Executive Director, Development (P/T with benefits, fully remote)

About The Chronicle of Philanthropy

The Chronicle of Philanthropy is the leading source of journalism, opinion, actionable insights, and training for nonprofit and foundation leaders, fundraising executives, and other professionals who drive social impact.

As our growing organization seeks to expand its work after raising $9 million to transition to nonprofit status, The Chronicle is now seeking a fundraising professional who can build our innovation fund and help us finance a range of projects to ensure the Chronicle can do more to help nonprofits thrive and ensure the public has a strong understanding of the importance of philanthropy to communities everywhere.

This is a rare chance to become a key player in expanding one of the most trusted brands in the social sector with plenty of autonomy.

The Opportunity

The Executive Director of Development is a senior, strategic role that will create and drive The Chronicle’s work to attract foundation grants and develop efforts to attract major gifts from and write concept papers for funders that share our mission. The successful person will understand our special role in providing independent journalism and professional development to nonprofits and foundations and in complementing our strong earned-revenue efforts, which represent about 80 percent of our budget.

As a senior leader at 60% time, this professional will work closely with our CEO, Chief Revenue Officer, and Chief Content officer to set our philanthropic strategy; develop our case for general operating support and innovation funding; cultivate foundations and other supporters; and build a culture that ensures long-term fundraising success.

The right candidate is a seasoned development executive who is both a strategist and a doer: comfortable writing a six-figure letter of intent one day and building a multi-year revenue forecast on the next.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategy & Leadership

• Design and implement a comprehensive development strategy, building on our successful foundation grant seeking
• Partner with our earned-revenue team to build strategic partnerships and other opportunities
• Serve as a thought partner to the CEO in articulating programs, new initiatives, and the overarching impact and ambitions of The Chronicle.
• Examine the potential for attracting support from individuals, focusing on major and planned gifts. Draw in new programmatic partners and migrate existing ones to broader organizational support, ideally with general operating support grants.
• Work with the Leadership Team to build a culture of philanthropy in the organization, ensuring that all parts of the organization work together to carry out ambitious projects to serve the nonprofit world.
• Recommend annual fundraising targets (realistic yet ambitious) to the CEO and CFO and build a five-year philanthropic plan that allow The Chronicle to expand service to the sector.

2. Foundation Giving

• Identify grant makers who can support our work and provide end-to-end support for the CEO to solicit funding, with the goal of raising $2 million, or 20 percent of our budget, annually

• Develop and manage relationships with foundation leaders and program officers interested in advancing journalism, nonprofit capacity-building, and social sector leadership
• Oversee the grants pipeline—from prospecting through letters of inquiry, proposals, and reporting

3. System & Infrastructure

• Establish or refine gift tracking and reporting
• Create donor communications, case for support materials, and campaign messaging in collaboration with our business and content leaders.
• Build reports for key leaders on fundraising progress and work with the CEO and chief content officer to ensure project managers are carrying out deliverables promised to foundations.

Qualifications

Required:

• 10+ years of progressive development experience, with a demonstrated track record of closing large foundation grants as well as major gifts from individuals.
• Experience raising money for organizations that focus on big ideas, such as colleges and museums; experience raising money for media organizations is a plus.
• Proven ability to work as a strategic partner to executive leadership and boards
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; a compelling and authentic storyteller
• Comfortable working independently and managing up without direct staff support

Strongly preferred:

• Existing relationships within the philanthropic and/or media funding ecosystem
• Experience building or significantly scaling a development function from early stages
• Familiarity with the Chronicle’s brand, audience, and the social sector

What Success Looks Like:

First ninety (90) days:

• Complete a thorough assessment of existing donor relationships, prospect pipeline, and development infrastructure
• Develop a 12-month fundraising plan with clear goals, timelines, and metrics
• Begin active cultivation of a priority list of foundation prospects
• Lay out plans for your examination of our individual fundraising potential

By End of Year One:

• Secure meaningful philanthropic revenue from new and renewed sources
• Establish a reliable cadence of donor communication, stewardship, and reporting
• Position the Chronicle for a major campaign focused on innovation and possibly an endowment campaign to mark our 40th anniversary.