Institutional Giving Officer

SMART Reading • Portland, OR

9d • $60,000 - $65,000

About The Position

Build the partnerships that help Oregon children become excited, confident readers. Across Oregon, too many children aren’t meeting reading benchmarks, despite the hard work of families and educators. At SMART Reading, we want to change that—but we can’t do it alone. Reading is an early gateway skill that helps pave the way for future learning, opportunity, and success. When children struggle to read, the effects can follow them throughout their lives. Lower literacy rates also affect the future health and prosperity of our entire state, placing additional strain on social services, limiting economic growth, and weakening Oregon’s future workforce. That’s why SMART Reading mobilizes a statewide community to connect kids with two mission-critical ingredients for literacy and learning success: shared reading time and books to keep. Through the simple magic and joy of a shared book, children build confidence, strengthen literacy skills, and discover a love of reading. As SMART Reading’s Institutional Giving Officer, you will build the foundation, corporate, and public partnerships that make this work possible across Oregon. This role is for a strategic fundraiser who can connect SMART Reading’s mission with the priorities of foundations, businesses, and public partners. You will manage and grow a portfolio of institutional funders—building relationships, shaping compelling funding opportunities, and securing investments that bring books and shared reading experiences to Oregon children. This is more than a grant-writing role. You will serve as an outward-facing partner and internal strategist, developing funder relationships, identifying new opportunities, shaping strong initiatives, and bringing colleagues together around persuasive cases for support. You will help foundations and businesses understand that children’s literacy is not solely the responsibility of schools. It is a challenge—and an opportunity—for Oregon’s entire village of businesses, community leaders, foundations, congregations, and neighbors.

Requirements

• A persuasive writer who can turn complex information into a clear and compelling story.
• A strategic thinker who enjoys matching community needs with funder priorities.
• A relationship builder who is comfortable engaging foundation representatives, business leaders, and public partners.
• Curious, resourceful, and energized by identifying new opportunities.
• Highly organized and able to manage multiple relationships, proposals, and deadlines.
• Collaborative and skilled at gathering information from colleagues across an organization.
• Comfortable taking ownership of ambitious fundraising goals.
• Deeply motivated by children’s literacy, educational opportunity, and a stronger future for Oregon.

Responsibilities

• Build and grow institutional partnerships
• Manage a portfolio of private foundations, family foundations, corporate foundations, businesses, and public funders.
• Cultivate relationships with program officers, business leaders, and public partners through meetings, program visits, community conversations, and other engagement opportunities.
• Develop strategies to renew and increase current funding while identifying new prospects aligned with children’s literacy, educational opportunity, rural communities, and SMART’s statewide work.
• Connect corporate partners with opportunities that may include philanthropic support, sponsorships, employee engagement, volunteerism, and workplace giving.
• Develop compelling funding opportunities
• Write persuasive proposals, letters of inquiry, concept papers, sponsorship requests, grant reports, and other funder communications.
• Translate program information, outcomes, financial details, and stories into clear and compelling cases for support.
• Collaborate with program, finance, communications, and development colleagues to ensure proposals are accurate, strategic, and fundable.
• Strengthen SMART’s institutional fundraising program
• Manage proposal calendars, funder requirements, reporting deadlines, and restricted funding commitments.
• Maintain accurate donor and prospect information in SMART’s database.
• Monitor progress toward institutional fundraising goals and use results to strengthen future strategies.
• Coordinate with regional and statewide colleagues to align institutional fundraising with community priorities and organizational goals.

Benefits

• Cell phone reimbursement: $50 per month, or an additional $600 annually.
• 401(k) retirement plan: Employer match of up to 3% of salary.
• Paid vacation: Four weeks accrued annually.
• Paid office closures: Two additional paid weeks off each year—one in July and one in December—to support employee rest and rejuvenation.
• Employer-paid health benefits: Medical, dental, vision, life, accidental death and dismemberment, and long-term disability insurance.
• Paid holidays: Nine paid holidays that may be used on scheduled holidays or as floating days according to personal beliefs and obligations.
• Paid supplemental medical leave: Two weeks accrued annually, with the ability to carry over and accumulate up to eight weeks.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed