Managing Director of Foundation Partnerships

What You'll Do

The Managing Director, Foundation Partnerships will serve as a critical frontline fundraiser and key strategic leader on our Corporate & Foundation Partnerships team, and will be responsible for:

Contributing to our revenue goal by fundraising from foundation prospects

• Build relationships and lead conversations with foundations with $250K+ giving potential, with a goal of forming sustainable 6- and 7-figure partnerships
• Build and manage a robust portfolio of 100+ opportunities
• Work toward a foundation fundraising goal of $10M annually
• Lead the strategy and development of partnership options and benefits for foundation partners, and leverage our data to craft bespoke and impactful pitches
• Smoothly transition won accounts to another team to be executed upon and renewed

Helping to shape our fundraising strategy and practices

• Represent DonorsChoose at key events with prospects from across the country, e.g. AFP ICON, Social Innovation Summit, etc.
• Engage in our team's work to share fundraising best practices and key trends and takeaways from the foundation fundraising landscape, supporting the Partnerships team to constantly improve our craft
• Work with our Revenue Operations team to convert their lead generation work, and to improve upon our outbound lead sourcing process
• Serve as a resident expert in foundation fundraising, particularly with an emphasis on fundraising for education
• Collaborate with foundations and our internal Research & Insights team to unlock data and identify insights in support influencing systemic change in education

Being a core contributor to a small-but-mighty team

• Manage and develop at least one direct report in keeping with our culture and core values
• Support teammates when needed, and identify other opportunities to contribute to the team and organizational culture
• Play a key role in our evolution to more directly address racial inequity in education through our partnerships

• You're committed to our mission to support public school teachers and students, and energized by sharing that passion with others. You're passionate about equity, and able to speak knowledgeably and persuasively about racial equity.
• You have 10+ years of professional experience, including 5+ years in a direct fundraising role or program officer role, with deep expertise in foundation fundraising, in the K-12 education sector or an adjacent one.
• You have a track record of building and sustaining partnerships at 6- and 7-figure levels, and raising $5-10M annually.
• You are a strategic, systems thinker and have a track record of identifying and leveraging insights to drive outcomes.
• You have some management and leadership experience, ideally including overseeing at least 1 direct report.
• You have a proven track record of successful outbound business development: sourcing new partnerships.
• You're comfortable with public speaking, networking, and building relationships.
• You think like an owner: you're wildly strategic and are constantly aiming to improve your craft, and to win new partnerships.
• You're deeply curious: you want to know what drives people and organizations, and you ask great questions.
• You're extremely efficient and organized and excel at navigating ambiguity and driving outcomes.
• You thrive on winning others over, and on finding the "yes' wherever you can.
• You're a team player. It's more important to you that someone gets the win, than that you personally get the credit.

Who You'll Work With

Team Overview: The Managing Director, Foundation Partnerships will report to the SVP Partnerships and manage a team of one. The Partnerships team sits within the Community Growth & Impact Team and raises funds for teachers and students by designing and executing philanthropic partnerships with corporations and foundations, and renewing and growing those partnerships over time. We hope to grow our funding from $60M annually to $90M annually over the next three years through creative, collaborative partnerships with our institutional donors. $15M of that funding comes from Business Development work: pursuing corporations and foundations to partner with us for the first time. (More about our partnerships)

DonorsChoose is an organization increasingly representative of the varied races and ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations, religious and political beliefs, and abilities that comprise our nation. DonorsChoose.org focuses on attracting, retaining, and advancing diverse talent because it makes us more effective, high-performing, creative, and resilient.

If you are passionate about our mission, highly skilled in your field, and looking for a place where you can bring all of yourself to work, we want you.

Benefits

Location:

At DonorsChoose, we embrace a distributed work model that combines the flexibility of remote work with the value of in-person connection. While our team spans the United States, we prioritize collaboration, relationship-building, and alignment through meaningful face-to-face interactions.

In this role, you'll have the option to work a flexible hybrid schedule in our NYC office, or to work fully remotely from CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, ME, MA, MD, MI, MN, NJ, NY, OR, PA, RI, TX, VA, WA, or WI.

Candidates who are not in the NYC area should expect to travel to our NYC office on an as-needed basis. This role also involves travel for prospect meetings and conferences and events as needed. All work-related travel expenses will be covered by the organization and proper safety precautions will be taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Applicants can expect to travel 10-12 times per year.

Additional Details on Compensation: Our compensation philosophy ensures that we are both externally competitive with tech-forward nonprofits of a similar size and internally fair in our pay practices. The salary presented represents the target offer range given the scope and experience expectations for this role.

• The hiring salary range for this role is $142,000 - $157,000
• We have a hiring salary range of $157,000 - $175,000 for specific higher cost of labor locations, which include New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

Exact compensation details will be commensurate with experience and location. In addition, we are open to a variety of experiences and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced or more senior than this job description, as posted. If that's the case, an updated salary range will be shared with candidates if they move forward in our hiring process. Once an employee is hired, the salary range for their role increases to ensure they are able to receive performance-based raises and grow in their role.

To Learn More About Benefits DonorsChoose offers full-time staff 25 paid vacation days per year and 11 paid holidays, a rich employer-paid individual and family health plan, a matching 401(k) plan (up to 5% of base salary), annual professional development stipend, and casual and flexible work environment. To learn more about what it is like to work for DonorsChoose, visit our (careers page)[https://www.donorschoose.org/careers].