Director of Development and Advancement

Park Slope Jewish Center; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 105,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Tzedek America seeks a Director of Philanthropic Engagement and Communication to advance donor relations, cultivate foundations, and lead outreach across the LA area and beyond. The role demands proactive fundraising, precise asks, and disciplined CRM use.

Ideal candidates bring nonprofit fundraising success, excellent writing, and robust relationship skills to build a strong giving pipeline while coordinating communications and annual reporting.

Qualifications

• Three to five years of professional nonprofit experience.
• Proven success in individual, corporate, and foundation solicitations, closing gifts.
• Proactive foundation prospecting with a 40–50 pipeline per year.
• Highly organized with same-day or next-day CRM data entry.
• Strong writing for social media, appeals, grants and reporting.
• Solid knowledge of LA, NY and national Jewish philanthropic landscape.
• Proficient with Google Suites and CRM tools.
• Willingness to work evenings and some Jewish holidays.

Responsibilities

• Develop outreach strategies for donor prospects, parents, corporations, and foundations.
• Provide direction and oversight to peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns.
• Identify and empower key lay partners and leadership.
• Expand the prospecting pool using contacts of lay leadership.
• Schedule and conduct a minimum of five donor meetings weekly; document next steps.
• Make precise dollar asks and follow up within 48 hours of meetings.
• Write grant applications and reporting; maintain pipeline in CRM.
• Attend weekly staff meetings and report progress to the Founding Director.

Skills

Nonprofit fundraising

Donor cultivation

CRM proficiency

Communication skills

Networking

Evenings/weekend availability

Tools

Donor Perfect

Monday.com

Google Suites

Job description

Director of Philanthropic Engagement and Communication

For over 12 years, Tzedek America has designed transformative, values driven educational programs that help young people become brave, compassionate leaders. Our civil rights and immigration journeys, local justice learning experiences, and workshops for schools, synagogues, and community groups give students the tools to lead with courage and empathy. We combat antisemitism through bridgebuilding partnerships and in school presentations, help b'nai mitzvah students find meaningful service projects, and run a fellowship that trains other educators to carry this work forward. Our partners include independent schools, public school districts, camps, synagogues, and churches nationwide.

We’re looking for a kind and optimistic individual to join our team. They should be accomplished and relationship driven professional with the ability to help us grow the circle of people who know about and invest in this work.

Characteristics of an Ideal Teammate

• Genuinely invested in Tzedek America's mission and purpose
• Can authentically articulate the needs of the North American Jewish community
• Demonstrates a talent for anticipating both needs and outcomes
• Highly autonomous
• Draws upon previous experience in service of Tzedek America's mission
• Excellent one on one interactions, and genuinely comfortable initiating them; this role requires proactively scheduling and sitting for individual donor meetings and coffees, not just attending ones that are already on the calendar
• No fear of rejection, and specifically no fear of naming a dollar amount out loud. A candidate who is not comfortable asking a donor for a specific figure is not a fit for this role
• Collaborates with colleagues and enjoys networking
• Excellent written and oral communication
• Willingness to admit what you do not know, paired with a willingness to make donor and funder contact anyway. This role does not wait for complete programmatic mastery before initiating outreach; open questions get escalated to the Founding Director, they do not delay a call or a meeting
• Creative problem solving and ability to multi task
• Passion for social justice education and Jewish community
• Ability to work effectively under pressure, make difficult decisions, and follow through on agreed upon initiatives, including timely follow up with every donor and prospect within 48 hours of contact
• Willingness to devote 100 percent of your professional time to the work of Tzedek America. This is an exclusive, full time commitment; outside consulting, freelance work, or other paid engagements are not permitted without prior written approval from the Founding Director
• Disciplined, self initiated reporter: keeps the CRM current in real time and submits progress updates without being asked
• Update CRM with individual donors and workflow of foundations

Required

• Three to five years of professional non profit experience
• Demonstrated success in individual, corporate, and foundation solicitations, including direct experience asking for and closing specific dollar amounts, not just relationship maintenance
• Demonstrated track record of proactive foundation prospecting; candidates should expect to build and sustain a pipeline of 40 to 50 foundation applications and letters of inquiry per year
• Highly organized and detail oriented, with a demonstrated habit of same day or next day CRM data entry, not periodic catch up
• Strong writing skills both in short and long form, for example for social media, mail appeals, and grant writing and reporting
• Solid knowledge of the Los Angeles, New Yor, and national Jewish philanthropic landscape
• Proficient in use of Google Suites
• Ability and willingness to work occasionally on evenings and on some Jewish holidays
• CRM proficiency; we use Monday.com
• Comfortable committing, in writing, to a weekly written report and a monthly written report to the Founding Director covering meetings held, dollar amounts asked, dollars raised or pledged, and pipeline movement

Preferred

• Personal connection to the Jewish Los Angeles community and New York City community and throughout the United States
• Confidence and experience in event production and management
• Proficiency in storytelling"

Salary Range $105,000 to $120,000, plus benefits

Principal duties include, but are not limited to:

Donor Cultivation, Stewardship and Community Outreach

• Develop outreach strategies for target audiences, including donor prospects, parents, corporations, and foundations
• Provide direction and oversight to peer to peer fundraising campaigns
• Identify and empower key lay partners
• Leverage the contacts of lay leadership and stakeholders to expand the prospecting pool
• Schedule and conduct a minimum of five individual donor meetings, calls, or coffees per week (roughly 16 to 20 per month). This is a floor, not a stretch goal
• Make a specific, calibrated dollar ask in every qualified donor conversation; an open ended request is not a substitute for a named amount
• Follow up with every donor and prospect within 48 hours of a meeting, call, or event, with a documented next step in the CRM
• Communicate the Tzedek America mission and impact and underscore the imperative for investment
• Research, cultivate, and maintain an active pipeline of at least 50 to 60 foundation prospects per year, tracking every letter of inquiry, proposal, and reporting deadline in the CRM
• Write grant applications and completion reports
• Identify and contact prospects
• Participate in some Tzedek America trips to develop and convey intimate awareness of the nature of programs and their impact on students, for donor and communication purposes
• Collect and maintain accurate and detailed donor data using Donor Perfect and/or Monday.com, logging every interaction, meeting note, ask amount, and next step within 24 hours of contact
• Attend networking events and research public listings to identify prospects
• Implement a Tzedek America trip for donors
• Submit a written weekly report to the Founding Director covering meetings held, asks made, dollars raised or pledged, and pipeline movement, and a written monthly report summarizing progress against annual foundation and individual giving goals

Communications

• Conceptualize, oversee, and implement a communications plan.
• Conceptualize, write, and direct production of mail appeals, approximately four times per year
• Act as project manager for the creation of the Annual Report (printed hard copy), the primary annual collateral piece describing Tzedek America's impact and recognizing donors and leaders
• Work with vendors and consultants as needed, including graphic designer, mail house, Jewish Journal, and others
• Develop copy and imagery to be used in grant writing and reporting
• Generate and leverage visual evidence of philanthropic impact
• Conduct quarterly reviews to consider successes, challenges, and opportunities for growth for the Board of Directors
• Attend weekly staff meetings
• Report to the Founding Director and lay leadership on emerging trends in philanthropy and coordinate outreach efforts accordingly
• Participate in ongoing training sessions, and offer training to lay leadership and colleagues when called on

Donor Services

• Timely gift processing and acknowledgements, completed within a defined turnaround rather than in batches
• Query the database to generate reports and lists