Vice President of Strategic Partnerships

FUSE is seeking an experienced leader and manager to serve as its next Vice President of Strategic Partnerships. Reporting directly to the CEO, this role is responsible for overseeing all government sales and contracting, fundraising at the local and national levels, and the design of our executive fellowship projects.

LOCATION

FUSE Corps is currently a fully virtual organization and this position can be based remotely from anywhere in the United States.

ORGANIZATION

FUSE Corps is a national nonprofit working to expand social and economic opportunities, particularly for communities that have been limited by a history of systemic and institutionalized racism. We partner with local governments and communities to more effectively address pressing challenges by placing experienced professionals within city and county agencies. These FUSE Executive Fellows lead strategic projects designed to advance racial equity and accelerate systems change. Since 2012, FUSE has led over 250 projects in 40 governments across 20 states, impacting the lives of 25 million people.

When designing each fellowship project, FUSE works closely with local stakeholders to define a scope of work that will achieve substantive impact on regional priorities. This work is funded through fee-for-service government contracts and/or philanthropic underwriting. We then conduct an individualized search for each project to ensure that the selected candidate has the required competencies and is deeply connected to the communities they serve. Hired as a FUSE employee and embedded in a government agency for at least one year of full-time work, the executive fellow receives training, coaching, and professional support to ensure that they achieve their greatest potential for impact.

We are focused on issues such as workforce development, affordable housing, public health, educational access, criminal justice reform, and climate resilience. FUSE breaks down barriers between governments and the people they serve, using human-centered design to engage community members in policy development. We foster culture change within governments to promote data-driven and results-based decision making. We also utilize storytelling to share the insights from our work in order to inspire all civic leaders to think and act differently in their pursuing systemic change.

This work is driven through a blend of fee-for-service model with our government partners, matching support from local funders within our communities, and national philanthropic investments from The Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, Salesforce, Jack Dorsey’s #StartSmall, Ballmer Group, Omidyar Network, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and others. We are also proud to partner with recording artist and FUSE Board member John Legend on a campaign called HumanLevel, which is using public awareness and policy advocacy to uplift communities that have been disproportionately impacted by institutionalized racism.

For more information: https://www.fusecorps.org

OPPORTUNITY

FUSE is seeking an experienced leader and manager to serve as its next Vice President of Strategic Partnerships. Reporting directly to the CEO, this role is responsible for overseeing all government sales and contracting, fundraising at the local and national levels, and the design of our executive fellowship projects. The Vice President will lead a team of professional staff who are responsible for ensuring that the organization is able to pursue its mission with a sustainable, predictable, and balanced revenue stream. Working in collaboration with other departments, the Strategic Partnerships team makes determinations about the regions in which we will work, the host agencies and community partners with whom we will partner, and the core deliverables of up to one hundred unique fellowship projects each year. Given the volume and complexity of this work, it is essential for the Vice President to effectively oversee data management, operating plans, assessment efforts, and internal communications. Working closely with the rest of the leadership team and the FUSE Board, the Vice President will help determine the organization’s long-term strategy for narrowing racial disparities, accelerating systemic change, meeting the changing needs of our partner communities, and maximizing our national impact.

Organizational & Team Leadership

• Serve as a key member of FUSE’s five-person leadership team, which includes the CEO, President & COO, Vice President for Programs, and Vice President for Recruitment. Support strategic visioning, goal setting, planning, and budgeting. Work closely with the two other Vice Presidents to ensure effective collaboration, alignment, and cohesion throughout the organization.
• Lead a team of high-performing, experienced professionals to ensure that strategic goals are reliably achieved. Engage directly in the day-to-day work of the team, serving as a hands-on manager, thought partner, and mentor. Foster the team’s professional development, sustainability, and wellness. Develop systems for tracking data and revenue, managing pipelines and relationships, assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of the team, and ensuring alignment across teams.
• Support FUSE’s Marketing & Communications team to ensure that prospective government and philanthropic partners are more aware of our work. Engage with John Legend’s social impact team on the HumanLevel campaign. Represent FUSE as an attendee or speaker at events and conferences, either virtually or in-person. Participate in FUSE Board meetings, delivering progress updates when required and working to implement the Board’s recommendations.
• Personally model FUSE’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in every aspect of leadership and daily work. Place racial equity at the center the team’s efforts to engage community members, design fellowship projects, select new hires and vendors, and partner with value-aligned funders. Serve as an organizational leader in FUSE’s efforts to become an actively anti-racist organization.

Government Partnerships & Sales

• Manage a team of Directors who each oversee a portfolio of regions, including both current and prospective partners. Directors work with government and community leaders to identify high-priority projects in which a FUSE Executive Fellow would accelerate systems change and advance racial equity. Ensure that the Directors are continually building and sustaining relationships with an array of cross-sector, community-based partners in every region.
• Secure required funding to cover the cost of every project from either fee-for-service government contracts, local funders, national philanthropic partners, or a combination of sources. Irrespective of funding source, ensure that every aspect of a complex approval and contracting process is completed for every project by the deadline established for each cohort. FUSE concurrently launches about 20 projects per cohort, with three cohorts annually in the Spring, Summer, and Fall.
• Closely coordinate with FUSE’s Recruiting team and Program team to provide forecasts about the number, location, and nature of upcoming projects in each cohort. This cross-team communication is essential to ensure that Recruiting has time to conduct a full executive search for each individual project and that Programs can plan ahead to fully onboard, train, coach, and support each cohort.
• Work closely with the Program team to extend as many fellowships as possible for second year. FUSE offers the opportunity for a second-year extension in cases where: the fellow and government host are both interested in continuing the work; the community is receptive to the work continuing; there is a clear scope of work for the project; and funding can be secured to support a second year.

Philanthropic Partnerships & Fundraising

• Partner with the CEO and manage FUSE’s Director of Development to build a high-functioning team that can sustain and expand on current fundraising efforts. Develop a multi-year fundraising strategy that outlines how the organization will prioritize relationships and prospects, build required capacity and systems, and deploy available resources to secure the greatest return on investments.
• Meet with funders and steadily cultivate relationships to secure up to $8M annually in grants (matching an additional $8M per year in government contracts), primarily from a small group of 7-figure national investors. Ensure that all proposals and reports are composed and customized to the highest quality standards. Engage Board members, alumni, staff, government hosts, other organizational partners, and current funders to expand FUSE’s reach in prospecting.
• Closely coordinate with the Recruiting team and Program team to communicate the intentions and requirements of any current funders, while also continually collecting data and stories of community impact that can be shared with funders. Work with the Finance & Operations team to develop grant budgets and track expenses against proposals. Collaborate with the Marketing & Communications team to elevate the FUSE brand with funders, develop pitch materials, and customizing content for funders who are interested in specific issue areas or particular regions of the country.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Passion for and commitment to FUSE’s mission, a belief in the power of cross-sector collaboration and civic innovation to positively impact society’s biggest challenges, and a commitment to advancing racial equity and accelerating systemic change within communities.
• 15+ years of experience in roles with direct responsibility for managing teams of professionals who are responsible for sales, fundraising, or related activities. Some experience working in or with local government agencies would be highly valuable for success in this role.
• Demonstrated experience building and leading highly-effective teams, using a collaborative and respectful management style that focuses on teamwork, inclusivity, and organizational culture. Experience creating effective data tracking and reporting systems, particularly related to managing complex processes and pipelines. Familiarity with the use of Salesforce to these ends is a plus.
• Highly strategic mindset, including the demonstrated ability to take broad ideas and turn them into actionable plans, and then consistently follow through on the execution of those plans in a timely fashion with proven results.
• Exceptional communication skills, both verbal and written, with an understanding of how to adjust messaging for a variety of audiences and an ability to effectively communicate the compelling nature of a partnership opportunity to both governments and foundation audiences.
• Effective networker, spokesperson, and relationship builder with demonstrated success engaging with partners, clients, funders, and other stakeholders, as well as an ability to work with a diverse array of local and national partners.

FUSE Corps is an equal opportunity employer with a core value of incorporating diverse perspectives into our work at every level. We strongly encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply for this key leadership position.

Please submit an application and cover letter. The application should explain your motivation for joining FUSE and how you anticipate leveraging your experience in this particular role.