Senior Director of Development & Community Engagement

Position Category: Full-time, Regular

Employee Type: Salaried, Exempt

Reports To: Andrew Proctor, Executive Director

Direct Reports: 3–4 team members

Work Schedule: Mon–Fri, 9 am–5 pm; event-driven evening and weekend hours required. This is an in-person position.

Salary: $120,000–140,000/year plus benefits

Literary Arts is looking for an exceptional individual to join our team as Senior Director of Development & Community Engagement. Literary Arts is in the middle of a transformational, once-in-a-generation project (the Project) that will grow and remake the organization for generations to come. The Project includes opening a new 14,000-square-foot facility (716 SE Grand Ave) that will serve as our national headquarters and launching a new writers residency program in a separate facility. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to shape and build a development department for the organization, oversee a small marketing department, evaluate current systems, and expand fundraising and marketing capacities.

Organization:

Literary Arts is a community-based nonprofit arts organization located in Portland, Oregon, with a 40-year history of serving the state’s readers and writers. Our programs include Portland Arts & Lectures, one of the country's largest lecture series; Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships, which celebrates Oregon’s writers and independent publishers; and Writers in the Schools, which hires professional writers to teach semester-long creative writing workshops in Portland's public high schools. Our mission is to engage readers, support writers, and inspire the next generation with great literature.

The Position:

The Senior Director of Development & Community Engagement is responsible for the fundraising program and for overseeing the marketing strategy and goals of the organization.

The Senior Director will manage key institutional relationships and will lead a team of frontline fundraising employees to meet or exceed an annual goal of $2.5M in contributed income through individual, foundation, corporate, and governmental sources. They will also manage the marketing department (lead by the Director of Marketing and Communications) and oversee marketing and communications strategies to support $1.5M in annual earned revenue for all Literary Arts’ ticketed events, classes, and seminars. This senior fundraising role is directly involved in the final stages of the capital campaign supporting the Project and will be responsible for overseeing its fundraising requirements in coordination with the Executive Director and implementing all development system needs. The Project’s 14,000-square-foot facility (716 SE Grand Ave) is under construction and is expected to be fully operational during the fourth calendar quarter of 2024. This is a senior position and will work closely with key personnel and board members as part of the leadership team.

Organizational Leadership:

• Serve as a contributing member of the senior leadership team. Share responsibility for day-to-day management of Literary Arts including managing a large portfolio of key external relationships, participating in significant management decisions, and acting as organizational representative and spokesperson.
• In concert with the Executive Director, take responsibility for contributed and earned income, oversee/coordinate/collaborate marketing goals, and share the responsibility for balancing the budget.
• In concert with the Executive Director, senior staff, and board, determine the strategic direction of Literary Arts, especially in matters of institutional development, and messaging.

Development Leadership:

• Develop, budget, and implement yearly strategic development plan to meet the goals of Literary Arts. Revise plan as necessary to meet development goals.
• Own a portfolio of major gifts donors and prospects to achieve annual goals.
• Oversee portfolio management of development officers.
• Oversee capital campaign and major gifts strategy and activity. In collaboration with development staff, partner with volunteers (Campaign Cabinet members and board members) on high-level prospect visits, briefings, and solicitations.
• Set strategy for cultivation events, annual fundraising events, and donor stewardship events, including but not limited to an annual gala (Bookmark), sponsor dinners, and special events.
• Work with Executive Director, Board of Directors, and other committees/councils to identify and cultivate new donors, as well as maintain/improve donor relations at each level of giving and within each giving category (foundation, corporate, and individual).
• Direct effective grant-writing plans for foundation and governmental sources. Oversee the writing of successful foundation and government grants by independent contractor.
• Oversee the preparation of timely and appropriate grant reports and other correspondence to ensure excellent foundation relations.
• Develop corporate support plans. Generate targeted, effective corporate support prospects and proposals. Manage relations with corporate supporters.
• Lead and/or support the following committees/councils: Board of Directors, Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Development Council, Campaign Cabinet, Patron Advisory Council
• Implement a major gifts and planned giving program and other development initiatives.

Marketing Leadership:

• Collaborate with the Director of Marketing and Communications to set institutional strategy for marketing, communications, and public relations to support Portland Arts & Lectures Series and Special Events, the organization’s primary earned income channels.
• Oversee direct contact with press and media, and pitch story ideas about Literary Arts and its programs.
• Participate in audience development strategies. Reach out to new groups and individuals to increase involvement in events and programs.

Project Duties:

• With the support of development staff and campaign cabinet members, oversee the final stages of the quiet phase and launch of the public phase of a multiyear $22.5M campaign.
• Public phase activities will include email/phone solicitations, hard hat tours, media coverage, and community events.
• Oversee Project fundraising budget and provide timely reconciliation with Finance and presentations to board and councils.

Qualifications:

• Demonstrated success developing and growing individual donor programs and closing substantial major gifts.
• Equivalent to a bachelor’s degree with 5–10 years of progressive experience in fundraising including, but not limited to, institutional giving for nonprofit organizations with a proven track record meeting and exceeding fund development goals.
• Experience partnering with funding agencies of the government and giving offices within corporations.
• Expertise in volunteer management and the ability to lead and collaborate with various councils and committees with success building consensus among various stakeholders.
• Demonstrated strong project management skills with impeccable attention to detail.
• Experience in building and managing a team and contributing to a collaborative organizational culture.
• Strong knowledge of fundraising principles and current trends, financial fluency, and budgeting practices, with experience collaborating with marketing and communications preferred.
• Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills, including effectiveness in public speaking.
• Superior organizational and time management skills, with a successful track record of setting priorities in a fast-moving environment.
• Experience working with an executive leadership team and the board.
• Fluency with Mac and Microsoft business applications, Filemaker Pro and Adobe Suite.
• CFRE a plus.

Job Conditions:

Benefits: Literary Arts currently pays for health, dental, and vision coverage for each FTE employee, and offers a 401K program with employer match. Literary Arts also fully pays for short- and long-term disability insurance. All full-time employees begin with three weeks of paid vacation time, which increases to five weeks after five years of employment. We also provide three additional paid personal days off, in addition to observing approximately 12 paid holidays. As a registered nonprofit, the organization qualifies for public service loan forgiveness. Information on additional benefits is available upon request.

Flexible work environment: The organization also permits flexible scheduling to accommodate family or personal needs and preferences, including the option to be fully remote for up to one month (upon review and approval).

Office Layout is open concept, between two common spaces used for meetings, events, and workshops. The Project’s new facility will also be open concept, with flexible meeting rooms and hoteling workstations.

Equipment Used: Mac laptop, copier/printer, postage machine, and other standard office equipment. Literary Arts provides an adjustable office chair; a standing desk can be requested.

Physical Demands: Long periods of sitting are required at the computer or in meetings. Some concentrated periods of computer keyboarding may be required throughout the work week. However, this position does accommodate breaks from sitting as needed. Lifting and moving of boxes is required; boxes in excess of 25 pounds should be lifted with assistance.

For more information about Literary Arts, visit www.literary-arts.org.

To apply, please submit your resume and cover letter to applications@literary-arts.org with the subject line “Senior Director of Development & Community Engagement.” We will begin formally reviewing applications on April 8, 2024.

After you submit your application materials, you will be invited to participate in a voluntary survey. Literary Arts is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment for our employees and volunteers, and data collected from these surveys allows us to measure and show the progress we are making in a concrete way. We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and experiences.