Director, Development

Teach For America; Birmingham (AL); On-site; USD 74,000 - 101,000; Full time

Job summary

Teach For America in Birmingham, Alabama is seeking a Director of Development to lead a local donor portfolio and drive fundraising strategy. You will partner with senior leaders to cultivate, solicit, and steward donors across public and private funding streams to meet ambitious revenue goals.

The role emphasizes portfolio management, grant writing, and collaboration with regional leadership to expand donor relationships and secure long-term support for educational equity.

Qualifications

• Strong relationship-building and donor stewardship abilities.
• Experience soliciting and stewarding donors across multiple funding streams.
• Ability to develop and write grant proposals that are motivating and effective.

Responsibilities

• Identify, manage, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of donors in Alabama.
• Collaborate with Executive Director and VP of Field Fundraising to set local fundraising strategy.
• Lead donor cultivation and acquisition to maximize revenue for Teach For America.
• Maintain donor activity records in Salesforce and monitor progress.
• Support organizational initiatives and donor stewardship across the team.

Skills

Donor portfolio management

Relationship building

Grant writing

Strategic planning

Salesforce CRM

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

ROLE TITLE: Director, Development

POSITION REPORTS TO: Vice President, Field Fundraising

PRIORITY APPLICATION DEADLINE: July 6th, 11:59 PM ET. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

LOCATION: Birmingham, Alabama

WHAT YOU'LL DO

All prospect & donor management roles on Field Fundraising teams are responsible for cultivating, soliciting, stewarding, and owning a portfolio of donors in our local communities who share our commitment to ensuring that all children have access to an excellent education. As a member of the Field Fundraising team, you will be a part of a team-based effort charged with developing and executing a long-term vision and strategy to achieve our development goals for both public and private funding. In your role, you will partner with the Executive Director, regional advisory board members, and other staff to maximize both public and private giving, playing a key role in new donor strategy and acquisition over the next 3-5 years.

Reporting to the Vice President, Field Fundraising, you will be charged with raising $1-5 million or more from a portfolio of donors, including both public and private funding. You will work directly with the Executive Director, regional advisory board and other staff to cultivate, solicit, and steward your portfolio of donors. You own management of the Alabama portfolio of donors, ensuring that key stakeholders and the primary solicitor are well-positioned to engage with donors across fundraising streams and at all stages of the donor life cycle. We are looking for a true team player who can make a significant contribution across the local fundraising landscape. In partnership with local Executive Directors, the VP, Field Fundraising and other staff, you will be a key leader in developing and executing the strategy to acquire, cultivate, retain, and diversify your portfolio of donors.

WHAT YOU'LL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR

• 50% - Identify, manage, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of donors. Own the Alabama pipeline, moving donors through all stages of the donor life cycle in partnership with internal and external stakeholders.

• 20% - Work in close partnership with the Executive Director, advisory board members and other fundraisers to build the relationships necessary to advance fundraising efforts, including regional advisory board members

• 20% - In partnership with the Executive Director and VP of Field Fundraising, lead setting a vision for the local fundraising landscape to build and execute a plan for cultivating a portfolio of donors with the goal of maximizing revenue to the organization, including new donor strategy and acquisition.

• 5% - Consistently maintain donor, prospect, and fundraising activity information in our customer relationship management system (currently SalesForce) and leverage this information to track progress, monitor gaps, and adjust strategy and approach

• 5% - Steward team and organizational initiatives

YOUR EXPERIENCE

Your areas of knowledge and expertise that matter most for this role (minimum qualifications):

• Relationship Building and Management

  • Build strong relationships with prospects and donors and support key stakeholders and solicitors through a comprehensive relationship management plan

  • Strong written and verbal communication skills with a variety of internal and external constituents

  • Ability to manage up and laterally to influence teammates and Board members in service of donor stewardship and solicitation

• Fundraising and Development

  • Have a solid foundation in best practices of development and fundraising

  • Experience soliciting and stewarding a portfolio of donors/funders from various funding streams

  • Contribute to complex fundraising and relationship management initiatives

  • Ability to develop and write grant proposals that are motivating and effective

  • Track record of meeting individual revenue goals

• Portfolio Management

  • Leverage the market vision and overarching strategy to determine the specific approach to steward a portfolio of local donors and execute on that strategy in service of maximizing revenue to Teach For America as an enterprise

  • Monitor progress against the portfolio to ensure continuous donor stewardship

• Problem Solving and Innovation

  • Flexible orientation to problem solving, with the ability to work in complexity and adjust strategies and priorities as needed

  • Ability to explore new ideas, methodologies, and alternatives to reach outcomes and not being constrained by conventional thinking and established approaches

Prior experience

• Required: At least 4+ years of related experience in development and fundraising context, with direct experience managing a donor portfolio

• Required: Track record of meeting and exceeding ambitious goals managing and/or supporting the management of a portfolio of donors

• Preferred: Experience writing grants and managing proposals

Work Demands

• Occasional weekend or evening work hours required.

• Some travel to engage with local donors may be required

YOUR FUTURE TEAM

The Revenue and Development team at Teach For America inspires donors and champions to contribute to shaping the future of our country by investing in Teach For America’s work with students nationally and regionally. We aim to source investments that fuel our work and impact with a revenue growth trajectory to raise $300 million annually. This role will be an essential part of the Field Fundraising arm of the Revenue and Development team, maximizing the contributions of local donors across multiple regions of the country.

YOUR COMPENSATION

The applicable salary range for each U.S.-based role is based on where the employee works and is aligned to one of 3 tiers according to a cost of labor index in that geographic area. Starting pay for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of job‑related factors, which may include education, training, experience, location, business needs, or market demands. New hires are typically brought into the organization at a salary between the range minimum and the salary range midpoint depending on qualifications, internal equity, and the budgeted amount for the role. The expected salary range for this role are set forth below. These ranges may be modified in the future.

• Tier A (Alabama): $74,300 - $101,300

You can view which tier applies to where you plan to work here.