re:power

Reclaiming Our Power for Radical Change

Home > About > Careers > Senior Director, Development

Senior Director, Development

  • Status: Full-time, exempt
  • Location: Anywhere in the U.S. convenient to regular travel
  • Starting Salary Range: $120,830 – $144,160 annually
  • Timeline:  Position is open until filled. We will review and screen applications on a rolling basis, with a pause during the December/January holiday season. Interviews will begin in mid-January. Our goal is to make an offer by late February. Start date is variable, depending upon candidate needs. 

Overview

As our re:power team looks towards the future, we seek a values-aligned development professional who shares our vision for a liberated multiracial democracy and our commitment to continuously growing the movement infrastructure needed to build durable power that sustains beyond any one moment, season, or election cycle. 

The Senior Director, Development will work closely with re:power’s Executive Leadership team to create and operationalize a development strategy in support of our vision for a liberated, multiracial democracy. We are looking for a strategic and creative development leader who would be energized by the opportunity to collaborate closely with leaders in our organization and across the progressive movement by building relationships with supporters and other community leaders to mobilize resources for re:power (501(c)(4)) and our affiliated 501(c)(3), re:power Fund.

We are a fiscally healthy organization that holds transformational, long term partnerships with organizations and leaders across the movement ecosystem, including our funding partners. Our annual budget is $6M+ with a mixed revenue stream model that includes a combination of both fee-for-service revenue and philanthropic contributions. Annually, we raise $4M+ from from donors, mostly institutional, and by 2030, will increase this giving to $6M+ annually via the expansion of an individual giving program. 

This position will report to the Managing Director, Strategy & Engagement. The Senior Director will manage two direct reports, a Senior Manager, Foundations & Sponsorships and a Manager, Individual Giving. 

Primary Responsibilities

The Senior Director, Development will work closely with re:power’s Executive Leadership Team and other staff across the organization to connect the dots between our program strategy and our capacity to move resources in support of those goals. They will use their expertise and creativity to strengthen and grow our development program by working collaboratively with our highly-skilled team, our talented Board of Directors, and our engaged network of supporters. Activities will include: 

Strategic Planning
  • In partnership with re:power’s Executive Leadership Team, design and oversee the execution of a comprehensive development strategy to sustain and grow philanthropic support, continuing to steward our institutional giving program, expanding our individual giving program, and introducing new opportunities to mobilize resources in service of our mission.
Team Management
  • Lead, develop, and mentor a team of high-performing development professionals (Snr Manager, Foundations & Sponsorships and Manager, Individual Giving) while modeling re:power’s organizational culture and highly collaborative working style
  • Set development team priorities and annual goals, ensuring that staff have clear plans and the appropriate training and supports in place to do their best work.
Development Operations
  • Oversee the Development Department’s operation, including its annual budget , staffing plan, systems, and day-to-day execution of tasks with an eye towards efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Select and oversee productive external vendor relationships including consultants to add capacity, direct mail providers, CRM vendor, and others who support the work of the Development Department, ensuring accurate reporting and processing of vendor invoices for timely payment.
  • Manage the strategic use of re:power’s CRM (EveryAction) to ensure strong and clean data entry processes, and the production of analytical data utilized to measure success and set goals for the Development Team.
Board Support
  • Coordinate the Board of Directors Development Committee, convening the committee 3x per year in support of the development strategy, leveraging the time, talent, and generosity of Board members.
Donor Cultivation & Relationship Management
  • In coordination with the Managing Director, Strategy & Engagement, the Executive Director, and the Development team staff, steward relationships with re:power’s donors and prospects; foundation and institution contacts and prospects; and sponsorship contacts and prospects.
  • Serve as a thought partner to our Executive Director, helping her strategize around how to best utilize her time and talents in service of development goals. Develop new and creative ideas for recruitment, cultivation, and stewardship of donors including special events, house parties, property donations, alumni outreach, etc.
Donor Communications
  • Collaborate with the Director, Communications & Digital Strategy to create strategies, systems, and processes to advance shared development and communications goals, working in partnership to manage the development of new print and digital materials for re:power and re:power Fund’s donor audience including materials for direct mail, planned giving, program information, and annual report.
  • Lead the development, writing, editing, and distribution of op-eds, press releases, statements, and other press communications.
Program Planning & Strategy
  • Collaborate with the Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives, the Managing Director, Program & Partnerships, and Program Directors to deepen understanding of programmatic strategy in order to best advise on funding strategies, timelines, and opportunities—both in the short and long term—helping to deepen our capacity for impact.
Finance
  • Work closely with the Managing Director of Finance & Operations and the Finance Manager to develop program budgets for grants, assist with the annual audit, and develop accurate financial forecasts.
  • On an ongoing basis, ensure open communication and proactive coordination of fundraising activities with the finance staff to produce and reconcile accurate revenue reports and monitor cash flow to inform timely decision making.

Required Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have the following professional and personal qualities, skills, and characteristics:

Who you are:

  • You are a leader with a personal and professional commitment to re:power’s core values. Our mission energizes you.
  • You appreciate our organizational culture. We are a team that believes in the value of collaboration (even when it’s messy,) working hard, communicating clearly, and aiming for excellence while also holding space for joy, compassion, and community care. 
  • You are a strategic thinker who can manage the day-to-day details of budgeting, planning, and reporting while also holding the bigger picture of re:power’s multi-year strategy; you have a track record of mobilizing resources in support of a vision, and using evaluation tools and metrics to support accountability.
  • You are a highly-relational leader with strong interpersonal skills who genuinely enjoys mentoring and growing a team. You inspire others around you towards action, bringing people together around a shared sense of purpose and moving forward collectively. 
  • You have a personal and professional commitment to building your skillset as an anti-racist manager and leader. You are continually seeking to grow, reflect, and deepen your understanding of how race and power impact relationships and organizations. 
  • You are an effective, persuasive communicator with strong presentation, speaking, written, and nonverbal skills, who conveys information clearly and concisely, internally and externally, with high emotional intelligence and professional judgment.

Your experience and skills:

  • You have 8+ years of progressively responsible relevant development experience at a nonprofit organization, ideally at both 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) entities, including 3+ years of managerial, supervisory, or team leadership experience. 
  • You have an understanding of practices, theories, and policies involved in both institutional and individual giving practices, with experience of developing, writing, and securing grants of $50K+ and experience supporting an individual giving program that includes donors giving $10K+
  • You have a demonstrated commitment to building power with BIPOC communities and an understanding of how to align your professional practices with stated values.
  • Familiarity with the national philanthropic landscape and especially with organizations and leaders who share our interest in mobilizing philanthropy as a tool for BIPOC power building. An awareness of the potential and challenges that philanthropy holds, especially for Black-led organizations, and an interest in the ongoing conversations about increasingly popular models of philanthropy that seek to address historical harms (e.g. trust-based philanthropy, pooled funds, giving circles, liberatory philanthropy, etc.
  • Excellent written, verbal, and electronic communication skills. Able to craft compelling cases for both institutional and individual funders and support executive leadership with messaging for a variety of audiences and formats (e.g. reports, funder briefings, LOIs, individual solicitations etc.). 
  • Able to build out a plan of action to implement strategy and manage and support a team through execution while also maintaining productivity flexibility, pivoting and adapting as new information and opportunities arise.
  • Strong project management skills and experience across multiple aspects of development operations, including experience with donor CRM databases like EveryAction, nonprofit 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) compliance, donor privacy policies, and maintaining development-related files.
  • Willingness to work non-standard hours, including weekends and travel when required.  

Compensation and Benefits

Compensation for this position includes a starting salary range of $120,830 – $144,160 annually, along with a comprehensive benefits package with excellent health/life/disability insurance, including these and other employment-related benefits:

  • 95% employer-paid health and dental insurance premiums for staff and their families;
  • 100% employer-paid life and disability insurance;
  •  exceptionally generous and flexible paid time off;
  • 401k retirement benefits with a 4% employer match;
  • FSA enrollment;
  • 12 weeks of paid parental leave;
  • 12 weeks of paid sabbatical leave, after 5 years of employment

Location & Travel 

We are a nationally-distributed, remote organization. The Senior Director, Development may reside anywhere in the U.S. convenient to regular travel.

Senior leaders at re:power travel between 3–5 times per year at minimum and are expected to travel to board meetings, team retreats, and represent the organization at conferences and other gatherings as needed.

Application Deadline and Instructions

The position is open until filled. We will review and screen applications on a rolling basis, with a pause during the December/January holiday season. Interviews will begin in mid-January. Our goal is to make an offer by late February. Start date is variable, depending upon candidate needs. 

To apply, please upload the following materials at the link below:

  1. A resume 
  2.  A cover letter that thoughtfully addresses your interest and alignment 
  3.  A work sample (of any kind or length) that demonstrates your writing ability 

Note: We welcome additional work samples, but they are not required at this time. 

Apply for this position

Hiring Process

Nonprofit talent agency People Power is the search partner for this hire. We appreciate your time and interest in contributing your talents to re:power’s mission. Thank you! You will receive an email auto-reply to your application. We wish we could respond personally to all applicants, but only those chosen to interview will be contacted. Please do not contact re:power directly to inquire about the status of your application. 

Selected applicants will be invited to an initial brief screening interview via phone. Finalists will then be invited to 2–3 longer-form interviews via video with members of re:power’s executive, director, and staff teams. You may also be asked for writing and/or work samples and/or to meet informally with additional team members.

We welcome your interest and feedback. If you would like to make a confidential inquiry and/or have questions regarding your qualifications for this position, compensation or benefits, our process or internal timeline for hiring, or suggestions for how to improve this announcement or the opportunity itself, please email Kate Brumage at People Power: kate@peoplepowerproject.org

re:power is an equal opportunity employer. We eagerly invite people of color, Native American and Indigenous people, immigrants, women, genderqueer and nonbinary people, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and others to apply for all open positions at re:power.

re:power offers a lively and highly rewarding professional environment; we are committed to creating a world where our lived experiences, perspectives and ideas are fully represented and that starts first within our organization. This position can be located anywhere in the United States convenient to regular travel.

Back to Careers