Director, Development

Position: Director, Development

Location: Remote

Employment Type: Full-time, Salaried, Exempt

Compensation Range: $100,000/year – $120,000/year DOE

Level: Director I

Reports To: Chief Development Officer

Manages: Senior Manager, Corporate Partnerships; Manager, Foundation & Government Grants; Manager, Philanthropy

Supported By: Development team, Communications team, Operations team, Program team

Education/Experience Preferences: Bachelor's Degree, or equivalent professional experience preferred

Start Date: ASAP

We Are DigDeep

The DigDeep Right to Water Project is a WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) organization committed to closing the water access gap for the 2 million + people in the U.S. who still don’t have a tap or a toilet at home.

DigDeep believes access to clean water is a human right. We run several nationally recognized programs that empower communities to build their own water and sanitation systems. We won the 2018 US Water Prize for our Navajo Water Project, which has brought clean, running water to hundreds of Native families across New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. DigDeep launched the Appalachia Water Project in 2020, in McDowell County, WV. It has since brought clean, sustainable running water to hundreds of families in Southern West Virginia through public - private partnerships with the McDowell County and East Logan PSDs in Wyoming County. In addition to clean running water, the project is installing septic systems and connecting households to centralized sewer. The AWP is now expanding into neighboring states of Kentucky and Virginia to continue its quest of clean water for every Appalachian family. Our water projects expanded in 2022 when we launched our Colonias Water Project. This project works to bring clean, running water to the residents living in communities along the Texas-Mexico border. The Texas colonias are largely unincorporated, low-income communities that fall just outside city limits and often lack basic infrastructure. Our work began in Cochran colonia near El Paso. DigDeep partnered with residents, housing nonprofits, and county officials to innovate a new model for public-private-partnership that brings these basic services to families for the first time. Now we're getting the water flowing in 5 more communities.

The Opportunity

DigDeep is looking for an experienced, collaborative leader to join our growing Development team as the Director, Development. Reporting to the Chief Development Officer, the Director, Development will be responsible for leading DigDeep’s strategy, plans, and engagement with major & planned giving donors, corporate partners, foundations, and government funders. This position will supervise a team of frontline fundraising staff, and directly manage a small portfolio of the highest level supporters. The ideal candidate will be a dynamic strategist, active listener, engaging storyteller, and proactive problem solver with a deep commitment to water as a human right.

Key Responsibilities

This is what you’ll do once you join the team:

• Manage and oversee major gifts, planned giving, corporate partnerships, foundation & government grant fundraising programs. Create clearly defined fundraising strategies with short and long-term plans to build strong donor relationships and drive toward revenue goals.
• Supervise a team of frontline fundraising staff focused on building & managing relationships with major & planned giving donors, corporate partners, foundations, & government funders. Mentor & coach direct reports to support their goal attainment and professional development.
• Personally manage a small portfolio of the highest level donors & funders, assuring they receive high quality engagement with the organization. Regularly meet with donors both virtually and in person.
• Manage and oversee capital campaign and special project fundraising including developing and implementing comprehensive strategies and plans to drive toward revenue goals.
• Partner with the Director, Development Strategy & Operations to drive fundraising best practices, including systems utilization, prospecting, grants management, proposals & reporting, data analysis, and donor experience.
• Partner with the Director, Annual Giving on pipeline development, securing matching gifts and other lead gifts for campaigns, and donor experience.
• Promote high levels of donor engagement by working with event and development operations staff to support the planning and curation of virtual & in person cultivation & stewardship events, as well as site visits to DigDeep’s project sites across the United States.
• Work collaboratively with communications staff to create and implement a communications strategy for areas of oversight throughout the year, and work together to create engaging communications and materials.
• Research, evaluate and create implementation plans for potential new strategies within areas of oversight that align with DigDeep revenue goals, strategic plan, and organizational mission.
• Manage and oversee team expenses.
• Build first-hand knowledge of the DigDeep model and impact by working collaboratively with other departments, participating in relevant programmatic discussions and activities, and traveling to visit project sites. Regularly engage programmatic staff in major and planned giving donor meetings.
• Assist with ad-hoc projects and support other tasks/duties as assigned.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. As the organization continues to evolve, duties or tasks may change without impacting the overall job description.

Competencies

• Influence: Establishes and maintains relationships with external stakeholders and organization leadership. Accepting of recommendations/challenges, understands that everyone has a voice at DigDeep and can drive company achievement. Collaborate with leadership on strategic directives.
• Innovation: Uses understanding and forward-thinking to devise responses and solutions to future situations in your functional area. Encourages and promotes exploration of new ideas and creative thinking in self and others. Displays open mindedness and a willingness to try new approaches. Adapts readily to changes and needs. Is able to shift attention and priorities in own work in response to needs of their work. Actively seeks opportunities to try out new experiences.
• Leadership: Leads multiple teams/projects independently, optimizing processes through collaboration with executive team. Fosters an environment that promotes trust and cooperation among staff, community members and leaders, partner organizations and the public. You anticipate project needs and ensure proper delegation to managers. Listens constructively, responds to colleagues' feedback, and effectively integrates recommendations into approach, and conversely provides appropriate, integrative feedback. Solicits the input of others who are affected by plans or actions and gives credit and recognition to others who have contributed. Seen as an expert within functional area. Seeks a consensus within peer group, team, and organization leaders.
• Ownership: Sought out as a mentor and known as the “teammate of record” in their subject area. Complete ownership over projects/people within area(s) of expertise. Identifies and proactively tackles major challenges and problems in their area. Works independently and owns projects entirely, both in their area and cross-functionally.
• Personal Development: Developing predominantly for functional area processes and the benefit of the organization. Reviews, selects, and disseminates information regarding key technologies, best practices, and tools to others in their department. Takes actions to prepare for own future development, identifies long-term development needs and plans to create opportunities to bridge them. Anticipates future needs of their functional area and identifies opportunities to learn new things for current and future needs in one’s role. Continual development of self. Become a better leader through feedback, consistent collaboration, and coaching. Keeps up-to-date on current research and technology in one’s work focus and identifies and pursues areas for development and training that will enhance job performance.
• Strategic Planning: Challenges the status quo and continually strives to improve organization's alignment with its goals. Begins to collaborate with leadership to establish directives with consideration to functional area capabilities and organization goals. Revises processes and tasks as they apply across functional areas. Develops project teams and staffing plans based on consideration of strategic objectives. Ensures functional area objectives and performance are consistent with strategic plan.
• Technical Expertise: Has demonstrated ability and depth of knowledge with the technology in the desired technical area. Effectively uses and applies technical knowledge, and uses knowledge to identify solutions to existing problems. Basic understanding of data security best practices.

Skills and Qualifications

We want to hear from you if you have:

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent professional experience preferred
• At least 7 years of professional fundraising experience required; experience with directly supervising staff and personally securing 6-figure gifts required
• Experience with major gifts, corporate partnerships, foundations, and/or government grant fundraising highly preferred; experience in securing 7-figure gifts preferred
• Demonstrated experience raising $5+ million, annually required
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite, Google Workspace required
• Experience with Salesforce, Slack, Asana, Zoom, Funraise, Mailchimp preferred
• High computer literacy, and tech savviness required
• Able to focus in the face of pressure, deliver against timelines and not be intimidated by tasks/time limitations
• Organized, trustworthy, dependable, and detail oriented
• Comfortable with autonomy, able to work independently and complete assigned tasks within established time frames required
• Willingness to travel for team retreats or other meetings, including but not limited to: DigDeep HQ in Los Angeles, Navajo Nation (AZ/NM/UT), West Virginia, Texas, and additional locations as needed
• Understanding of data security best practices preferred
• Experience/Willingness to work across various cultural contexts and communicating across cultural differences

Compensation and Benefits

At DigDeep, we believe that great work requires a great job. We understand that people thrive with rest and holistic support, which is crucial for our long-term success. We take pride in offering top-notch benefits to our team across the United States, prioritizing their health and wellbeing, as well as providing additional support for our employees' families. If you join us, here’s how we’ll support you in your work:

• Competitive wage to commensurate with level of position
• Generous vacation and sick leave
• 23 weeks paid Parental Leave
• Annual Professional Development Stipend
• Annual Wellbeing Reimbursement
• BrightPlan membership (Financial Wellness Benefit)
• Health Benefits
  • Employee Offering: Medical, dental, vision insurance, 100% employer paid
  • Spouse/Children/Family Offering: Employer covers up to $500 of the monthly cost for medical insurance for spouse/children/family; Employer covers 100% of the cost for dental and vision insurance for spouse/children/family
• One Medical membership
• Life insurance, 100% employer paid
• Work laptop
• Monthly cell phone use allowance
• Monthly internet use allowance
• 15 paid holidays (including one week closure for Labor Day)
• Domestic travel
• 401k retirement plan, with employer match