Director of Development, Annual Giving

Teaching Trust seeks a full-time Director of Development, Annual Giving to support a multi-year revenue generation strategy that focuses on sustaining and expanding our individual funding base. 

What You’ll Take On

Teaching Trust is passionate about deepening, broadening and diversifying our funding base to reflect our value for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) at the core of philanthropy. As part of a five-person team, the Director of Development will support a multi-year revenue generation strategy that focuses on sustaining and expanding our individual funding base, which has been traditionally major gifts-focused. In this role, you will serve as a leader in helping to build necessary strategies, tactics, rituals, and tools for delivering on ambitious development goals to ensure Teaching Trust’s long-term financial health. 

Additionally, in FY21 you will:

• In support of the development team’s collective goal of $3.5M, expand and diversify Teaching Trust’s Annual Giving portfolio, including identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of individuals. You will execute on your own portfolio, with particular focus on new funders.
• Lead the department’s Moves Management strategy. Serving as the team expert for the department’s prospecting and moves management, you will ensure an adequate pool of prospects, and drive consistent rituals for ensuring cultivation from pipeline to close.  
• Develop, manage and drive Teaching Trust’s donor stewardship & engagement plan to support our first formal Annual Giving program in commemoration of our 10th year anniversary, including leadership engagement, special events, donor & site visits, and strategic communications.

What You’ll Bring

We are looking for someone who shares a passion for our mission to achieve better outcomes for students in urban schools. You will thrive in this role if you embody these ideals:

• You are fiercely passionate about educational equity. Your personal values drive you to be courageous in conversations, inclusive, and ambitious in driving initiatives that support closing the opportunity gap for students in low-income communities and students of color.
• You are highly motivated by, and deeply committed to our organization’s work around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). You apply a DEI lens to strengthen our development work.  You understand and embrace the need to engage donors from diverse communities to achieve  Teaching Trust’s vision, mission and impact.  
• You have demonstrated experience exceeding fundraising goals. You have delivered on strategic and creative development strategies that have helped grow organizational budgets year after year, and take pride in monitoring and sharing your progress along the way.
• You lead with authentic relationships and engagement. You build relationships with funder partners that have trust at the core, and value dialogue and invitations for real connections.
• You are a story-teller: You tap into both heart and mind to leverage the most compelling parts of our story and impact to create excitement around our work. 

Ideal candidates will have:

• 5-7 years of experience professional fundraising and development with demonstrated experience expanding and cultivating an existing donor base over time.
• Desire and ability to be a self-starter and collaborator with demonstrated ability to see through complex projects.
• Preference for candidates who know the landscape of philanthropy in Texas, and is an active participant and voice within the diverse funding communities of Texas, with particular interest in North Texas. 
• Experience with individual strategies and tactics including but not limited to sustained/ monthly giving, major giving, giving circles, family/ donor-advised giving, and cultivating and stewarding high-level relationships.
• Experience with up-to-date development  technology and tools to track moves management.
• Experience with current development technology and tools to track moves management.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment, demonstrating resilience. 
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills with the ability to influence, collaborate, and build trusting relationships to drive results. 
• High level of comfort taking and implementing frequent feedback to improve the work.
• Ability to work well with people with a very wide diversity of demographic and cultural characteristics; must be capable of achieving results while maintaining an inclusive, collaborative leadership style.
• Passion to work at an organization focused on ameliorating educational inequity.
• Strong desire and ability to innovate and adopt new approaches to achieve results.
• Exceptionally strong project management and time management skills.
• Authorization to work in the United States required.

Additionally, alignment with our core values is essential for the success of any candidate:

• Educational Equity: We prioritize work based on its impact in eliminating the achievement gap.
• Disciplined Behavior: We are unapologetically results and competencies driven.
• Courage and Resilience: We take risks, rebound and persevere.
• Entrepreneurial Mindset: We own our outcomes and act with urgency.
• Reflection and Growth: We seek feedback and modify behavior to achieve results.

Who We Are

Teaching Trust is closing the opportunity gap by developing leadership capacity to transform schools. Simply put, we believe that Great Leaders + Great Teams = Great Schools.

Other existing nonprofits attack the opportunity gap at different levels – curriculum, training for teachers, or advocacy for equitable funding. We focus on engaging school leadership teams in intensive training sessions, where we go deep on foundational concepts proven to move the needle for schools.

We build deep relationships and support school teams with successfully implementing practices across their campuses, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with leaders to provide counsel, support, and accountability. We are not just here to provide training, send Teaching Trust participants off with a binder, and hope all goes well. Our coaching truly is a living partnership. 

Our definition of a team is highly inclusive. We work with everyone – from the teacher to campus coaches to the principal to school district leaders. We believe, and have seen firsthand, that strong, aligned leadership from campus to district to state level is a game changer for students. 

To date, we’ve impacted more than 1,500 educators across 300 public schools, reaching 350,000 students across our region. We are engaging leaders at all levels in local, complex, and large urban districts to collaborate and build a common vision around school leadership development – and we’re seeing strong results for students in partner districts like Dallas ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Richardson ISD, and Garland ISD.

The opportunity gap is one of many undertakings when it comes to tackling broader systemic change for historically oppressed communities. We aim to work alongside many community partners, educators, and families in pursuit of large-scale transformational change across North Texas.

What We Offer

Teaching Trust offers a salary of $82,000 for this role. In May 2018, Teaching Trust implemented  a new approach to our compensation philosophy. We are deeply committed to being an organization that not only talks the talk about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion but also walks the DEI walk. Equity, in particular, shows up in many ways - but is often most palatable in the practices and policies an organization pursues. We believe our approach to compensation is one way to demonstrate our commitment to equity. Our staff all have salaries that are aligned by level and tenure with the organization in order to achieve compensation equity. The salary for this role reflects that philosophy.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package for all full-time employees, including medical, dental, and vision plans. Other benefits include disability, life insurance, flexible spending account options, a generous vacation and holiday schedule, and a Simple IRA retirement plan with employer matching. Teaching Trust also offers a one-time moving stipend to new hires who are relocating for the role.

Teaching Trust is an equal opportunity employer. Teaching Trust evaluates applicants for employment on the basis of qualifications, merit and work-related criteria without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, pregnancy, childbirth, medical condition, marital or familial status, family responsibilities, veteran status, personal appearance, political affiliation, matriculation, or any other characteristic protected by law. All applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of such status. 

What You’ll Bring

We are looking for someone who shares a passion for our mission to achieve better outcomes for students in urban schools. You will thrive in this role if you embody these ideals:

• You are fiercely passionate about educational equity. Your personal values drive you to be courageous in conversations, inclusive, and ambitious in driving initiatives that support closing the opportunity gap for students in low-income communities and students of color.
• You are highly motivated by, and deeply committed to our organization’s work around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). You apply a DEI lens to strengthen our development work.  You understand and embrace the need to engage donors from diverse communities to achieve  Teaching Trust’s vision, mission and impact.  
• You have demonstrated experience exceeding fundraising goals. You have delivered on strategic and creative development strategies that have helped grow organizational budgets year after year, and take pride in monitoring and sharing your progress along the way.
• You lead with authentic relationships and engagement. You build relationships with funder partners that have trust at the core, and value dialogue and invitations for real connections.
• You are a story-teller: You tap into both heart and mind to leverage the most compelling parts of our story and impact to create excitement around our work. 

Ideal candidates will have:

• 5-7 years of experience professional fundraising and development with demonstrated experience expanding and cultivating an existing donor base over time.
• Desire and ability to be a self-starter and collaborator with demonstrated ability to see through complex projects.
• Preference for candidates who know the landscape of philanthropy in Texas, and is an active participant and voice within the diverse funding communities of Texas, with particular interest in North Texas. 
• Experience with individual strategies and tactics including but not limited to sustained/ monthly giving, major giving, giving circles, family/ donor-advised giving, and cultivating and stewarding high-level relationships.
• Experience with up-to-date development  technology and tools to track moves management.
• Experience with current development technology and tools to track moves management.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment, demonstrating resilience. 
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills with the ability to influence, collaborate, and build trusting relationships to drive results. 
• High level of comfort taking and implementing frequent feedback to improve the work.
• Ability to work well with people with a very wide diversity of demographic and cultural characteristics; must be capable of achieving results while maintaining an inclusive, collaborative leadership style.
• Passion to work at an organization focused on ameliorating educational inequity.
• Strong desire and ability to innovate and adopt new approaches to achieve results.
• Exceptionally strong project management and time management skills.
• Authorization to work in the United States required.

Additionally, alignment with our core values is essential for the success of any candidate:

• Educational Equity: We prioritize work based on its impact in eliminating the achievement gap.
• Disciplined Behavior: We are unapologetically results and competencies driven.
• Courage and Resilience: We take risks, rebound and persevere.
• Entrepreneurial Mindset: We own our outcomes and act with urgency.
• Reflection and Growth: We seek feedback and modify behavior to achieve results.

Apply on our website, here.