonal skills needed to develop relationships with donors, business leaders, staff, and peers. 
• Reasoning Ability: Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.
• Computer Skills: To perform this job successfully, an individual should have Microsoft Office knowledge and broadcasting traffic software.
• Physical Demands: To perform this job successfully, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, and reach. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Work Environment: This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely requires the use of standard office equipment including, but not limited to, computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines. The job will also require occasional travel. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.