Director of Institutional Giving

Women in Development of Greater Boston; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work schedule

Job summary

English for New Bostonians (ENB) seeks a Director of Institutional Giving to lead grant fundraising with foundations, corporations, and government funders. The role centers on writing proposals, managing a 40‑grant portfolio, and shaping multi-year strategies that align with ENB’s mission in adult education and immigrant advocacy.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Director will cultivate funder relationships, oversee budgets and reporting, and collaborate with program and finance teams to

Qualifications

• Minimum 5-7 years of progressive nonprofit fundraising experience with a focus on grants.
• Proven success securing grants of $100,000 or more.
• Experience drafting proposals from $5,000 to $500,000 with strong writing skills.
• Background in workforce development, ESOL, or public policy is a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent; detail-oriented and highly organized.

Responsibilities

• Lead the full grant lifecycle from writing to submission and reporting.
• Develop a multi-year institutional funding strategy across foundations, corporate and government grants.
• Manage and grow a portfolio of grant relationships (≈40) and identify new funding sources.
• Collaborate with program and finance teams to create compelling proposals and budgets.
• Develop stewardship plans and engage funders through site visits and events.

Skills

Grant writing

Fundraising strategy

Relationship management

Donor stewardship

Proposal development

Budgeting and finance coordination

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

Tools

Bloomerang

Fundraising portals

Microsoft Office

Google Workspace

Job description

ABOUT ENGLISH FOR NEW BOSTONIANS

English language learning unlocks the key to security for new Americans, whether they have lived in the U.S. for years or months, whether they are experienced professionals or frontline workers. English for New Bostonians’ (ENB) mission is to ensure access to high-quality English classes so that adult immigrants across race, education, and immigration backgrounds can pursue their aspirations and contribute to a Commonwealth that fully values their talents and voices. Celebrating 25 years, ENB ensures that English language learning classes are high quality. ENB partners with employers to make learning English convenient and connected to one’s job. ENB connects parents to the schools their children attend and the curriculum they are learning and ENB helps entrepreneurs to build generational wealth. With a current annual budget of $4M and serving individuals across Eastern Massachusetts, ENB is a dynamic, growing and highly-respected leader in the field of ESOL and workforce development programming, planning, and policy. Consider joining our team!

ABOUT THE POSITION

ENB has enjoyed strong support from local and national foundations throughout its tenure, with recent growth in public sector support. Representing more than 60% of overall revenue, institutional giving is the pillar of ENB’s revenue strategy. The Executive Director, the entire Program Team, and the Leadership Team all collaborate with the Director of Institutional Giving to meet revenue goals and develop new opportunities for support. Our next Director of Institutional Giving will serve as the leader of this effort, helping to grow and sustain the organization’s overall revenue; navigate shifts in the political and philanthropic landscape; and manage and grow the organization’s institutional fund support.

The Director of Institutional Giving will foster meaningful engagement through thoughtful stewardship, ensuring that philanthropic, government, and corporate funders feel valued, informed, and aligned with ENB’s mission and work at the intersection of adult education, workforce development and immigrant advocacy.

Reporting to, and working closely with, the Executive Director, this role will be responsible for all aspects of grant fundraising—from identifying and cultivating potential funders, to creating internal processes for evaluating new funding opportunities, to writing all proposals and reports, to relationship-building and stewardship. This role will maintain and improve systems for tracking grants, deadlines, and compliance. The Director will collaborate closely with the Senior Director of Advancement (and Development Team), the Senior Director of Programs and Partnerships (and Programs Team), and the Manager of Finance and Operations to develop compelling materials that align with ENB’s priorities.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

The responsibilities for this position are varied ranging from strategic leadership to accurate inputting of proposals into funder portals. Fundamentally, the Director of Institutional Giving will serve as English for New Bostonians’ primary grant writer. The successful candidate will embrace the opportunity for diverse days and weeks with a significant focus on writing.

Strategic Leadership and Fundraising Growth

• Design and execute a multi-year institutional funding strategy, expanding foundation, corporate and government grant portfolios to support long-term organizational growth.
• Work with the Executive Director and senior management to set goals, priorities, and direction for institutional support for ENB.
• Manage and grow a portfolio of grant relationships and prospects (currently about 40). Develop strategies, conduct research, and identify new funding sources and prospects, aligning funder priorities with ENB’s mission and strategic plan.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the organization to identify needs, priorities, gaps in funding, and growth opportunities that have the potential to attract general operating, programmatic grant, and sponsorship funding.
• Keep up to date on current events and research, including immigration, education, the regional labor market, relevant public policy, and philanthropy.

Proposal Development and Management

• Lead and implement the full grant lifecycle, including writing and editing all proposals through to submission; as well as compliance, reporting, renewal, and stewardship.
• Ensure deadlines are met including lead time for review by the Senior Leadership Team, finance, and others.
• Partner with program and finance staff to ensure accurate, compelling proposals and budgets that build funder trust and accountability.

Relationship-Building and Stewardship

• Develop and implement a stewardship plan that ensures funders are consistently recognized, informed about program outcomes, and connected to ENB’s mission and impact, leading to increased loyalty, multi-year commitments, and expanded giving;
• Leverage board assistance in opening doors, making introductions.
• Collaborate with Development to strengthen and build a strong business case and develop avenues for corporations to partner with us through grants, sponsorships, or membership in ENB’s English Works Business
• Organize foundation site visits, meetings, and other targeted contact with funders and prospects. Coordinate logistics, presentations, and participants that effectively convey the impact of our work.
• Attend philanthropy and community events to raise awareness of ENB’s programs and identify prospective funders.

Systems, Data and Reporting

• Work with ENB’s program lead for data and evaluation to draw on ENB’s rich quantitative and qualitative data collection and best communicate ENB’s impact in proposals and reports to funders.
• Develop and optimize systems to assess new funding opportunities, manage a high-volume grant pipeline, improving efficiency, enhancing workflow, and supporting organization-wide fundraising efforts.
• Ensure data integrity in ENB’s database (Bloomerang), documenting funder interactions and generating reports to guide strategic decisions.

Other

• Attend leadership team and staff meetings; program team meetings as needed.
• Assist with related development work as needed, for example, appeal letters, preparation for donor meetings, and sponsorship applications.
• Attend occasional ESOL site visits to gather insight and input on ENB’s work and impact.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum 5-7 years of progressive nonprofit fundraising experience with a focus on grants, including proven success securing grants of $100,000 or more.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with experience as the primary drafter of proposals from $5,000 to $500,000, and the corresponding
• Experience messaging a nuanced mission that involves multiple layers of work, from direct service to policy work aimed at furthering a larger goal is ideal.
• Creativity in responding to funder trends and recognizing how to explain the alignment of longstanding programs as well as new priorities is valuable.
• Previous experience in workforce development, ESOL, or public policy is an asset.
• A values-based approach to the increasing use of AI would complement ENB’s developing organizational AI policy.
• Demonstrated ability to cultivate, manage, and sustain long-term relationships with institutional funders across Greater Boston and Massachusetts, including experience in stewardship and donor engagement.
• Experience with public sector grant proposals and reporting is a plus.
• Strong research; and project, relationship, and time management skills; able to multitask, prioritize, and work independently in fast-paced environments.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, Google Suite, funder portals, and donor database systems.
• Mission-driven and service-oriented with a collaborative, solution-focused mindset.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• Detail-oriented, highly organized, and skilled in troubleshooting and problem-solving with the confidence to navigate any online proposal submissions portal with 100% accuracy.
• Background in the nonprofit immigration, workforce development or adult education sectors and familiarity with Massachusetts philanthropic markets are a plus.

SALARY AND BENEFITS

ENB offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits package. ENB staff work a hybrid schedule, with at least three days in our downtown Boston office.

ENB is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to ensuring our staff and board reflect the racial, ethnic and linguistic diversity and lived experiences of the immigrants and others we are privileged to serve. People of color are highly encouraged to apply.