National Director Of Development, Children’s Literacy Initiative

Posted by Children's Literacy Initiative on October 30, 2018

Award-winning, national nonprofit Children’s Literacy Initiative (CLI) seeks a National Director of Development to help build the systems, processes and partnerships that will financially support the organization’s national expansion efforts. The National Director reports to the CEO, serves on the organization’s leadership team, and will manage, support and coach a team of 5 development professionals based in Philadelphia, Houston, Denver and Chicago. CLI currently has a presence in 234 schools in Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, Denver, Broward County, and Elizabeth and Passaic counties in New Jersey.

THE ORGANIZATION
Children’s Literacy Initiative (CLI) envisions a nation where every child has the power of literacy and the opportunity for a lifetime of success. Their goal is to close the gap in literacy achievement between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers. CLI believes that early reading = lifelong success, and that there is no stronger lever for improving student outcomes than giving teachers high impact instructional strategies.

CLI provides educators with training and coaching in the most effective practices for early literacy instruction for prekindergarten through third grade. CLI also develops workshops and institutes that build teachers’ understanding of literacy and the art and science of teaching children how to read and write.

One of its most significant accomplishments is raising expectations for what young students from high-poverty neighborhoods are capable of achieving, and countering the myth that children from disadvantaged households have too many obstacles to overcome the reach the literacy levels of their more privileged peers. A few examples below show that their results speak for themselves:

Last year, CLI won the 2017 David M. Rubenstein Prize, the top honor in the Library of Congress Literacy Awards Program for the organization making outstanding and measurable contributions in increasing literacy levels across the country.

CLI’s effectiveness in early childhood literacy resulted in twice receiving the U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) award; and,

Results from a 3-year American Institutes for Research study of CLI’s i3 project in four cities showed significantly higher standardized early reading test results than students who were not exposed to CLI, as well as CLI having a significant positive impact on the quality of teachers’ literacy instruction in both kindergarten and first-grade classrooms.

Thanks to the success of its early childhood literacy programming, CLI has experienced rapid financial growth, tripling revenue from fiscal years 2014 to 2018.

THE ROLE
The National Director of Development will join CLI at a time of rapid financial growth and expansion and will help lead the effort to secure the partnerships and funding necessary for national expansion. S/He will also be charged with the management and oversight of a $26M budget, and building a best in class development operation that allows for sustainable and diverse private funding and maintenance and oversight of federal revenue, which comprises 25% of the overall budget.

An overview of the National Director’s core duties and responsibilities are provided below:

Leadership

• Serve as a leader within and outside of the organization; builds relationships and partnerships that help CLI achieve its financial goals
• Create opportunities internally to share information about the development team’s initiatives, priorities, projects and impact, and gets buy-in from teams to move the work forward

Management

• Hire, coach, support, train, and retain the team of high performing development staff
• Build best-in-class development operations that allow for greater efficiency and productivity, and fosters best practices that can be shared and replicated in the regions

Fundraising and external relations

• Alongside CEO, serve as CLI’s lead fundraiser; generate significant multi-year, renewable and sustainable funding sources.
• Develop and execute strategy to achieve 100% of CLI’s funding goals annually; partner with the CEO to develop a comprehensive long-term vision for CLI’s development work.
• Diversify CLI’s revenue sources, with a focus on corporate, foundation and individual giving, as well as growing multi-year and six and seven-figure gifts
• Manage and oversee federal funding process, which includes grant applications and reporting
• Build a stewardship culture aimed at cultivating deeper ties and forging larger partnerships with CLI supporters
• Work with the Board of Directors to leverage their networks, relationships and ideas to generate large-scale partnerships and opportunities in existing and new regions
• In partnership with development staff, help build advisory councils in each region that will support local efforts to raise awareness and funds for CLI’s programming

QUALIFICATIONS

CLI welcomes applications from development and sales professionals in all fields, not just early childhood education. The strongest candidates for this role will have many of the following qualifications and experiences:

• A strong belief in CLI’s mission and vision.
• Intellectual depth and maturity to work with external partners and supporters and advise the CEO, staff, and Board members in development-related activities;
• Success hiring, coaching, supporting, training and retaining development/sales professionals
• Track record of success in raising significant amounts of money through some or all of the following: major gifts from individuals, annual giving campaigns, innovative partnerships, corporations, foundations, and the federal government;
• Excellent verbal and communication skills, with an ability to influence and motivate and generate buy-in internally and externally
• Superb listener, with an ability to synthesize information and translate into strategy or action plans
• Exceptional project manager with the ability to identify what work needs to be done, by whom, in what order, by what deadline – and then manage execution to see it through
• Able to manage up and laterally, and work within and across teams to accomplish goals
• Working knowledge of or familiarity with fundraising databases (e.g., Raisers Edge, Salesforce) are a plus

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The salary for this role is competitive and commensurate with experience. CLI has a strong work/life balance culture — they offer all employees in eligible positions the option to work remotely one day a week and provide 6 weeks of paid vacation plus 8 paid holidays for all Director-level employees. CLI also offers a generous and comprehensive benefits package which includes an employer paid 403(b) plan (no employee contribution required); professional development, life and long-term disability insurance; and full employee health coverage: dental, medical and vision.

Children’s Literacy Initiative is an Equal Opportunity Employer and actively invites a diversity of candidates regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, or religion.

https://klbconsulting.theresumator.com/apply/ZGiuVIwt9k/National-Director-Of-Development