Fort Wayne, IN

Development Director, PBS Fort Wayne

The Organization

For more than 45 years, PBS Fort Wayne has been the only public television station in northeast Indiana and remains the only locally owned and operated full power television service in the region. Digital technology provides PBS Fort Wayne with the ability to align its mission with programming across five broadcast channels that reach more than 800,000 persons in 11 northeast Indiana and three northwest Ohio counties. This highly rural area includes 6.8% of persons who live below the poverty level. To its varied audiences, PBS Fort Wayne is a free, over the air broadcast service, including closed captioning broadcasts for the hearing impaired, descriptive video service for the sight impaired, and carriage of Allen County Public Library’s Audio Reading service on a secondary audio channel of PBS FW Explore (39-4).

In addition to the station’s main High-Definition channel (39-1), viewers can receive PBS FW Kids (39-2), a 24-hour free service dedicated to quality, non-commercial, educational, children’s programming. Beyond broadcast, PBS FW Kids streams live online for children and families to watch on a variety of devices over a free PBS FW mobile app. PBS FW Create (39-3) offers a national schedule of “How To…” and travel programs. PBS FW Explore (39-4) airs local and Indiana-centric programs, international news, public affairs, and the best of PBS. PBS FW WX (39.5) provides continuous near real-time (within 30-seconds) National Weather Service Doppler weather radar, weather warnings and NWS audio. Fort Wayne Public Television, Inc. (PBS Fort Wayne) is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, tax-exempt organization chartered by the state of Indiana and licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate as a non-commercial, educational, public television station. PBS Fort Wayne engages our community through content and collaborations that educate, inform, inspire and entertain (mission statement). As a trusted community partner, PBS Fort Wayne will be a primary focal point for the advancement of arts and culture, history, education, and quality of life in our community (vision statement).

Position Overview

The Development Director cultivates relationships and secures financial support to sustain and strengthen PBS Fort Wayne’s public service. This individual provides leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and strategic vision to the development department in its activities supporting all aspects of the station’s work. The position reports to the president/general manager, serves on the station’s senior management team, and is assisted by the station’s membership operations manager and three department staff.

Duties and Responsibilities:

60%   Resource Development: initiate and build relationships with prospects and donors; drive major gift activity

·       Create and implement strategies that identify, steward and secure individuals for major and planned gifts.

·       Strengthen philanthropic support by expanding awareness of charitable gift opportunities.

·       Promote PBS Fort Wayne’s services to prospects and professional advisors through one-to-one meetings, special events, presentations, and other targeted programming.

·       Develop and cultivate relationships with station stakeholders, including donors, prospects, professional advisors, board members, nonprofits, volunteers, and other partners.

·       Advise on development of broad scale donor-related communications (i.e., annual report, videos, blog posts, annual appeal).

·       Maintain current knowledge of philanthropic trends and legislation that impacts the field of philanthropy and community foundations.

·       Provide leadership for complex gifts, such as charitable trusts, real estate, stock, etc.

·       Track donor conversations, meetings, etc. and provide critical updates to donor data in constituent relationship management system.

·       Determine effective donor cultivation/education events and gatherings.

25%   Management: provide leadership to guide the activities, staff, and resources of PBS Fort Wayne’s development department.

·       Lead and direct development department staff, activities, and resources.

·       Establish and manage annual department budget in consultation with the general manager; develop and implement department strategies to achieve revenue goals.

·       Oversee research, preparation, and submission of proposals to foundations and individuals.

·       Oversee accurate records and analysis of commitments, forecasts, and other reports.

·       Ensure that all fund development and related activities follow legal and regulatory requirements established for public television stations.

15%   Strategy and Growth: work collaboratively across the organization as appropriate to develop, implement, and evaluate short and long-term strategies for achieving the goals in the organization’s strategic plan

·       Serve as a member of the station’s management team and as an ambassador for PBS Fort Wayne in the community.

·       Identify operational/process innovations as appropriate to optimize department’s efforts.

·       Ability to connect department work/goals to common organizational vision.

·       Demonstrated experience using data analysis to guide decision-making.

·       Commitment to continuous improvement.

Required Skills and Abilities:

·       A minimum of six years as an accomplished development executive with a proven track record of building financial support for mission-based organizations.

·       Demonstrated experience with major gifts, planned giving, and development operations.

·       Knowledge and competency in use of membership management database systems.

·       Proven skills in budgeting, revenue forecasting and business plan development.

·       Excellent verbal, written, organizational and interpersonal skills.

·       Ability to plan strategically, set goals and objectives, organize and follow-through with a minimum of direct supervision.

·       Must be innovative and possess the ability to coordinate multiple activities simultaneously

·       Bachelor’s degree required; public media experience or CFRE is helpful.

·       Proven dynamic leader skilled at bringing fresh ideas and innovation to drive the next chapter of impact for an organization.

Compensation and benefits:

·       Health insurance

·       Retirement plan

·       Managed time off

·       Holidays

·       Life insurance

·       Short-term disability
Salary Range:  $70,000 – $85,000 based on experience

How To Apply

PBS Fort Wayne is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from qualified candidates without regard for race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, or military status. PBS Fort Wayne works actively to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at all levels of its operations – internally and externally – and is committed to equitable policies and practices. We strongly encourage members of traditionally under-served and under-represented communities to apply to our open positions.

PBS Fort Wayne is being assisted in this search by Livingston Associates. To Apply, please submit a resume and a letter describing your interest in and fit for the position by following this link.

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