Chief Development Officer
- The VII Foundation
- Hybrid (Mostly hybrid, with the opportunity to join our teams regularly in our physical locations (France, Bosnia & Herzegovina).)
Job Description
Who you are
You are a consummate professional with extensive experience in cultivating and stewarding major donors, developing an effective fundraising strategy, and closing six-figure gifts.
You are an individual with a global perspective who understands and appreciates the importance of impartial, truthful journalism as a key component of any healthy society. You are invested in the development of equality in journalism around the world, regardless of gender, race, color, or creed.
Your mission
Your mission is to grow our donors base with an initial target to double our current funding, and a medium-term target (2 years) to increase annual funding by $2-3 million per annum on a recurring basis.
Funding targets
- Private donors – including younger donors as well as well-established ones.
- Family offices.
- Institutional donors.
- Governmental organizations.
- Supra-national organizations.
- Corporations.
With a primary focus on the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
Major duties & responsibilities
The candidate will:
- Develop a portfolio of major gifts donors.
- Consistently add prospects to the portfolio: develop, plan, and implement a comprehensive prospects strategy to achieve successful cultivation, engagement and solicitations, including but not limited to moving prospects from one giving level to the next. This will include developing a pipeline of VII Foundation donors/donations at all levels.
- Guide and support the CEO in developing his major gifts strategy.
- Establish an aligned set of goals and KPIs, as well as standards of practice.
- Identify, create, and implement cultivation/volunteer opportunities, visits, and tours – as needed – to increase involvement for current and prospective donors.
- Create small-scale engagement and event opportunities to educate, inspire, and uplift major gifts donors and prospects.
- Create and oversee a world-class major gifts program to ensure consistent growth of the $10,000+ giving community.
- Identify and secure leadership-level contributions of $100,000 or more.
- In partnership with the Finance Director, oversee budget development and budget monitoring of all major fundraising activities and produce internal and external reports on all projected and achieved goals.
- Build relationships through email, phone, Zoom, and face-to-face meetings.
- Develop the necessary systems, processes, and tools to better communicate the role of major gifts fundraising across The VII Foundation.
- Develop a key fundraising database and management tool to ensure an integrated fundraising strategy.
- Commit to promoting and supporting an environment of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Strategic & Administrative Responsibilities
- Working with the CEO and Finance Director, establish annual and monthly goals for your fundraising activity.
- Provide reporting to the CEO and Board on major gift program performance.
- Design and execute major donor fundraising campaigns, with the goal of increasing engagement and multi-year annual support.
- Support senior leadership in the preparation of prospect communications, research, collateral, and funding proposals.
- Construct, oversee, and execute a vision for Major Giving program alongside the CEO.
- Lead all donors’ relations.
- Design and execute annual plans to identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward donors that meet or exceed donor engagement and revenue goals.
- Manage a portfolio of prospects and current donors with the capacity to contribute significant support toward the priorities of Common Cause.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- Ability to work with and communicate with a wide range of internal constituents including Board Members, senior management, program staff, finance, and volunteers.
- Outstanding written and verbal skills to persuasively convey the mission of Common Cause to diverse constituencies.
- Ability to function in a fast-paced, high volume, multifaceted, results-oriented work environment.
- Must have the flexibility to travel frequently, and work evenings and weekends.
- Must be able to work independently as well as part of a team.
- Must be committed to authentic diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- Must be proficient in relevant research analysis, including navigation of databases and online resources.
- Strong working knowledge of the broad philanthropic landscape, prospect research methodology, best practices, and evolving trends in philanthropy.
- Experience in managing a multi-territory global portfolio.
- Ability to analyze issues, identify priorities, manage projects, and make decisions expeditiously.
- Ability to lead a dynamic team for optimal results.
- Working knowledge of CRM software (Common Cause uses ROI Solutions and Action Network).
This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job; rather, this is intended to provide an overview. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change in accordance with departmental and organizational needs.
Hiring Organization
Qualifications
Higher education and/or advanced certification is preferred.
Must be authorized to work in the United States, Europe and other territories as required.
A minimum of 7-10 years of demonstrated years in development, major gifts fundraising, and constituent engagement responsibility is required. Experience in frontline fundraising and supervision is a plus, but relevant other experiences valued.
Industry/Service Area
Level
Benefits
Salary is commensurate with experience.
Job type / status can be discussed.
The salary range above is a fixed package. An additional annual performance bonus will be offered based on results.
Application Instructions
To apply for this position, fill out this form and upload your CV and Cover Letter to this folder. Please send questions to info@theviifoundation.org.
Apply Now
The VII Foundation’s mission is to transform visual journalism by empowering new voices and creating stories that advocate change. In a world where beliefs and actions are increasingly out-of-sync with facts and realities, transforming visual journalism is an urgent task.
Our work begins with the educational programs of the VII Academy, at its heart involves the production of long-form projects and documentary films, and includes VII Insider, our free online platform for public debate and discussion of the issues central to visual journalism.
With the support of our partners, we are striving to create a broader picture of the world that fosters a more democratized global conversation to challenge established gatekeepers and disturb conventional narratives.