Reports to: Executive Director
Salary: Competitive and commensurate with experience
Location: New Haven, CT with some in-state travel
Overview:
The RISE Network’s mission is to ensure all high school students graduate with a plan and the skills and confidence to achieve college and career success. Founded in 2016, RISE partners with public high schools to lead networks where communities work together to use data to learn and improve. Through its core and most comprehensive network, RISE partners with nine high schools and eight districts, serving over 13,000 students in historically marginalized communities.
RISE high schools work together to ensure all students experience success as they transition to, through, and beyond high school by using data to pinpoint needs, form hypotheses, and pursue ideas to advance student achievement. Partner schools have improved Grade 9 promotion rates by nearly 20 percentage points, while also decreasing subgroup gaps and increasing schoolwide graduation and college access rates. In 2021, the RISE Network was honored to receive the Carnegie Foundation’s annual Spotlight on Quality in Continuous Improvement recognition. Increasingly, RISE is pursuing opportunities to scale its impact through research publications, consulting partnerships, professional development experiences, and other avenues to drive excellent student outcomes.
Position Summary and Essential Job Functions:
The Development Director will play an integral role in establishing RISE’s development and fundraising functions in collaboration with the Executive Director to support RISE’s evolution, organizational effectiveness, and impact over time. RISE is seeking a talented and highly motivated individual to advance the organization’s development operations during a period of exciting growth. This is an extraordinary opportunity for an individual who thrives in an entrepreneurial environment, craves being a part of a meaningful mission and who is passionate about closing achievement gaps and developing the potential of all students regardless of life circumstance.
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Fundraising Strategic Planning
Develop and pursue a robust and multi-year fundraising strategy rooted in key performance indicators and accountability metrics.
Oversee fundraising budget tracking and inform development goal-setting on an annual basis.
Inform the RISE Network’s communications strategy by representing the perspective and needs of donors and prospective donors.
Continue to build, test and advance strategies that support revenue diversification.
Donor Relationship Management
Conduct thorough donor research.
Create comprehensive pre-meeting reports that include donor bios, giving potential, talking points, and meeting goal(s).
Implement a Moves Management system that efficiently tracks individual donors and prospects within RISE’s donor pipeline and allows for effective coordination of efforts to promote giving.
Establish a meaningful stewardship program, including through the RISE Funders Collaborative, that allows new and legacy donors alike to feel valued by RISE and ensures their continued support of the organization.
Support the Executive Director in engaging the RISE Board in their work to promote revenue diversification.
Support the Executive Director in engaging the Funders Collaborative through frequent personalized outreach, high-touch stewardship efforts and by cultivating a culture of appreciation and responsiveness.
Manage the vision for RISE’s Funders Collaborative and execute a fulfilling experience for members through proficient meeting planning, the creation of meaningful learning experiences, creative interactions to drive camaraderie amongst Funders Collaborative members and consistent follow-up and communications throughout the year.
Development Operations
Capture, organize and disseminate information related to fundraising procedures through impeccable database management, tracking and reporting.
Oversee gift processing and acknowledgement procedures to ensure seamless and efficient donor recognition and gift accounting practices.
Produce accurate, timely and compelling reports to allow senior staff and Board and Committee members to understand how development efforts are progressing.
Collaborate with key members of the RISE team to ensure that various departments within the organization stay abreast of relevant development activities, decisions and updates.
Produce donor reports needed for Annual Report
Manage grant reporting processes through detailed tracking of deadlines and the coordination and preparation of written reports with gathered input from various departments within the organization.
Prepare grant applications in collaboration with various departments, as appropriate.
Required Knowledge and Skills:
Excellent writing/editing and verbal communication skills.
Fundraising experience and results in a K-12 or nonprofit context.
Ability to develop new content and work in an independent and self-motivated manner.
Desire to work in a dynamic, entrepreneurial, and results-driven environment.
Strong interpersonal skills.
Ability to handle sensitive information with discretion.
Demonstrated proficiency with CRMs/donor management software.
Strong sense of accountability and responsibility for results.
Sense of humor, positive attitude, and willingness to work in a collaborative environment.
Commitment to systems-driven solutions for scalable and sustained impact.
Strong organizational and project management skills.
Strong belief that all students can learn and achieve at high levels.
Required Education and Experience:
Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
Minimum of 7-10 years of relevant professional experience in fundraising, sales or marketing, preferably in a nonprofit or education setting.
Experience managing successful multi-million dollar campaigns and a track record of soliciting and securing 6-7 figure gifts.
RISE is an equal opportunity employer