Director of Development (NIS)

The National Innovation Service; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

Paid Time Off

Job summary

The National Innovation Service seeks a Director of Development to grow our impact investment and philanthropic grants. You will cultivate relationships with high‑net‑worth individuals, foundations, corporate giving programs, and impact investors, translating projects into fundable opportunities.

As a founding‑stage team member, you will help source revenue, build out a CRM, and lead fundraising strategy. Travel up to 50% to meet partners, present at events, and represent NIS publicly.

Qualifications

• Proven fundraising track record across multiple sources (grants, foundations, individuals).
• Experience building and using a CRM to manage relationships and donor pipelines.
• Ability to articulate equity impact and translate program work into funding opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Own fundraising workstreams and identify funding options for growth.
• Independently write grants, proposals, scopes of work, and investor pitches.
• Prepare grant reports, budgets, and funder communications.

Skills

Fundraising

CRM management

Relationship building

Equity analysis

Flexibility

Team development

Follow-through

Job description

The National Innovation Service (NIS) partners with governments across the country to engage in systems-level transformations. We do this by creating collaborative coalitions between communities, public sector partners, and other relevant stakeholders to redesign systems with those most impacted at the center of decision-making processes. Our work is to build new systems that produce equitable outcomes.

Our team draws on a variety of disciplines and experiences to deliver this work, privileging direct experience of the problems we address and merging practices from service design, policy analysis, systems thinking, community organizing, and change management. We develop strategies and roadmaps for transformation and also remain committed partners throughout implementation. As we establish and test pathways forward with our partners, we are working to advance equity-based policy and legislation at the local, state, and national levels, as well as the development of new products and services.

NIS was officially incorporated in February 2019. Our first partnership was with King County and the City of Seattle in Fall 2018. We’re seeking leaders with an all-hands-on-deck mentality to build our team from the ground up.

We strive to attract and develop individuals who reflect a broad spectrum of diversity, including (but by no means limited to) racial, ethnic, gender identity, and socioeconomic dimensions. We believe that inclusion of diverse perspectives is essential to achieving long-term, systemic change. We explicitly seek applications from those who self-identify as coming from historically marginalized populations to enrich and elevate our equity-centered approach to problem-solving.

THE ROLE

The Director of Development of the National Innovation Service will be a development professional who is focused on growing our impact investment and philanthropic grants. This person will also grow our network by cultivating our relationships with high net-worth individuals, philanthropic organizations, corporate giving programs, and impact investment firms, and be able to link our projects to their interests. Because NIS is in its founding stage, each member of the team will support the Director of Development in sourcing revenue opportunities and building out our network.

As our Director of Development at NIS, you will be accountable for...

Development

• Owning the work of proactively identifying funding options for areas of growth with thought partnership from the Director and Deputy Director.
• Independently writing productive grants, proposals, scopes of work, and pitching to investors, philanthropic partners, government agencies, etc.
• Authoring grant related compliance documents, including reports, budget analysis, etc.
• Producing annual reports for funders, elevating key achievements relative to funder priorities.
• Producing fundraising and other reports for internal stakeholders, including the Board of Directors (to be appointed), as needed.
• Working with other NIS staff to ensure appropriate framing or presentation of activities.
• Delegating fundraising and development tasks as needed to other team members as needed.

Relationship Management and Cultivation

• Building and maintaining strong high-level, high-visibility relationships across multiple sectors.
• Seeking out tools, such as a formal CRM, to organize prospective and existing partners across the country.
• Developing a regular cadence and innovative means of reaching out to partners.
• Packaging projects creatively as attractive impact investment opportunities to prospective donors and investors.
• Representing NIS at conferences, public meetings, in the media, and other public venues.
• Proactively engaging creative opportunities and non-traditional spaces to network with prospective partners.

Organizational Leadership

• Informing the NIS budget by building out projections and fundraising objectives on a regular basis.

WHO YOU MIGHT BE

Strong candidates may...

• Come from professional backgrounds in development or philanthropy.
• Have experience rapidly raising significant funds (e.g. $5-10M in 12 months).
• Have experience establishing and building out a CRM with an eye to scale.
• Have experience developing and implementing cutting edge fundraising strategy.

COMPETENCIES

We're looking for someone who...

• Experienced Fundraiser: Has a successful track record building out and managing a scalable development strategy and CRM. Deeply understands how to work across multiple fundraising and investment sources, from high net worth individuals and family offices to impact investing and corporate giving programs. Is up to date on best practices and newest developments in fundraising (e.g. public-private partnerships, cause marketing, etc.).
• Relationship-oriented : Stresses the importance of building rapport and trust with others with highly responsive communication and a customer-service orientation.
• Equity : Is deeply fluent in equity concepts and language, understands their own privilege and power, and is able to bring equity impact analysis to life in the context of their tasks.
• Flexibility : Approaches work with a spirit of “yes” and pushes through obstacles and ambiguity, adapting quickly to changing situations while effectively juggling shifting priorities that are characteristic of early-stage startups.
• Team Development : Understands that NIS is a new organization, and sees their job as building the team and supporting its growth, anticipating scaling problems and course-correcting when needed.
• 100% Follow-through : Cares deeply about getting results, stays on top of all specific tasks/follow-up items, and consistently meets deadlines.

WHAT TO EXPECT

This role requires the willingness and ability to travel up to 30-50%, dependent on project work, to conduct meetings with leaders in the space, represent NIS, and lead project teams as needed.

Salary for this position is competitive. Additionally, we offer a comprehensive benefits package including but not limited to medical, dental, vision, and generous Paid Time Off.

We look forward to having our Director of Development join us by March 2019.

The National Innovation Service is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee based on the basis of race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, alienage or citizenship status, ancestry, nationality, national origin, marital or domestic partnership or civil union status, familial status, sex, pregnancy, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, The National Innovation Service will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.