Director of Development

Company: Equality Now
Location: New York
Posted on: May 16, 2022

Job Description:

About Us

Founded in 1992, Equality Now fights for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women and girls around the world through legal advocacy. Working with grassroots women's and human rights organizations and individual activists, Equality Now documents violence and discrimination against women and mobilizes national and international action to support efforts to stop these abuses. The organization's work is focused on four main program areas: Legal Equality, End Sexual Violence, End Harmful Practices, and End Sex Trafficking.

With presence in Kenya, Lebanon, US, UK, Benin, India, Georgia, Geneva, South Africa., Equality Now has a staff of 58 and is governed by a 12-member Board of Directors, a 6-member UK Trustees group and a 6-member Africa Board.

The organization had an ambitious 2017-2021 strategic plan which resulted in enhanced presence and work in MENA, Eurasia and LAC regions. The organization has just completed its 3 year Strategic Refresh (2022-2024). It received an investment of $15 million towards the $50 million Strategic Refresh campaign from Mackenzie Scott. Current priorities include exciting new campaigns tackling discrimination against women in religious and traditional law and in the digital space, expanding programs in MENA, the Americas and Eurasia as well as organizational capacity building. The 2022 budget is $13 million.

Position Summary

This is an exciting opportunity for an ambitious development professional with skills in establishing and implementing strategies to grow revenue in line with program and organizational direction. The current global pandemic has resulted in a need to re-evaluate our ways of working as well as the funding landscape. We brought in fundraising consultants, Lapa Fundraising to help us do an assessment and a plan for the next three years. The ideal candidate will be leader who has expertise in all our areas of growth, including major donors, institutional and corporate fundraising and who can create and lead a team of expert staff in each of these areas.

Reporting to the Global Executive Director, the Director of Development will be a member of Equality Now's senior leadership team and will provide strategic direction and management for Equality Now's development program. She/he will provide critical analysis of fundraising trends and opportunities in the field of global women's rights, evaluate Equality Now's existing assets and strategies in light of our Strategic Refresh (2022-2024) and refine and implement our Development Plan (2022-2024). She/he will supervise a high performing full-time team of six based out of New York, London and Nairobi, to increase and diversify financial support, including from Major Donors, Institutional Donors and Corporate Donors. She/he will work closely with the Program Director and Finance & Administration Director to establish systems and processes for the management of institutional grants; and with the Communications Director to drive online and corporate giving.

Candidates should have substantial, broad-based fundraising experience, strong leadership skills, several years of management experience and ideally an understanding of, and experience within, the international human rights, women's rights or development field. Experience in creating and implementing structures to support Institutional Giving would be particularly beneficial.

Primary Responsibilities

The Director of Development will have ongoing leadership and will manage a full-time team of five, supplemented by consultants, across offices. His/her responsibilities include:

Development Strategy, Vision and Leadership

• Serve as a strategic thought partner with the Global Executive Director (GED) and the senior leadership team; (SLT)
• Assess fundraising opportunities and trends as they relate to global women's right organizations; implement and refine the Development Plan and the Strategic Refresh (2022-2024) in partnership with the GED and the SLT;
• Ensure that the strategies in each area of fundraising are aligned to our strategic objectives and build on opportunities and identify and develop the partnerships, strategies and tools to implement these priorities;
• Maintain a proactive, creative leadership role in the identification, cultivation and solicitation of major, institutional, corporate and individual donors, working with the GED, key staff and board members, as appropriate;
• With the GED, implement strategies for board development and involvement in fundraising;
• Develop and maintain close working relationships with the philanthropic community, individual donors and board members; serve as a visible spokesperson and advocate for Equality Now's mission and programs in the funding community;
• Identify challenges and emerging issues faced by the organization with regards to development and make recommendations to the SLT on how to mitigate risk or harness opportunity.
  
  Operations and Management
  
  • Oversee the Institutional Development Manager (being recruited) in developing and implementing a plan to grow institutional giving to resource Equality Now's four program areas and regions of work, including through working closely with Program and Regional Directors;
  • Oversee the Donor Relations Manager (to be recruited) in developing strategies to cultivate and grow major donors, including working closely with the GED to manage key relationships;
  • Oversee Events and Individual Giving Officer (being recruited), including analyzing event based giving during and post pandemic and supervising prospect research and tracking; developing strategies to cultivate and grow individual donors including online donors, including through optimizing online fundraising capabilities and the development of new marketing and engagement initiatives (e.g. recurring giving program, peer-to-peer fundraising initiative), in close cooperation with the Communications Director;
  • Oversee the day-to-day activities of the development function including budgeting, planning and staff development;
  • Inspire and support the development staff in their work, facilitating coordination and teamwork; ensure the team's work is high-impact and strategically focused and in furtherance of the key performance indicators;
  • Lead and supervise the development team in a fiscally sound manner ensuring that appropriate systems, tools and procedures are in place;
  • Establish and implement systems focused on effective functioning of the development team across offices;
  • Establish and monitor staff performance and development goals, assign accountabilities, set objectives, establish priorities, and conduct annual performance appraisals for all development staff;
  • Contribute to organizational risk management.
    
    Ideal Experience And Qualifications
    
    The Director of Development should be an energetic, flexible, self-starting team player with the following experience and qualifications:
    
    • At least 15 years of successful experience in development, ideally gained in the social justice advocacy/policy arena; credibility and experience to connect Equality Now to a range of resources and opportunities outside the organization;
    • Outstanding written and oral communications skills, with the presence, credibility and skills to develop and sustain a broad range of relationships; highly developed listening skills;
    • Successful experience raising money from a variety of sources, including major donors, institutional donors, special events, and corporate partnerships;
    • A strong track record of developing and executing short- and long-range strategic plans to guide efforts; and skills in articulating strategic vision and bringing people onboard;
    • Experience working with diverse communities, ideally internationally, across race, class, ethnic, political and geographic boundaries;
    • Creative thinker with insight into the rapidly changing fundraising environment;
    • A strong leader and mentor with a direct, honest, and respectful approach to problem solving, with the ability to foster collaboration and contribute to building a strong sense of community among staff;
    • A team player who understands the need to collaborate with other departments to be effective and who will strengthen working as One Equality Now across departments and locations;
    • Ability to thrive when working under deadlines; strong project, time and budget management skills, and the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously without sacrificing attention to detail; a willingness to share in both 'big picture' thinking and administrative tasks;
    • A Bachelor's degree (an advanced degree is preferred) or equivalent experience; ability to travel internationally occasionally;
    • Written and spoken Fluency in English; Fluency in Spanish, French and/or Arabic is a bonus.
      
      APPLICATION PROCESS
      
      To apply: Please visit:
      
      To apply: submit resume, cover letter and a writing sample.
      
      No calls please. This is a remote/work-from-home/virtual role based in the US.
      
      Due to the volume of applicants anticipated for this role, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.
      
      Equality Now is strong because it is diverse. We actively seek a diverse applicant pool and encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply. Equality Now does not discriminate on the basis of disability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. We welcome all kinds of diversity. Candidates are selected on the basis of ability, in accordance with all country and location specific laws.
      
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Keywords: Equality Now, New York , Director of Development, Executive , New York, New York