Vice President of Development

STEM From Dance; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

403(b) retirement plan

Professional development stipend

Two-week organization-wide shutdown

Job summary

STEM From Dance seeks a strategic Vice President of Development to drive philanthropic revenue and build a high-impact donor pipeline. You will close six-figure commitments, cultivate major funders, and shape the fundraising strategy in partnership with the CEO.

This is a remote role within the United States with travel. You will lead a cross-functional development function, coordinate with the executive team, and position the organization for national growth while expanding a portfolio across

Qualifications

• Track record of personally closing gifts at $100,000+ with credible involvement beyond that range.
• Typically seven or more years closing major philanthropic or commercial commitments with direct responsibility for the ask.
• Direct experience across at least two of: private foundations, corporate partners, and individual major donors.

Responsibilities

• Lead new funder acquisition and major gifts strategy (40%).
• Grow major individual giving program (20%).
• Strategize portfolio performance and revenue roadmap with the CEO (20%).
• Engage boards and represent the organization externally (15%).
• Provide executive leadership to ensure continuity of donor relationships (5%).

Skills

Major gift closing

Fundraising leadership

AI tools fluency

Executive presence

Tools

AI tools

Job description

STEM From Dance equips girls to become the innovators, engineers, and creators the world needs, building creativity, confidence, and skills through the transformative power of dance.

Founded in 2012, we reach girls in more than 30 cities. 76% of our participants report a sense of belonging, against a national average of 35% for girls their age, and 73% report confidence in STEM. We are building toward reaching 20,000 girls by 2028.

Our revenue has grown from $349,000 to $2.7 million in six years. Reaching 20,000 girls takes revenue that grows faster still, and a development function the organization owns and can grow with. Building that function is what this role is for.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the Vice President of Development is responsible for the acquisition and growth of STEM From Dance's philanthropic revenue. You would personally build and close the relationships that fund our national growth.

The mandate. More than half of what we raise in a typical year comes from funders who were not supporting us twelve months earlier. Renewing and upgrading our existing base covers part of what we need. The rest has to come from funders who are not with us yet. Your charge is to bring in significant new commitments at six figures and above, and to build a pipeline deep enough that next year's number is achievable before the year begins.

Where your time goes. STEM From Dance has built an infrastructure powered by AI and technology that handles the production side of development: proposal drafting, prospect research, application assembly, and pipeline maintenance, with cross-functional support behind it. That keeps this role on the work that produces revenue: funder conversations, donor relationships, representing the organization in the room, and the judgment calls about where to aim. We want someone who wants to be out front.

The Vice President of Development sits on the executive team, and the role is built to grow into Chief Development Officer as the development operation does. A dedicated development hire is budgeted for next fiscal year and would report to this role.

Location and travel. This is a remote role within the United States, with about 20% travel, including monthly in-person meetings in NYC.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

New funder acquisition and major gifts (40%)

• Build and grow a portfolio of approximately 50 priority foundation, corporate, and individual relationships.
• Personally find, open, and close six-figure commitments, with an emphasis on multi-year and unrestricted support, and lay the groundwork for the seven-figure relationships that come as we grow.
• Generate net-new first meetings with funders who have no prior relationship to STEM From Dance. First meetings booked is our leading revenue indicator, and you own that number.
• Qualify and advance opportunities independently, including deciding which to decline.

Major individual giving (20%)

• Grow STEM From Dance's major individual giving program, and help determine its next evolution.
• Source new prospects, carry your own portfolio of individual donors, and design the experience that moves them to significant commitments.
• Partner with the CEO on the highest-capacity individual relationships.

Strategy, positioning, and portfolio performance (20%)

• Lead the design of the annual revenue strategy in partnership with the CEO, turning organizational priorities into a funding roadmap.
• Determine positioning for each funder: which part of our work to lead with, at what amount, framed which way. You direct and approve what goes out.
• Maintain a forward-looking pipeline, tracking prospect movement, renewal cycles, and performance against target.
• Protect and grow existing funder relationships so renewals hold while new acquisition is underway.

Board engagement and external representation (15%)

• Partner with board members to open doors, secure introductions, and follow through on them.
• Represent STEM From Dance at conferences, funder convenings, site visits, and donor gatherings, frequently as the sole organizational representative.
• Determine which external opportunities merit our time and define what we intend to get from each.

Executive leadership (5%)

• Build institutional continuity into funder relationships, so that the history, the strategy, and the next move belong to the organization.
• Contribute to executive team decision-making on organizational questions beyond development.

Required

• A track record of personally closing gifts at $100,000 and above, with credible involvement in conversations well beyond that range. What you have closed matters to us more than how long you have been doing it.
• Typically seven or more years closing major philanthropic or commercial commitments, with direct responsibility for the ask.
• Demonstrated net-new origination. A substantial share of what you have raised came from funders you identified and brought in yourself.
• Direct experience across at least two of: private foundations, corporate partners, and individual major donors.
• Experience fundraising where the revenue had to be built, rather than at an institution whose name and donor base opened the doors.
• Current, working fluency with AI tools, including the judgment to recognize when output is wrong before it reaches a funder.
• Executive presence. You can represent an organization alone, as the most senior person in the room, and earn a funder's confidence quickly.

Preferred

• Experience closing commitments above $250,000.
• Experience building a major individual giving program from an early stage.
• Experience at an organization in a comparable growth stage, scaling from a single city to a national footprint.
• Prior participation on an executive team.
• Familiarity with investment-level or unrestricted giving methodologies.

We weigh what you have closed and how you think more heavily than the sector you did it in. Candidates who have built high-value relationships and closed major commitments outside the nonprofit sector are encouraged to apply and to address the translation directly.

BEING CLEAR ABOUT THE ROLE

We have a real donor base and we renew much of it. Growing at the rate we are aiming for takes more than that. The role comes with infrastructure and cross-functional support rather than a department to direct. Candidates whose strongest work has been renewing an inherited portfolio, or whose individual giving experience is primarily events-based, are likely to find the fit difficult.

HOW WE WORK

We move quickly and hold a high bar. We pilot new approaches, change course when something is not working, and expect every member of the executive team to think past their own function.

Three things matter in how you would work with us. Given an unfinished idea, you build on it in the moment. You decide what to pursue and what to decline, and you stand behind those decisions. And you make good calls with the information available, because priorities get sharper and structures get built as we go.

You would report directly to the Chief Executive Officer. She raises money herself and knows this work from the inside, and you would have senior partnership on it.

Compensation

• Salary: $150,000 to $180,000. This range sits above the 75th percentile for senior development leadership at organizations of our size.
• Goals-based bonus tied to organizational revenue goals.

Benefits

• Health insurance (medical, dental, vision)
• 403(b) retirement savings account
• Professional development stipend
• Two-week organization-wide shutdown at the end of the year
• Generous PTO and flexible scheduling
• Annual staff retreats

STEM From Dance is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected status. We strongly encourage applications from people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and candidates whose backgrounds reflect the communities we serve.