Senior Director of Development
Hybrid in Irvine, CA
Our Purpose
Easterseals is leading the way to full equity, inclusion and access through life-changing disability and community services. For more than 100 years, we have worked tirelessly with our partners to enhance quality of life and expand local access to healthcare, education, and employment opportunities.
Vision and Impact Plan
By 2030 Southern California will be the most inclusive place for people with disabilities to live, learn, work, & play.
About Easterseals Southern California
Easterseals is a trusted expert and premier nonprofit and provider of autism services for children and adults for Southern California. Mark Whitley is President and CEO and, since assuming the role more than 30 years ago, has overseen the organization’s growth from a $1.5 million to a $500 million + organization, making it the largest of Easterseals’ 70 Affiliates nationwide. Currently serving more than 18,000 people through 75-plus service sites and hundreds of community partnership locations across Southern California, Easterseals Southern California offers the highest quality autism therapies, adult and senior day services, child development and early education programs, independent living services, and employment services for individuals and their families with disabilities. With a vision to make Southern California the most inclusive place in the country for people with disabilities to live, learn, work, and play, Whitley has developed a team of more than 2,600 professional staff committed to leading the way to full equity, inclusion, and access for people with disabilities, veterans, and seniors in their communities through services and advocacy. The organization is the go-to disability inclusion organization in Hollywood and across media and entertainment, earning its reputation through award-winning multi-media campaigns as well as through the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge and the Media Access Awards Presented by Easterseals.
In 2012 Sterling Search assisted Easterseals Southern California in hiring its Chief Development Officer, Nancy Weintraub (a 30+ year veteran) to oversee philanthropy. In its tradition of entrepreneurialism in creating new revenue streams that further their mission, Weintraub now oversees all its revenue and program development verticals which include government relations and grants, private foundation grants, corporate, sports and entertainment partnerships, DEIA consulting, community relations and engagement, and individual giving (planned giving, annual fund, employee giving and major gifts).
ADVANCEMENT
Weintraub (now Chief Advancement Officer) is seeking a Senior Director of Development to oversee all of its individual giving, which includes Major Gifts, Strategic Initiative Campaigns, Participant Family Giving Programs, Presidents’ Council, Annual Fund, Employee Giving, and Planned Giving. This is a newly created position oversees a Director of Development, an Associate Director of Development, and a Database Coordinator.
Easterseals national office manages the direct mail program for all Easterseals affiliates. Regular reports are shared with the affiliate by which donor prospects can be acquired. These lists can be wealth screened by the local CRM and it will be one of the responsibilities of the new SDoD to help segment and strategize how best to cultivate, solicit, and steward these lists.
In support of an overarching effort to evolve individual giving efforts for ESSC, Weintraub has engaged a consulting firm who is currently benchmarking, updating and creating new policies, stewardship and moves management systems with accountabilities that will be ready to execute upon the hire of the new SDoD.
The individual giving team’s marketing, design, and communications needs, like the rest of the organization, are supported by a robust strategic marketing and communications department. Amongst the traditional marketing and communications functions, there is a strong social media and graphic design team.
THE OPPORTUNITY
This position offers a built-in direct mail donor list ready for cultivation, a passionate staff seeking mentorship and leadership, which is all supported by a well-respected, long tenured Chief Advancement Officer who serves on the executive management team of a multi-million-dollar nonprofit.
Like other nonprofits, there is always an urgency to acquire philanthropic dollars to do more for its mission. Easterseals Southern California is no different except that the core of their programs are supported by large government grants. Not only does 100% of the monies raised from philanthropy go to programming, but its annual revenue is not responsible for closing the gap on the organizational budget each year.
This is a unique opportunity for a seasoned major gifts professional who enjoys developing and executing a program to the next level. The SDoD will have a deep passion for social impact and disability inclusion and will be ready to place their mark on developing a robust major gifts program leveraging years of innovative programming, supporting its vision in creating the best place to be for people with disabilities by 2030.
Position Description
Under the general direction of the Chief Advancement Officer, the SDoD will be charged with leading the development of an annual individual giving program that includes strategies to attract, renew, upgrade, and recognize annual, major, and planned giving donors. The SDoD will lead, inspire, and develop a high-performing team consisting of a Director of Development, an Associate Director of Development, and a Database Coordinator.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities
Leadership, Management and Cross Department Relationships:
Leveraging annual giving donors of the past 10 to 30 years through moves-management and into increased giving opportunities.
Building upon the extensive, evolved individual giving program created by hired consulting firm, create, and execute effective strategies to practice moves management ensuring a specific plan for annual, participant family, employee, major and planned giving donors.
Collaborate with existing development staff and other peers of the advancement verticals to coordinate and communicate key strategies and initiatives.
Increase the agency’s visible presence in the philanthropic community to establish and advance relationships in support of achieving the agency’s vision and mission.
Will be responsible for an annual revenue goal and will manage progress towards that goal as well as creating and managing a departmental expense budget.
Partner with the marketing and communications department to oversee and manage the development of solicitation materials, and fundraising collateral and social media content.
Oversee the development database and ensure quality prospecting, segmenting, trend identification, and relationship and communication management.
Ensure compliance with all relevant regulations and laws, maintain accountability standards to donors, HIPAA compliance and ensure compliance with code of ethical principles and standards of professional conduct for fundraising executives.
Execute all other reasonable duties as assigned by the Chief Advancement Officer.
Staff Management
Oversee and manage the individual giving team of three to ensure that the organization is effectively structured and staffed with high-performing employees.
Provide ongoing coaching and mentorship to direct reports and ensure staff are provided with ongoing training and professional development.
Major, Mid-Level, and Planned Giving
Act as liaison with the Easterseals national office, review monthly donor lists shared by the national office and become a member of the Development Leadership Network affinity group.
Evaluate wealth screening data to segment levels of giving and create solicitation strategies to develop the SDoD, the DoDs and Assoc DoD’s portfolios.
Build a personal portfolio of major donors to strategize and secure large gift solicitations (up to six figures plus) demonstrating sensitivity to the interests and motivations of prospects and donors.
Collaborate with the Director of Development, who manages planned gifts, to establish strategies on blended asks.
Collaborate with the Chief Advancement Officer on Strategic Initiative Campaigns, helping to raise major gifts for organization-wide priority projects.
Where opportunities lie for principal gifts, facilitate relationships with/for the Chief Advancement Officer, CEO, board members and others as appropriate.
Assists prospective donors and their advisors in clarifying gift planning goals, preparing, and presenting appropriate proposals, and completing agreements.
Annual Campaigns
Provide strategic oversight to the team in increasing membership and stewardship of current supporters in the President’s Council annual giving program.
Provide strategic oversight to the team for the Thrive Alliance monthly giving program.
Provide strategic oversight and participate in a newly created Participant Family Giving Program.
Provide strategic oversight for a spring appeal, a year-end empowerment campaign and Giving Tuesday.
Help create a stronger lapsed donor program.
Employee Giving
Create and design innovative and inspiring ways to connect with employees to further develop giving campaigns.
Stewardship
Create and implement impactful ways to acknowledge and thank donors resulting in continued relationship stewardship and donor best practices.
Responsible for post-gift stewardship of each donor with the highest possible degree of personalized attention.
Professional Experience and Qualifications
Passion, imagination, vision, leadership, and integrity.
A minimum of three years of mid/senior- management of fundraising staff.
Five plus years of major-gift fundraising with a successful track record of moving up giving levels from an annual fund, while also expanding the number of major gift donors and increasing the revenue within the major gift portfolio.
A mature and seasoned executive who can work independent of direction given by their supervisor, and lead others within the team to do the same.
A demonstrated ability to plan and operate strategically, to build public support, to develop and strengthen fundraising and institutional infrastructure, to inspire staff and to develop strong working relationships with volunteers.
A record of quantifiable success in donor segmentation, research, cultivation, and stewardship.
Exceptional management, organizational, and budgeting skills.
Demonstrated ability to successfully plan, set goals and objectives, organize, and implement strategic initiatives.
A strong set of interpersonal and communication skills and a demonstrated ability to work effectively with and gain the respect and support of varied and changing constituencies including program and support staff, volunteers, existing and potential donors, and other key stakeholders.
A track record as an effective communicator, skilled at writing and public speaking; adept at writing proposals, solicitation letters, donor correspondence, and other types of materials to enhance fundraising.
An ability to juggle many responsibilities simultaneously, and to operate both independently and with the flexibility and collaborative spirit to be part of a high-performing team.
A working knowledge of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, and experience with Boomerang software is preferred but not required.
Bachelor’s degree required. An advanced degree is preferred.
The ideal candidate will demonstrate the following capabilities:
Commitment to the mission and work of the agency with credibility and persuasiveness to secure support from others.
A decisive and resourceful individual who will accept responsibility and take charge of results, as well as work successfully with limited resources.
A self-starter who is confident enough to express opinions, to forge ahead when appropriate and hold back, when necessary, with a sensitivity to the feelings and opinions of others.
A manager who leads by example and exemplifies the values and ethics of the organization.
An organized individual with strong creative and conceptual skills.
A doer who functions effectively without being autocratic or political; must be a team player who is inclusive, flexible, creative, energetic, and fair minded.
An energetic person who is emotionally mature and dependable, a collegial individual.
Compensation
This position offers a base salary of $155,000 to $185,000 plus comprehensive benefits, based upon qualifications and experience.
Please contact Sarah Agee for a confidential conversation and to learn more about this opportunity.
Phone: (949) 903-2891 or (917) 670-1555
Email: Sarah@SterlingSearchInc.com or Vanessa@SterlingSearchInc.com
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