Development Director

•  Manage a portfolio of existing and new foundation, corporate, and individual relationships to meet annual fundraising goals by the end of the fiscal year. 
  • Maintain, renew, and upgrade current portfolio of donors
  • Own, develop, and implement innovative strategies to increase support from new funding streams.
  •  Identify strategies to generate prospects to support impact goals through 2027.
  • Increase revenue in all streams by 15% and deliver on a comprehensive development plan for FY27 with a revenue goal of $1,977,000 for Minnesota and $1,625,000 for Los Angeles.
  • Provide strategic advice and direction to the Executive Directors to ensure the region’s success against goals and benchmarks
     
• Drive board engagement, external relations, and organizational brand awareness within portfolio
  • Oversee all external communications, ensuring persuasive and compelling messaging, campaigns, and alignment.
  • Develop high-quality, mission-aligned email and social media content to steward donors and grow brand awareness. 
  • Oversee the strategy and support in cultivating and stewarding individual donors.
  • Manage relationships with institutional donors and corporate partners.
  • Steward local fundraising events in partnership with Executive Directors and local team members.
  • Build and support a highly invested board in local regions. 
  • Manage annual Board fundraising planning and goal achievement for each region in the portfolio.
  • Work collaboratively with the Board and partners to expand the supporter network.

• Partner with the National Development Operations team to achieve high levels of data integrity, customer service, and communication
  • Project manage all event and solicitation logistics, including annual fundraising event and annual appeal.
  • Oversee development systems and track progress against goals in Salesforce
  • Produce reports and data to drive streamlined communication. 

• Demonstrate experience in external relations and relationship development. Regularly deliver convincing messaging and tailored experiences. Demonstrate a genuine joy in connecting with donors, and all external stakeholders.
• Internally, establish highly collaborative relationships with all team members. Demonstrate a hunger to learn, grow, support, and add great value. Regularly seek to understand all aspects of our model to convey externally.

• Demonstrate an ability to devise innovative regional strategic fundraising plans, create action steps, and mobilize many stakeholders to achieve fundraising goals. Build sustainable plans to maximize market opportunities, meet goals and significantly grow funding. In addition, leverage systems, people, and resources to drive processes and track progress against goals to report on progress to senior leadership and board. Execute work in a highly organized, analytical, and data-informed manner.

• Demonstrate a proficient ability to conduct research, to prospect, and to drive ongoing external development efforts. Demonstrate excitement to steward and leverage relationships that result in meeting or exceeding target fundraising goals. Boast an entrepreneurial spirit and actively seek to deepen current donor relationships and forge new ones. 

• Effectively write high-quality donor communications that demonstrate deep knowledge of our program and promote our mission. Demonstrate the ability to write customized and compelling grant reports, proposals and letters of intent. Through exceptional writing, serve as an ambassador of Reading Partners. 
• Externally, serve as an ambassador of Reading Partners. Quickly establish credibility when promoting Reading Partners to external audiences. Demonstrate a high degree of comfort and poise with donors, corporations, and prospects.
   

• Demonstrate a proficient ability to conduct research, to prospect, and to drive ongoing development efforts in rapidly growing organizations. 
• Demonstrate a strong detail orientation, accuracy, and ability to develop compelling reports and communications to be used internally and externally. Execute all work in a highly organized, analytical, and data-driven manner. 

• Positively collaborate with the regional staff team to meet and exceed aggressive fundraising goals. Consistently coach, grow, and create stretch assignments to develop future fundraising leaders from within. 

• Health & Insurance Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision insurance with substantial employer contributions toward both employee and family premiums; life and disability insurance at no cost to employees; and a free Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Pre-Tax Medical Support: Significant pre-tax employer funding to help offset employees’ out-of-pocket medical expenses, including providing first-dollar coverage for some plan options.
• Mental Health Support: Spring Health for easy access to therapy, coaching, and wellness resources, including six sessions provided at no cost to employees.
• Inclusive Health Support: Carrot for guidance and support related to hormonal health, fertility, family-building, and gender-affirming services.
• Retirement Benefits: 403(b) retirement plan with immediate eligibility to participate and to receive employer matching contributions.
• Paid Time Off: Flexible Paid Time Off (Unlimited PTO) and Paid Parental Leave for up to 8 weeks for birth and non-birth parents.
• Holidays & Office Closures: 14 paid holidays annually, plus one week of office closure in early July and two weeks in late December.
• Culture & Growth: A dynamic, mission-driven culture with a strong commitment to employee development and career growth.

• This is a hybrid role. Candidates must be based in the Los Angeles area. 
• Travel: This position requires occasional travel to our Twin Cities, Minnesota site, 1-2 times a year to attend funder meetings and/or fundraising events. The position requires local travel in Los Angeles for funder meetings, with occasional event attendance on nights and weekends. 

• A cover letter describing your interest in Reading Partners and how your past experience has prepared you for this role. 
• Resume

• Have 7+ years of increasing responsibility in a development or related role.
• Have experience fundraising and building funder pipelines across multiple geographies, including major markets on the West Coast and in the Midwest.
• Are achievement-oriented and have a demonstrated track record of achieving significant fundraising goals.
• Track record of building strong and productive relationships with regional/national philanthropic organizations and individual donors from a remote location.
• Have demonstrated experience in planning, leading, and managing development projects to achieve desired outcomes, and tracking and reporting on progress to leaders.
• Are skilled at relationship development within the fundraising community, among peers, and internal/external stakeholders.
• Have a high degree of comfort with Salesforce or other fundraising databases.
• Can demonstrate experience managing virtual and in-person fundraising events. 
• Are an exceptional and persuasive communicator in written and verbal communication.
• Have experience in fundraising marketing and/or campaign communications.
• Hold a Bachelor’s degree and/or equivalent experience.
• Must have access to reliable transportation for local travel in the Los Angeles area.
• Demonstrate a commitment to fostering a dynamic and collaborative work environment.
• Display a deep belief in our mission and root your work in our core values.
• Ability to prove eligibility to work legally in the U.S. and that you are at least 18 years of age.

• Are an AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, or other national service alum/alumna
• Have experience working in re-launch or growth phases of organizations