Civic Influencers is a national nonpartisan nonprofit operating across the country, on and off campus, in local communities and states, that empowers young people to build their civic power and increase voting rates amongst their peers. They frame their work through an Organizing, Advocacy and Learning model that equips young people with the skills to dismantle barriers to voting while developing their identities as voters and participants in our democracy.

Reports to: Chief Operations Officer

Classification: Full-time Exempt

Location: Remote work from any location in the US, ideally located in New York City, Washington D.C. or Los Angeles

Travel: Some travel required

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Civic Influencers is seeking a Chief Development Officer with extensive experience in cultivating and stewarding major donors, private & public foundations, and corporations through a giving pipeline. The following tasks and duties will fall within the following buckets across the Development Department including:

Donor Relations

• Identify clear transition plans for existing donors and prospects to successfully hand-off relationships from the Chief Executive Officer and other staff.
• Assign stewards and stewardship plans for all current and prospective donors across the department.
• Draft regular correspondence to existing and prospective donors and stakeholders.
• Host donor engagement calls to ensure that proper cultivation is done resulting in an ask, or, ensuring that regular stewarding is done resulting in a gift renewal.
• Devise a plan for onboarding new donors and manage their onboarding process to the organization (digital and printed welcome, invitations to briefings, etc.).
• Draft content for donor direct mail, online appeals, and other fundraising campaigns.
• Oversee the gift acknowledgement process, including the digital and physical mailing of gift acknowledgement letters and gifts.

Grant Writing

• Oversee the grants calendar to ensure all deadlines are met.
• Review each letter of inquiry, proposal, and report for accuracy from the Senior Institutional Gifts Advisor and/or Grants Manager.
• Work with CEO and COO on special invitations, crafting tailored language for special projects and initiatives.

Briefings

• Identify individual donors who would be interested in hosting a virtual or in-person briefing on behalf of Civic Influencers to raise awareness and dollars.
• Architect initial plan for cultivation and donor-appreciation briefings (both virtual and in-person), including program, speakers, and run of show.
• Liaise with the Briefings & Events Advisor to ensure that all details of the briefing or event is seen to with precise detail.
• Assist the CEO and COO with individualized donor and prospect follow up and cultivation strategies.

Operations

• Oversee the Development Team, creating work plans for all team members and outlining quarterly goals and KPIs.
• With guidance from the COO, update and implement Civic Influencers’ annual Development Plan.
• Represent the Development Team at staff meetings and retreats, speaking to the Development Teams strategic plan, goals and metrics achieved to date.
• Other tasks as assigned.

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in the Humanities, Political Science or Public Policy, a related field or equivalent experience.
• 9+ years of proven progressive fundraising.
• Capable of building and sustaining relationships with a variety of individuals and organizations, including high net worth individuals and family foundations.
• Ability and comfortability to close face-to-face sales and sponsorships.
• Extensive experience with grant writing, reporting, and measuring impact.
• Demonstrated ability to manage strategic planning while being able to respond to short-term organizational needs.
• Familiarity with and understanding of CRMs and other content management databases, experience with Salesforce a plus.
• Proficient on Google Suite, including Google Sheets and Google Slides.
• Working knowledge of Tableau and Slack a plus.
• Excellent interpersonal and verbal communication skills; including the ability to communicate effectively and professionally with other staff, partner organizations, elected and appointed officials, corporate/business representatives, and community members.
• Commitment to transparency, accountability, and direct communication.
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a fast-paced environment with multiple priorities and tight deadlines.
• Ability to manage highly sensitive, confidential information using excellent judgment at all times.
• Must have a commitment to DEI and cultural competency, including an awareness of one's own cultural worldview, a welcoming attitude towards cultural differences, an appreciative knowledge of different cultural practices and worldviews, and cross-cultural skills.

Desired Experience

• Experience working in a movement organization, including ones focused on Voting Rights, Social Justice, Civil Rights or Youth.
• Experience working with or within a higher education institution, People of Color Serving Institutions (PoCSIs, e.g., HSIs and HBCUs) a plus.
• Fluent in multiple languages is a plus.

Other Requirements

• Must complete data visualization and data gathering training hosted by Tableau, and other training as required.
• Extremely reliable and available on evenings and weekends for occasional events and conferences.

Start date: for immediate consideration.

Civic Influencers is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability or class. We value diversity on our team and strongly encourage people of color, Indigenous people, LGBTQIA individuals, people with disabilities and all qualified persons to apply for our open positions.