SCOPE AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Director of Fundraising and Business Development will play a critical role at WSF, reporting to the Chief Executive Officer and working closely with leadership across the organization to implement WSF’s strategic initiatives, create and implement plans to increase revenue and broaden sources of support, and build awareness and excitement about WSF’s mission.
As a member of the executive management team, the Director of Fundraising and Business Development will help create a vision for the future, overseeing the development team in support of a comprehensive development program that solicits contributions from a wide array of prospects and a new generation of corporate sponsors and individual donors. The Director of Development will build, lead, and manage a team of professionals and foster organization-wide communication and collaboration to achieve these goals.
This is an exceptional opportunity for an individual with strong fundraising, revenue development and people management skills, and extensive experience working with senior executives and board of directors of philanthropic organizations.
Specific Responsibilities:
- Partners with the Chief Executive Officer and senior leadership team to develop and execute the development strategy in order to significantly grow revenues with a focus towards long-term sustainability.
- Leads, oversees and ensures quality of development initiatives; manages the development department to identify new funders, cultivate existing funders, grow revenue from individual, membership, foundation, governmental, and corporate sources; oversees annual gala and other fund-raising special events; and develops innovative, creative development initiatives.
- Develops and leads implementation of individual and major donor giving strategies, from prospect research to cultivation and stewardship; maintains a portfolio of major donors and prospects, with responsibility for personally making face-to-face donor solicitations and creating a strategy to target individuals with capacity and interest from a variety of sectors.
- Develops targets and goals for all development staff members; provides guidance and mentorship to ensure that best practices are utilized to achieve the goals.
- Works with the Chief Executive Officer to expand the board of directors, recommending dedicated individuals who bring a diverse set of skills and capacity to support the interests of WSF globally.
- Orients and engages present and new Board members on the development strategy.
- Responsible for ensuring accurate and complete development reporting systems are in place; develops effective systems to track, measure and evaluate impacts from WSF grant-supported programs.
- Oversees the donor database and ensures effective use of the database to support fundraising strategy and to present clear, cogent reports and analyses to senior management and the Board.
EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
- Minimum 10 years senior management experience specifically leading development or sales teams.
- Strong fundraising experience with the ability to engage a wide range of stakeholders.
- Experience identifying, cultivating and closing six and seven figure gifts.
- Knowledge of the media landscape with specific understanding of video and digital storytelling; prior experience with media tie-ins and sponsorship deals is highly beneficial.
- Past success working with a Board of Directors; demonstrated ability to cultivate existing board relationships and introduce new board members.
- Experience with providing strategy and oversight for events.
- Experience with strategically calendaring and managing grant proposals.
- Experience partnering with the CEO, senior leadership and board members to plan and implement cultivation strategies for potential individual or corporate gifts.
- Experience developing relationships with individuals of significant wealth that has translated in cultivating high impact gifts to organizations.
- Proven leadership and management skills, with experience building and managing a high-performing team and fostering an open, collaborative and respectful team culture.
PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES:
- Strong written and verbal communication skills; a persuasive and passionate communicator with excellent interpersonal skills.
- Organizational management skills with the ability to coach staff, manage and develop high-performance teams, set and achieve strategic objectives, and administer a budget.
- Ability to articulate to business executives a compelling proposition for investment into organizations.
- Able to positively impact both strategic and tactical initiatives and manage multiple tasks and projects at a time.
- Enthusiasm for the mission of WSF and an excellent work ethic; team player.
EDUCATION
- Bachelors Degree required; Masters Degree highly preferred.
Company Description:The
World Science Foundation produces original live and digital content that brings scientific discovery, insight and perspective to a broad general audience.
Our flagship live event,
The World Science Festival, is an unprecedented annual tribute to imagination, ingenuity and inventiveness. Through programming that spans a broad range—from vibrant discussions and debates to works of theatre and film—world-class scientists, leading thinkers, and renowned artists take science out of the laboratory and into the streets, theaters, museums, and public halls of New York City, making the esoteric understandable and the familiar fascinating. The week-long New York Festival has drawn more than a million and a half visitors since its launch in 2008, with millions more viewing the programs online.
The Foundation’s live events and theatrical productions tour nationally and internationally. In March 2016, the Foundation launched the World Science Festival Brisbane, bringing its distinctive programming to new audiences and establishing the first annual Festival outside of New York.
World Science U is the Foundation’s online education initiative, where students and lifelong learners can dive more deeply through artfully produced digital education content presented by world-renowned scientists.
The World Science Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in New York City.