Position: Vice President of Development
Organization: Education Pioneers
Location: Oakland, CA
In 2003, social entrepreneur Scott Morgan founded Education Pioneers to fill a gap in the need for talent in urban education reform. Education Pioneers’ mission is to train, connect, and inspire a new generation of education leaders dedicated to transforming the educational system so that all students receive a quality education. Over the next five years, Education Pioneers plans on building a network with hundreds of new education leaders across the nation.
Education Pioneers seeks a Vice President of Development to design and implement an expanded strategy for fundraising through significant partnerships with major donors, foundations and corporations. Serving on the National Leadership Team, the Vice President of Development will report directly to the Founder & CEO and the Board of Directors and will lead a fundraising effort to raise between $5-$10 million annually. In addition to working closely with the CEO to advance national fundraising efforts focused on multi-million dollar gifts, the Vice President of Development will support the organization’s strategy of diversifying its revenue sources and developing financially sustainable sites.
The ideal candidate will be an entrepreneurial professional with some knowledge of the education reform movement, a passion for the work of the organization and the ability to communicate the organization’s vision and impact to a diverse group of constituents. He/she will have experience setting ambitious goals, delivering results and building productive partnerships. This is a full-time, exempt position located in Oakland, CA.
Responsibilities
- Take primary responsibility for developing a long-term strategic fundraising plan that will enable Education Pioneers to generate income to realize aggressive growth goals
- Direct the organization’s fundraising activities, including identifying funding opportunities from foundations and corporations, prospecting individual and major donors, assessing government funding options, and implementing targeted strategies for each opportunity
- Assessing the success of fundraising strategies and providing clear, concise reports on fundraising results
- Collaborate on external communications and visibility raising efforts as the organization develops greater national awareness
- Bolster visibility at the local level and work with sites to bring local funders on board to support growth and enable sites to reach financial sustainability
- Support seven regional Managing Directors in their fundraising efforts
- Develop fundraising capacity in national and site staff
- Develop and maintain professional, effective relationships with foundation and corporate contacts and match prospects with strategic growth efforts and priorities
- Steward corporate and foundation donors to maintain and increase giving
- Create, implement and build opportunities for individual donor engagement
- Engage, nurture and work with the national Board of Directors in development-related activities ranging from strategy development, donor identification, cultivation and solicitation and stewardship events
- Manage a Director of Development and build a cohesive, effective development team
- 10-15 years of experience leading highly successful development efforts
- Experience growing a multi-million dollar fundraising program and designing the systems required to support it
- Excellent communicator with the ability to quickly convey an innovative model and engage and inspire a wide range of stakeholders
- Superb relationship builder who can find common ground and expand partnerships
- Experience successfully managing a high-performing team
- Strategic, analytical approach combined with a collaborative nature
- Independent, highly organized, and detail-oriented self-starter
- Energetic, hard-working, and enthusiastic team player
- A strong commitment to Education Pioneers’ mission and core values of courage, optimism, collaboration, and action
- Prior experience in education reform preferred
- Bachelor’s degree required
Compensation and Benefits
Compensation is competitive and commensurate with experience.
To Apply
Education Pioneers has engaged Koya Consulting to help in this hire. Please send a thoughtful cover letter and resume to Katie Bouton at executivesearch@koyaconsulting.com.
Education Pioneers is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBT applicants.
About Education Pioneers
Education Pioneers, a national non-profit organization, recruits talent from business, law, education, public policy and other disciplines to work in the field of education. Through its graduate school Fellowship and Alumni Program, they groom a new generation of leaders who leverage their skills to address the nation’s most critical urban education issues. Education Pioneers’ work results in a pipeline of highly skilled talent working in the field of education and increased capacity and results for its Partner schools, districts and education organizations. For more information about Education Pioneers, please visit www.educationpioneers.org.