Job Description: Development Director

Reporting to the Managing Director, the Director of Development (DoD) will create and oversee fundraising strategies to maximize organizational sustainability and allow for mission-aligned growth. The DoD’s focus will be on building a diverse, strong, and expanding base of support from foundations, while significantly growing independent revenue from individual donors. The DoD is responsible for creating, implementing, and executing initiatives including major gifts, planned giving, grants, annual giving, special events, and developing a comprehensive stewardship process for donors.

The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience in fund development in the nonprofit sector, donor cultivation and stewardship, representing an organization to stakeholders, and managing a small staff. The DoD will help lead the strategic planning process for NOA’s long-term financial stability and act as the principal liaison to all fundraising consultants.

The DoD is expected to work across diverse teams and workstyles, and help the organization design and administer systems that make workflow more efficient. The candidate should care deeply about the NOA’s mission, have experience working in the progressive funding world, and enjoy strategy and systems.
The candidate should also have a familiarity with the history and current situation in Indian Country. Prior experience in working with tribal and Native communities and organizations is desirable.

The Director of Development will create and implement a strategy to grow NOA’s fundraising:

  • Manage fundraising efforts from foundations and other institutional sources, stewarding current funders while growing revenue from new sources. This includes: prospecting for new funding opportunities, managing and improving development systems, tracking deadlines, reviewing and approving content, and coordinating timely and high-quality grants submissions, and responsibility for all proposals and report drafting. In addition, the DoD will be responsible for all funder cultivation such as briefings, communications, and ensuring all funders are stewarded appropriately.
  • Responsible for the implementation and strengthening of major gift programs, to contribute significantly to the growth of independent revenue for NOA. Engagement strategies including individualized donor cultivation, special events, and other relationship-building and activities. Ensure excellent cultivation and relationship maintenance with all donors and prospects.
  • Establish strong internal systems for coordinating and tracking development work. Ensure members of the development team have clear work plans and goals, and monitor tracking and transparent reporting of progress towards goals. Responsible for the maintenance of NOA’s donor database system. Oversee timely grant notifications, coordination of financial reporting, and allocations of grants. Lead monthly fundraising meetings with key staff.
  • Work closely with the Director of Communications and lead the creation and production of donor publications and communications such as annual reports, newsletters, donor stories, online donor outreach including video production, and website content.
  • Help lead the development of a NOA funder database in collaboration with the Managing Director. Create data collection, reporting, and editing guidelines for the NOA team, to ensure clear procedures.
  • Provide regular supervision and support to development staff, including Major Donor Manager and Digital Fundraising Manager.
  • Clarify roles among development team members. Provide the vision and leadership to the development team. Provide coaching and support to the NOA staff in building their fundraising skills and success.
  • Work closely with the Managing Director and fiscal sponsor to develop organizational income projections, accurately tracking progress towards goals, and ensuring that the goals are met and that the organization operates with a positive net operating income and continues to grow. Work closely with the COO and administration of NOA’s fiscal sponsor to ensure that updated income projections are reflected in the NOA budget projections.

Requirements:

Applicants for the Director of Development position should:

  • Have strong supervisory and managerial experience – Demonstrate experience effectively managing teams and be able to build rapport among their team while challenging staff to achieve ambitious goals.
  • Commitment to NOA’s mission – Possess a commitment to racial equity, fulfillment of treaty rights, social justice, and grassroots organizing. Be sensitive to the challenging dynamics of raising money for an organization fighting systemic racism in a capitalist system, and comfortable navigating those dynamics.
  • Alignment with the values of indigeneity which recognizes the power of the circle, collective action and respect for being in balance with the natural world that is guided by ancestral knowledge and responsibility to future generations.
  • Possess strong interpersonal skills, a high level of emotional intelligence and awareness of interpersonal dynamics to work with a diverse group of colleagues, building support and consensus around fundraising priorities.
  • Be a successful fundraiser – 10 years of demonstrated successful fundraising experience and a strong familiarity with the progressive funding universe. Particular expertise or knowledge in one or more of the following highly desirable: foundation fundraising, major gifts, low-dollar individual fundraising, C3 and C4/political fundraising.
  • Have strong oral and written communication skills, including superior writing, copy editing and proofreading ability.
  • Demonstrate solid financial management knowledge – comfortable developing and navigating budgets, familiar with basic nonprofit financial management and reporting practices.
  • Have strong organizational skills and an ability to deal with many tasks and priorities while being on top of details. Work effectively on a tight schedule and be able to set and meet realistic deadlines.
  • You honor the idea of indigenizing organizational culture and ways of working within the staff and with all our relations. Show ability to work across multiple infrastructure and programmatic teams, with staff spread across the country.
  • Experience as an organizer, campaigner, or in tribal government is a plus.
  • Experience with G-Suite, Microsoft Office suite, donor databases, and project management platforms.
  • Solid track record of working closely with senior management, and ideally in an Indigenous, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic work environment.
  • A demonstrated commitment to social and racial justice issues and understanding of challenges facing Indigenous communities.

Qualifications:

You could be great for this role if:

  • You honor the idea of Native cultures and practices are the guiding principles of NOA’s organizational culture and ways of working within the staff and with all our relations.
  • Have a deep knowledge of the politics and issues impacting the tribal and Native communities.
  • Strong knowledge of intertribal Native history and culture.
  • Knowledge of and commitment to progressive social change movements and grassroots organizing as the key to building political power.
  • Understand the decisive role tribal governments play in the movement for achieving sovereignty and systemic change in nation-to-nation relations with the federal government.
  • Experience in managing staff, contractors, and volunteers.
  • Can communicate clearly and effectively.
  • Familiar with work plans and able to participate in setting priorities and meeting deadlines.
  • Detail-oriented and able to manage your time efficiently.
  • Possess solid problem-solving skills and know how to give and receive feedback well.
  • A desire to grow and develop personally, and deepen our collective Indigenous frameworks. You want to learn from others in an exciting moment in Native history with an organization committed to movement-building for transformational change.

Compensation

Salary: $90,000-$110,000

Benefits: Include health, dental, and vision insurance; paid holiday time-off, and a generous vacation and sick policy, and contributions to retirement funds.

Location: Remote (minimal travel for staff gatherings, campaigns, and events.)

Application Procedure

Interested applicants are asked to complete an online application form here:

Please understand that only those whose applications are being considered will be contacted. Position is open until filled and incomplete applications will not be considered. Thank you!

Native Organizers Alliance is a fiscally sponsored project of the Alliance for a Just Society (501c3) and is an equal opportunity employer, and women, people of color, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQI people are strongly encouraged to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression, nor any other basis protected under law. We embrace the full spectrum of humanity and the intersectional nature of our existence and imaginative energies. We embody diversity in our staff, board, the artists and partners we work with, and the audiences we attract.

All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.