Chief Advancement Officer

Job Title: Chief Advancement Officer
Reports to (Title): President
Department(s): Communications and
Development
Employment Classification: Full-Time
FLSA Status: Exempt
Base Annual Compensation Range: The full-time
salary range for this role is between $175,000 – $263,000 with
exact salary depending on experience, and new staff rarely start at
the top of the range.
Location: Remote

About Borealis Philanthropy

From Black-led movement-building, to queer and trans liberation,
to disability justice and inclusion, community organizers are
working every day to bring about transformational change. Borealis
Philanthropy exists to listen to, invest in, and support them. Our
staff of experts come from the communities we serve, and bring
their lived experiences, values, and visions to the work of
supporting community-driven change through grantee and funder
collaboration.

As a philanthropic intermediary, Borealis Philanthropy builds
bridges between funders and organizers by creating opportunities
for impact-driven investments. We team with funders to conceive,
develop, and implement grantmaking initiatives that resource the
many innovative organizations within each of our respective
grantmaking funds. In partnering with philanthropy, we remove
barriers to funding for grassroots organizations and invest in
intersectional movements, building a future that serves all of
us.

Where We Are

While Borealis Philanthropy has been quite public about
what we believe it takes to fund transformational
change as a social justice intermediary, we know the
reality that it is rare for intermediaries like ours to
consistently be set up for long term success and
sustainability.

As Borealis Philanthropy enters our tenth year of partnering with
funders and movement leaders and organizers to build the liberatory
future we believe possible,
we are leaning more deeply into our theory of
change, and intentionally investing
in the next decade of resourcing justice movements by building an
infrastructure to actualize our organizational potential.

Our Values

Alchemy + Healing, Atrevida + Audacity, Accountability +
Integrity, Ubuntu + Interconnectedness

 

JOB OVERVIEW: 

The Borealis Philanthropy Chief Advancement Officer (CAO) will
be charged with overseeing the development and implementation of an
organization-wide fundraising and communications strategy that is
grounded in our organizational vision and values. This individual
will be responsible for ensuring that the organization not only
meets its revenue targets, but is actively working to bring on new
donors, with priorities to:

• Grow our individual donors and family foundation
  relationships,
• Strengthen and expand our institutional philanthropy portfolio,
  and
• Explore opportunities for corporate giving
  strategies.

This person will also be responsible for helping to implement
strategic campaigns that amplify the work of Borealis and the
intersections across our funds, collaborating with colleagues
across the organization to leverage existing organizational
relationships and identify new potential sources of financial
support for Borealis’ funds. 

A key member of Borealis’ Senior Leadership Team, the CAO will
work closely with colleagues, including the President, Chief of
Programs and Chief Financial Officer to facilitate the design of a
comprehensive development and communications strategy for the
organization that supports the cultivation, solicitation, and
stewardship of both individual and institutional donors, as well as
partners, grantees, and community aligned with our mission and
vision. They will lead a growing team of communications and
development staff in operationalizing the organization’s
fundraising and communications strategy.

The CAO will play a critical role in cultivating a culture of
community-centric philanthropy across the organization – among
staff, the Board of Directors, and with funding partners. They will
partner with the President to identify opportunities to
meaningfully engage staff and Board members in fundraising and
communications activity and dialogue in service of increasing
awareness of the organization and gifts. They will provide
comprehensive support to the President, the Senior Leadership team
and the development and communications team in service of building
a community of donor organizers. This includes ensuring necessary
coaching and guidance is available org-wide to increase individual
confidence and impact in philanthropic conversations with prospects
and donors. They will build relationships with supporters that
value the work of Borealis and our funds while cultivating
connections across communities and amplifying movement
partners.

 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:  

The CAO will oversee the development and communications staffing
of the following functional areas over time. To begin, priority
will be given to the solidification of fundraising and
communications strategy across the organization, effective
operations, and the development of engagement strategies that
support general operating and fund-specific fundraising.

The vision for this growing portfolio will ultimately include
15-16 staff across the Development and Communications departments.
The CAO will have approximately four direct reports.

 

Fundraising Strategy &
Operations

• Partner with the President and Executive Team to define
  Borealis’ fundraising priorities as related to the organization’s
  strategic priorities.
• Develop and implement a multi-year organization-wide
  fundraising strategy that is reflective and inclusive of diverse
  revenue streams – including foundations, corporations, and high net
  wealth individuals. As part of this strategy, set, monitor, and
  report on measurable goals for revenue sustainability and
  growth.
• Work closely with the Finance team to forecast annual revenue
  goals, perform monthly revenue reconciliation, and manage donor
  reports to maintain accuracy and financial accountability.
• Supervise internal systems that increase transparency and
  integration of data across the organization. This includes the
  evaluation of existing technology and tools and our new Salesforce
  database.
• Recruit, hire, coach, and supervise a team of 5 development
  staff members and manage budgets related to the fundraising
  team.
• Live and foster a culture of philanthropy that follows the
  principles of Community-Centric
  Fundraising, including that:
  • Fundraising must be grounded in race, equity, and social
    justice.
  • Donors are partners, and this means that we are transparent,
    and occasionally have difficult conversations.
  • Everyone (donors, staff, funders, board members, volunteers)
    personally benefits from engaging in the work of social justice –
    it’s not just charity and compassion.

 

Individual Major Gifts

• Identify and prioritize individual major gift prospects,
  leveraging existing relationships and Borealis staff and Board
  member networks.
• With Senior Philanthropic Advisor, create and manage
  cultivation and solicitation strategies for the most promising
  individual major gift prospects, partnering with Borealis
  leadership and/or key staff members as relevant.
• Partner with the development team to build the organization’s
  major gifts infrastructure to bring on and steward individual and
  family foundation giving.
• In partnership with the President and Senior Philanthropic
  Advisor, manage a portfolio of the organization’s highest capacity
  major gift donors (current and prospective).
• Support and advise the President, the Board of Directors, and
  other senior staff on the cultivation and solicitation of major
  gift donors and prospects.

 

Foundation Relations + Corporate
Giving

• Collaborate with colleagues across the organization to research
  and identify philanthropic potential within existing organizational
  relationships, and to identify new prospective corporate and
  foundation funders, with an emphasis on major national and
  international foundations.
• Supervise a Development Director, Associate, and Fund Directors
  in cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for the
  most promising foundation prospects.
• Explore possibilities to grow the organization’s corporate
  fundraising opportunities and the resources required to invest in
  building the required strategy.
• In partnership with the President and key staff, manage a
  portfolio of the organization’s highest capacity corporate and
  foundation funders (current and prospective).

 

Communications & Marketing

• Oversee the communications staff in the development and
  implementation of an organization-wide communications strategy that
  is culturally responsive and justice focused.
• Integrate fundraising and communications strategy to relay the
  importance internally and externally of a ‘One Borealis’ funding
  and communications strategy.
• Partner with fund leadership and communications staff to create
  case statements for fundraising priorities. Ensure staff and Board
  members have the necessary tools to communicate information
  consistently and effectively to external audiences.
• Stay up to date on communications trends, the best ways to
  communicate to our audiences.

 

Board Management 

• Partner with the President in managing fundraising-related
  activities of the Board of Directors, including the creation of
  annual engagement plans for each Board member and managing
  additional vehicles for board engagement (i.e. development
  committee, etc.).
• Identify opportunities to enhance Board confidence and impact
  in fundraising conversations.

These key responsibilities are not meant to be all-inclusive and
may be subject to change at any time.

 

QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS:

• Bachelor’s degree and ten years of related work experience
  preferred.
• 7 years supervisory experience leading staff
• A proven track record of developing and implementing
  values-aligned organizational development plans that include
  communications and fundraising strategies with clear and measurable
  outcomes and an ability to monitor success.
• Experience soliciting and receiving 8+ figure gifts, multi-year
  grants and managing complex sets of grant deliverables with
  excellent outcomes.
• Proven track record in fundraising from diverse sources,
  including experience applying moves management and facilitating
  leadership gift conversations with individual, foundation donors
  and/ or corporate giving.
• Experience launching and managing strategic fundraising
  campaigns, capital campaigns, new lines of business or other
  strategic initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively manage complex processes
  and projects for multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment in
  collaboration with others.
• Demonstrated experience with and knowledge of the grant-seeking
  process, including grant writing, submission and reporting. A
  record of successful grant awards from major national and/or
  international foundations preferred.
• Expertise in the practice and teachings of Community Centric
  Fundraising and Trust Based Philanthropy.
• Salesforce CRM experience or similar CRM use.
• Experience in a grantmaking organization is preferred.
• Proven track record of leading people and processes within
  complex organizations, including managing teams to successfully
  reach and/or exceed fundraising goals.
• Demonstrated success in remote and diverse work
  environments.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively, iteratively, and
  creatively with a diverse set of stakeholders, to co-create
  processes and solutions that meet the needs of the organization as
  well as donors and funders.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills, energy, and
  enthusiasm with the ability to build long-term relationships and
  represent the organization to external audiences.
• Outstanding verbal and written communications skills, including
  the ability to write and present fundraising materials to a diverse
  set of audiences.
• Ability to engage and support leadership with their efforts in
  fundraising, consultation, and advocacy.
• Demonstrated flexibility, self-awareness, professional
  integrity, and cultural competence – including commitment to
  Borealis’ values, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

 

ESSENTIAL PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:  

• Ability to travel independently to attend meetings.
• Ability to converse verbally and in writing with donors,
  prospects, and other business partners.
• Ability to maintain a full-time position with some extended
  hours required to travel and attend donor events.

 

Commitment to Disability, Diversity, Equity &
Inclusion

Borealis is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified
individuals. As part of this commitment, we will ensure that
persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations.
If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job
application or interview process, please contact
hr@borealisphilanthropy.org. Borealis is an equal opportunity
employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex,
religion, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual
orientation, disability, age, or any other category protected by
local, state, or federal laws. We are committed to building a
diverse, equitable, and inclusive staff team. We strongly encourage
applicants who are people of color, LGBTQ, women, trans and gender
non-conforming people, people with disabilities, and/or formerly
incarcerated people.

 

Application Instructions:

Whitney Herrington and McKenzie Midock of Ascend People are
supporting this search.  Please apply through the below link.
Applications should include a resume and cover letter, as well as
the required information as described in the application
link.  Priority will be given to applications submitted by
April 19, 2024, though applications will be reviewed on an ongoing
basis until the position is filled.