Who We Are:
FoodCorps believes every school should be a healthy school and every child – regardless of race, place or class – deserves to be well nourished and ready to learn. In under-served communities across the country, our AmeriCorps leaders teach students about healthy food through hands-on lessons, partner with farmers and food service workers to create nutritious and delicious school meals, and collaborate with communities to insure a long-term culture of health. Building on this foundation of direct impact, FoodCorps pursues systemic strategies that will benefit all of our nation’s 100,000 schools.
Position Overview
What We’re Looking For:
FoodCorps seeks an exceptionally motivated and experienced major gifts development professional to lead, strategically guide and build our fundraising program across D.C., North Carolina, and Georgia. Reporting to our National Senior Director of Development, the Southeast Director of Philanthropy will lead, develop and implement fundraising strategies to grow FoodCorps’ base of donors with a primary focus on raising funds from high net worth individuals and foundations, with lesser emphasis on corporations that have a local or regional approach to their philanthropy. This is a unique opportunity to work within a national fundraising team while serving as senior fundraising lead in the Southeast region to build a high-caliber, comprehensive fundraising program.
This is a full-time position with the ability to be based in North Carolina, Georgia, or D.C. and requires occasional out of state travel.
Who We Are:
FoodCorps believes every school should be a healthy school and every child – regardless of race, place or class – deserves to be well nourished and ready to learn. In under-served communities across the country, our AmeriCorps leaders teach students about healthy food through hands-on lessons, partner with farmers and food service workers to create nutritious and delicious school meals, and collaborate with communities to insure a long-term culture of health. Building on this foundation of direct impact, FoodCorps pursues systemic strategies that will benefit all of our nation’s 100,000 schools.
Who You Are:
You are passionate about racial and social justice and are eager to convince both stakeholders and prospective supporters of the urgency and impact of our work. You are an established front-line major gifts fundraiser and portfolio manager. You are a proven leader with a vision for building out and executing FoodCorps’s regional fundraising strategy and presence. You are an outstanding and adaptive communicator on all fronts. You are skilled at researching and identifying funder priorities and reflecting those interests in your conversations with individuals from a variety of backgrounds. You excel in development strategies and techniques, including cold prospecting, cultivation, closing gifts, and delivering exceptional stewardship. You have experience closing five and six-figure gifts from high-net-worth individuals and institutions. You possess strong organizational skills, an exceptional attention to detail, and are comfortable juggling multiple projects, tight deadlines and a rapid pace of work in a national organization. You bring a customer service orientation to funders, anticipating and responding promptly to their requests and needs. You are highly independent and can work across geographies. You are motivated by the idea of helping people invest in our nation’s children, and leveraging FoodCorps as their investment vehicle. You preferably have experience connecting philanthropists to under-served communities, and bring a significant level of maturity and sensitivity to discussing the needs of under-served communities with funders.
Core Responsibilities:
- Develop and implement a D.C., North Carolina, and Georgia development plan to support FoodCorps programming on the state and national levels, including the capital campaign
- Achieve ambitious fundraising goals by actively managing and growing a portfolio of D.C., North Carolina, and Georgia donors using a moves management approach
- Partner closely with our Senior Director of Development, current D.C., North Carolina and Georgia area funders and local partners to build a diverse pipeline of donors consisting of individuals and institutions, concentrating on prospects capable of giving $10,000 – $1,000,000+
- Solicit and close five, six and seven-figure gifts from major donors, foundations and corporations
- Create and lead site visits, cultivation events, and donor engagement opportunities that foster not just philanthropic investment, but programmatic partnership with donors
- Collaborate with members of the national Growth and Development team to meet and exceed state and national fundraising goals
- Participate in team strategy meetings, and follow organization-wide practices for tracking relationships, measuring performance and stewarding donors in Salesforce or comparable database
- In partnership with Program Directors, develop and implement donor strategies that offer philanthropic partnership opportunities to donors and prospects across all constituent categories
- Develop and sustain professional relationships with key stakeholders and partners across D.C., North Carolina, and Georgia including major donors, locally focused foundations and corporations, and programmatic partners
- In support of national programmatic and fundraising goals, develop a localized case for support for D.C., North Carolina, and Georgia state programs
Skills of the Ideal Candidate:
- At least five years professional experience in establishing partnerships with diverse funders and generating new funding streams.
- Proven record of soliciting and closing five and six figure gifts from major donors, foundations or corporations required.
- Experience with capital campaign fundraising preferred.
- Experience in or knowledge of creating portfolios and building pipelines from scratch
- Sensitivity and diplomacy in working with and fundraising alongside local nonprofit partners
- Thorough understanding of development philosophies, concepts and techniques, including prospect research, cultivation, solicitation, negotiation and closing gifts
- Commitment to diversity and inclusion with a desire to work toward health equity and social and racial justice
- Knowledge of or interest in food systems, national service, education and related issues
- Ability to articulate a stellar case for support for both state and national program priorities
- Strength in multi-tasking, goal-setting, prioritization and project management
- Clear communication skills to enable collaboration with local and remote staff
- High degree of comfort in a remote and computer-based environment
- Ability to work independently, setting your own schedule
- Must excel in a deadline-driven, high-accountability role and be self-motivated to succeed
- Familiar with a current CRM software e.g. Salesforce or Raiser’s Edge
- College degree, or equivalent work experience
- Knowledge of D.C., North Carolina, and Georgia philanthropic communities highly preferred
How To Apply
How to Apply:
Applications will be accepted until our ideal candidate is identified. To be considered, submit your résumé, cover letter and salary requirements through our career site at https://foodcorps.hiringthing.com/job/112401/southeast-director-of-philanthropy
FoodCorps pays salaries that are competitive with nonprofits of our budget size and geographic location, and offers generous vacation and medical benefits, 401(k) match, professional development funds and a sabbatical policy. This position is a Director level role with salary dependent upon experience. Candidates invited to interview for the position should expect to complete sample projects.
People of color, people with disabilities, veterans and LGBTQ candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. FoodCorps is committed to a diverse workplace, and to supporting our staff with ongoing career development opportunities. FoodCorps is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its employment decisions. FoodCorps provides reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees as required by law.
Applicants with disabilities may request reasonable accommodation at any point in the employment process.