Director of Foundation Relations

The Home for Little Wanderers • Boston, MA

23h • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Foundation Relations is a senior member of the Development Team, responsible for leading the Foundation Team in developing and implementing a comprehensive fundraising effort to solicit local, regional, and national foundations on behalf of The Home for Little Wanderers. This role involves creating and executing an annual fundraising plan, managing a portfolio of high-value foundations, identifying new prospects, cultivating strong relationships with foundation staff, and overseeing the Associate Director of Foundation Relations. The position also requires managing departmental expenses, representing the department on various committees, and ensuring timely reporting to foundations.

Requirements

• Excellent interpersonal and communications skills
• Management experience
• Bachelor’s degree with 8-10 years of successful fundraising or related experience
• Thorough knowledge of Raiser’s Edge for tracking prospects and reporting
• Strong commitment to The Home’s mission
• Highly motivated and the consummate team player
• Computer literate including Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer with the ability to learn new software applications
• Comfort and strength working both in-person and the remote environment

Responsibilities

• Develops and implements an annual fundraising plan that encompasses The Home’s strategic goals and enables the Foundation Team to achieve its annual fundraising goals and contribute to the Development Team annual fundraising objectives.
• Develops a working knowledge of The Home’s existing relationships with foundations in order to utilize, leverage and expand those relationships as well as identify opportunities to establish ties with new prospects.
• Manages a portfolio of foundations that consistently give $50,000 or more annually with a goal of upgrading gifts to six and seven figures.
• Through extensive research, identifies new foundations that are potential funders of The Home and manages a growing prospect list with the ability to contribute $100,000 or more to The Home.
• Works diligently to cultivate strong relationships with foundations and foundation staff through presentations, meetings with foundation officers, tours of The Home’s programs, and regular correspondence.
• Identify foundation relationships that would benefit from meeting senior leadership, including Vice President of Development and/or CEO.
• Oversees Associate Director of Foundation Relations by providing regular goal and career coaching, support with development of funder strategy development, and support with planning and debriefing funder meetings as needed.
• Regularly track Foundation Team progress on goals to inform strategy and workflow.
• Assesses Foundation Department needs and makes recommendations for resources including staff, tools/databases, skill building/career development opportunities, etc.
• Manage expenses for the Foundation Team.
• Represents department and takes an active role on internal and external task forces/committees.
• Works diligently to cultivate strong relationships with senior staff and program leaders at The Home.
• Develops and submits high quality grant proposals to foundations, following extensive discussions with foundation staff and program leaders at The Home.
• Ensures that foundations receive timely performance reports in accordance with their grant requirements.

Benefits

• Generous time off including up to 20 days per year for new full-time employees, plus 11 holidays, 5 sick days, and 2 personal days
• Health and Dental Insurance that is effective immediately upon hire
• Extensive training to new staff
• Tuition reimbursement of up to $3,000 per fiscal year
• 403(b) Retirement Plan with employer match
• Employer paid Long-term and Short-term Disability Insurance, plus Basic Life and AD&D Insurance

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior