Director of Development

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

The Amah Mutsun Land Trust (AMLT) is a nonprofit organization founded by the Amah Mustun Tribal Band to protect sacred sites and to promote traditional culture, spirituality, and stewardship of lands within the Mutsun and Awaswas territories through research, conservation, restoration, and education. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band is comprised of the descendants of Indigenous people taken to Missions San Juan Bautista and Santa Cruz.

AMLT was established to assist the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to carry out these goals through several programs, including:

• Cultural burning;
• Native plant propagation and restoration;
• Ocean and coastal stewardship;
• Land ownership and protection;
• Education and engagement for the Tribal community; and
• Research and education programs that promote Indigenous leadership in resource management.

At the heart of all of AMLT’s work is the Native Stewardship Corps (NSC), a leadership development, cultural relearning, and conservation fieldwork program for Tribal members. The NSC is comprised primarily of members of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and performs resource stewardship work in support of AMLT’s mission to protect and restore cultural resources and landscapes. Native Stewards engage in a variety of fieldwork, cultural learning, and education/outreach tasks, and are at the forefront of AMLT’s and the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band’s efforts to revitalize indigenous stewardship of the Tribe’s traditional territory and restore balance to Mother Earth. Field activities are physically demanding and require working full days outdoors in variable weather conditions, often in backcountry areas. Work currently takes place primarily along the coast in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.

AMLT has grown dramatically over the past several years, and we expect the number, breadth, and depth of these programs will continue to expand. Candidates for this position will have the opportunity to join an exciting team of colleagues interested in re-establishing an important connection between Native people and their ancestral homelands and to learn more deeply about Native practices, ceremonies, and culture. Many Indigenous tribes, like the Amah Mustun, were forcibly removed from their lands, and the few that survived the mission system suffered historic trauma and are still working to regain what was lost. The Amah Mutsun Land Trust works to right that wrong by protecting sacred sites, employing Tribal members to renew their sacred obligations to restore and steward Mother Earth, and reconnecting Tribal members to their history and cultural landscape.

Position Description

AMLT’s work is supported by a wide range of funders, including foundations, state agencies, partner organizations, and individual donors. Significant untapped potential exists to expand our operating budget and budget for land acquisition, and the Director of Development is an exciting position that will lead AMLT’s fundraising efforts and enable AMLT to capitalize on the many opportunities we have to expand our work in Mutsun and Awaswas territories.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Director of Development creates and executes a comprehensive fundraising program, develops strategies, and plans, and leads efforts to cultivate, solicit, and steward donors. This includes cultivating and stewarding relationships with prospective and existing individual and institutional donors and supporters, developing and growing a Major Gifts Program, planning and executing special donor events, and supporting the development and successful execution of special initiatives, including capital campaigns. As a member of the senior management team, the Development Director participates in strategic planning and budgeting initiatives, helping develop and implement the annual operating plan and long-term strategic vision and goals of the organization.

The Director of Development works collaboratively to achieve strategic and sustainable organizational growth, to significantly grow the portion of organizational revenue that accrues from individual giving, to successfully execute our first capital campaign, and to help us effectively communicate our story to existing and prospective donors and the general public.

Duties and Responsibilities

Raise the resources necessary to support and grow AMLT’s programs and initiatives.

• Develop and lead the organization’s revenue strategy, assuming primary responsibility for creating and implementing the strategy for grant, contract, individual giving, and other fundraising streams.
• Achieve all annual and multi-year revenue goals, growing philanthropic and contract support.
• Grow and manage a portfolio of prospects and donors with potential to provide significant charitable gifts to the organization. Cultivate, solicit, and close annual, major gift, and multi-year contributions.
• Identify new funding prospects to support the organization.
• Effectively implement, steward, and grow AMLT’s individual giving and major gifts programs to increase annual and multi-year support from current and potential donors. Develop and implement a planned and deferred giving program.
• Serve as lead staff to future capital campaigns for land acquisition. Support future anniversary, growth capital, and endowment campaigns.

Implement a comprehensive fundraising program.

• Implement fundraising strategies and programs, including a special emphasis on major giving, strategic partnerships, foundation, and government relations, deferred and planned giving programs that increase the organization’s support from individuals, government agencies, foundations, and other sources.
• Provide leadership, strategic direction, management, and coordination for all aspects of the organization’s development efforts.
• Prepare the annual fundraising plan in collaboration with the Executive Director. Provide detailed reports about progress on a regular basis, including but not limited to monthly committee meetings and quarterly Board meetings.
• Oversee donor stewardship and recognition programs, as well as all annual giving programs.
• Partner with the Executive Director to deploy her time and attention on the greatest revenue generating opportunities. Coordinate fundraising efforts with Executive Director and other key staff.
• Build strong relationships with Program staff and understand AMLT’s programs, priorities, and impact objectives.
• Ensure that philanthropy and fund development are carried out in accordance with the organization’s mission, vision, values and in alignment with our strategic plan and operating plan.
• Manage development operations
• Manage Grant Writer. Work with leadership to expand and onboard additional development staff as growth allows.
• Ensure appropriate systems, procedures, and resources are in place to support future fundraising goals. Implement appropriate CRM/database for managing development functions and pipelines.
• Ensure accurate maintenance and security of records and donor information. Manage gift receipting and acknowledgements.
• Ensure Finance and Programs have accurate and complete information for tracking and compliance with donor restrictions.
• Secure and manage interns and/or volunteers to support communications.
• Lead the creation and distribution of Annual Report.
• Represent AMLT and engage donors
• Appropriately represent the organization, its Board, and staff leadership to donors and prospects. Work collaboratively with program staff and Board to steward donor relationships and attract funding and build the capacity of program staff to represent AMLT effectively at donor engagement events.
• Serve as a passionate advocate for the organization and its mission.
• Develop event strategy and implement annual fundraising events, including smaller convenings to engage donors and inspire interest and support.
• Oversee the organization’s donor communications and marketing.

Serve as a member of AMLT’s senior leadership team to advance the organization’s goals.

• Build and implement a comprehensive fundraising program to support achievement of the goals set forth in AMLT’s strategic plan.
• Provide counsel and guidance to the Executive Director and members of the senior leadership staff team to incorporate development perspectives.
• Help to establish performance measures, monitor results, and evaluate the effectiveness of the organization’s fund development program. Monitor all donor information and provide and present statistical analysis to senior leaders regularly and to the Board, as requested.
• Build the skills, knowledge, and abilities of Board and staff in areas including annual giving, major and leadership gifts, donor relations, community partnerships, grants, and contracts.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• 10+ years’ demonstrated success in fundraising strategy and development operations.
• Demonstrated success building individual giving programs, with success in expanding major donors.
• A skilled and experienced manager of teams who requires minimal day to day supervision.
• Demonstrable track record of personally identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and closing individual donors, corporations, and foundations in areas such as major gifts, annual funds, planned giving, special events, foundation giving, and government grants and contracts.
• Demonstrated experience managing budgets. Strong understanding of nonprofit fiscal management, principles, and best practices.
• Experience and high comfort with fundraising/donor management software.
• Demonstrated experience with operating planning, donor pipeline management, and data-driven analysis of fundraising programs.
• Experience managing people and comfortable working independently and in teams.
• Ability to communicate the organization’s mission and interests to a broad audience. Highly developed skills in writing and speaking, crafting proposals, donor correspondence and other kinds of materials.
• Strong organizational and time management skills with exceptional attention to detail; ability to manage multiple tasks with competing deadlines and to work well under pressure.

Compensation

This is a regular, full-time exempt position that comes with health benefits (currently includes medical, dental, and vision insurance) and PTO. The salary is $85,000-$95,000 depending on experience.  Please submit cover letter and resume at hiring@amahmutsun.org

Please submit cover letter and resume at hiring@amahmutsun.org