Director of Development

Title:                       
       Director of
Development

Classification:        
      Full-time Salaried, Exempt
Position

Salary:                    
       $130,000 to $160,000,
negotiable based on experience

Reports to:
                  
President/CEO (with Executive Vice
President/CFO)

Location:                
      Remote

The Director of Development will lead fundraising for the
organization and play a key role in coordinating grant development
and other fundraising efforts with internal partners throughout the
organization. They will develop and drive a multi-year strategy to
mobilize resources for and expand the fundraising capacity of the
organization. This is a unique opportunity to join an organization
about to undergo a bold, new strategic planning process with a new
leader who is both passionate and deliberate about CSSP’s
commitment to racial justice and vision of being an anti-racist
intersectional organization.  This is a new position that will
report directly to the President/CEO and also work closely with the
Executive Vice President/CFO and be a member of the executive
leadership team. The successful candidate will have not only a
strong fundraising track record, but also a deep commitment to
social justice and exceptional team-building skills. 
Candidates also should be able to demonstrate an ability to build
and maintain effective fundraising processes, to set priorities
(personally and organizationally), and to identify new funding
opportunities. Experience developing or managing a CRM system is
highly desirable.

During fall 2023, with the help of a development consultant, we
identified opportunities to better leverage staff talent and to
strengthen internal collaboration to improve organizational
performance.  This work provides a menu of strategies that
will be shared with the Director of Development to build out CSSP’s
capacity, close gaps to elevate fundraising results and diversify
funding.  The Director of Development will work closely with
CSSP policy leaders and members of the Executive Leadership Team,
including the Director of Communications, the CFO, and the CEO.
 This position also will work directly with the Board of
Directors on fundraising.  

Your Scope of Work

In this role, you will lead the development and execution of
CSSP’s fundraising strategy, including revenue goals and the
approaches to fulfil them.  This will be a distributed
exercise including multiple project teams. You will have the
opportunity to contribute to the strategic planning process before
devising and driving the resource mobilization strategy that will
bring it to life. This position will report directly to the
President and CEO but will also work closely with the Executive
Vice President and CFO. Once the fundraising capacity is
established and in place with financial results, you will be
supported by a development manager, who you will help hire and will
help with report writing, internal coordination, grants management,
and donor outreach, among other tasks.

In alignment with identified key priorities, we anticipate your
initial focus will be on the following areas:

Relationship Development and Short-Term
Planning

• Rapidly build relationships and rapport with CSSP staff,
  especially fundraising leads
• Learn about and meet CSSP’s major funders; map out systems to
  centrally track and collaboratively cultivate CSSP donor
  relationships; and support CSSP CEO donor outreach.
• Develop a six-month fundraising plan to drive priorities and
  strategies during the strategic planning process, prior to creating
  a multi-year funding plan.
• Research and begin outreach on new donor opportunities for
  unrestricted and high priority program funding.
• Contingent on funding, participate in hiring CSSP
  development manager in
  2025

Strategic Planning

• Participate in strategic planning process and Executive
  Leadership Team discussions about strategy.
• Develop a resource mobilization plan for the strategic plan
  that is ready soon after the strategic plan is complete. Work with
  the Executive Leadership Team on an implementation plan with
  revenue targets and benchmarks.
• Identify priority funding streams for fundraising team
  expansion (e.g. corporate or major gifts).
• Contribute ideas to leadership and strategic planning teams
  about how to leverage the 50th anniversary of CSSP to build CSSP’s
  brand and donor support.
• Help identify innovative board engagement strategies to be
  incorporated into the strategic plan or organizational
  practices.

Technology and Tools

• Explore and help procure optimal fundraising platforms for CSSP
  (e.g. prospect research, wealth screening, database software,
  industry publications, etc.); consolidate existing tools
  internally.
• Leverage new tools to create timely prospect research reports
  and donor cultivation plans to secure new operating funds and
  program funding in priority areas (aligned with strategic
  plan).
• Partner with other leadership team members to shape
  requirements for and then procure, beta-test and launch a new CRM
  system, with an initial focus on fundraising data and
  reporting.

Capacity Building

• Collaboratively develop new internal processes to strengthen
  internal information sharing and internal coordination on
  fundraising.
• Establish a committee of internal fundraising leads and develop
  procedures, roles and responsibilities to empower this group and
  understand program needs and priorities.
• Develop a process for determining go/no-go decisions for major
  grant opportunities.
• Test out new event models with a call to action for
  funding.
• Regularly share new opportunities and status of grants in
  progress and under review in ways that ensure wide
  circulation.
• Promote joint team planning and proposals that maximize revenue
  potential and lift up the brand.
• Work closely with communications team to integrate fundraising
  into regular CSSP communications and, potentially, support
  brand-related initiatives.

Ideal candidates will also have:

• A minimum of 10 years of progressive leadership experience in
  fundraising, including leading fundraising for a social impact or
  non-profit or in a significant leadership role with direct impact
  on meeting revenue goals and financial outcomes.
• Direct experience securing five, six, and seven figure
  gifts.
• Demonstrable knowledge of the philanthropic sector and
  experience leading complex grant production efforts.
• Experience in government grant writing, corporate fundraising,
  CSR partnerships and familiarity with brand strategy all a
  significant plus.
• Demonstrated experience in a range of operational and
  technology skills, such as prospect research, wealth screening,
  donor data management, and ideally experience using CRMs to track
  outcomes and measure progress toward fundraising milestones.
• Experience developing effective fundraising strategies and
  implementation plans for a team and measuring outcomes.
• Experience and understanding of a range of fundraising
  approaches, including individual, major gifts, corporate,
  philanthropic, and government fundraising (and/or other mass market
  approaches).
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships, develop rapport,
  and strengthen coordination processes within and among teams.
• Experience in the social service sector, a results orientation
  and a strong commitment to racial justice required.
• Personal and professional understanding of intersectionality,
  anti-racism, inclusion, and power dynamics and how these play out
  across teams and organizations.
• Strong problem-solving and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work well with people with a very wide diversity of
  demographic and cultural characteristics; must be capable of
  achieving results while maintaining an inclusive, collaborative
  leadership style.
• Strong personal effectiveness, integrity, credibility,
  discretion, humility, and accountability.
• Comfort operating with a high level of independence and
  efficiency, coupled with a desire to lead and be part of
  high-performing teams.

About CSSP

The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) is a national,
non-profit organization that connects community action, public
system improvements, and policy change.  We work to achieve a
racially, economically, and socially just society in which all
children and families thrive.  To do this, we translate ideas
into action, promote public policies grounded in equity, support
strong and inclusive communities, and advocate with and for all
children and families marginalized by public policies and
institutional practices. We are headquartered in Washington, DC,
with staff working remotely across the country.  At CSSP, we
recognize the long and devastating history of racism and
discrimination in our country.  For the past 15 years, we have
intensified our focus on racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and
immigrant rights, including strengthening our organizational
capacity to do this work in collaboration with community.  We
are committed to holding anti-racism and intersectionality as core
values, doing this work with systems and communities, and including
deep historical research as a foundational part of our work
developing and advancing programmatic and policy ideas.  CSSP
is committed to working towards being an anti-racist organization
and to identifying and eliminating aspects of White supremacy in
our policies and culture.

What We Offer

CSSP offers an annual salary of $130,000 – $160,000 for this
position, commensurate with skills and experience. We also offer a
comprehensive benefits package for all full-time employees,
including 100% employer paid medical, dental, and vision plans for
employee coverage. Other benefits include 100% employer paid
disability and life insurance, a generous paid vacation and holiday
schedule including winter and summer breaks, paid parental leave,
and 11% employer-paid retirement contributions after one full year
of employment.  CSSP also provides cell phone and internet
stipends, professional development funds, and the ability to work
remotely. This position would require six to eight trips per year
if not located in the Washington, DC area.

How to Apply and Other:

Qualified applicants should send a cover letter with salary
requirements and resume to jobs@cssp.org (subject: Your
Name – Director of Development). In your cover letter,
please be sure to indicate where you found this position
announcement.  The interview process will include phone
screening, panel style interviews, and final interviews. 
Finalists will also be asked to participate in a short, written
exercise.

Due to the large number of applications, emails and phone calls
to CSSP will not be accepted/reviewed.

Applications accepted until April 12 or until the position is
filled.

CSSP is an equal opportunity employer.  All
qualified applicants will be considered for employment without
unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national
origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation,
gender expression, military status, prior record of arrest or
conviction, citizenship status, current employment status or
caregiver status.