Senior Director, Development & Communications

About Read Ahead

Read Ahead is dedicated to helping New York City youth strengthen the literacy and social-emotional skills they need to thrive in school and beyond. Read Ahead’s vision is that our students have the opportunity to unlock their full potential through mentoring relationships based on a love of reading.

Since 1991, Read Ahead has connected public elementary school students with caring mentors from leading corporate and community partners. During weekly virtual sessions, mentors and mentees read together, discuss books and their lives, and engage in fun and educational games and activities. Read Ahead sessions are designed to help children grow their confidence, love of reading, literacy skills, and other skills essential for success. For more information, please visit readahead.org.

With the recent development of our hybrid program and our anti-racism and anti-oppression commitments, Read Ahead has an opportunity to deepen our impact for students. We are committed to ongoing improvement as an organization, and are eager to take bold new steps to create better outcomes for the students, families, and schools we serve.

About the Senior Director, Development & Communications

Read Ahead is seeking a results-driven, highly-motivated and experienced individual to lead the development and communications team. Reporting to the Executive Director, the Sr. Director of Development & Communications will lead on the creation and implementation of organization-wide fundraising strategies and tactics, including individual giving, special events, foundations and development operations. In this role, the Sr. Director will work closely with the Leadership Team and Board members to build and implement a robust multi-tiered fundraising strategy to support the resource needs of Read Ahead, with a priority towards unrestricted gifts. This position will oversee creative strategies to engage individual and institutional donors, with a movement-building approach integrating the Read Ahead mission in our campaigns and resource development efforts.

The ideal candidate will have a proven track record in achieving year-over-year new and renewal revenue growth, managing a pipeline of active prospects and current partners. The Sr. Director must bring experience collaborating on account activation with program team members, and strong creative problem-solving skills. This role will require external stewardship/account management, Board engagement and internal cross-departmental collaboration, working to meet or exceed Read Ahead’s $2MM+ annual budget. A member of the Read Ahead leadership team, this role is best suited for a self-motivated, results-driven professional who operates with a passion for revenue achievement and can meet the fast-paced environment of a small organization.

This role may be a great fit for you if you:

• Have experience with peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns and / or coordinating smaller fundraising events, and are eager to take on more responsibility
• Have experience cultivating and stewarding both major donors and corporate partners/sponsors
• Are a strong relationship builder, and enjoy working with fellow staff members, volunteers and donors alike
• Have great project planning skills, and the ability to hold yourself and others accountable for executing to results
• Have excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Are committed to educational equity and literacy as a fundamental right, and want to contribute to a growing organization working in support of New York City public schools

This is a hybrid position, with in-person work required in our downtown Manhattan office, midtown corporate partner offices, and occasional travel to our school partners in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

Key Responsibilities (additional responsibilities may apply)

Fundraising

• Build upon Read Ahead’s strategic initiatives to secure corporate, foundation and individual funding/partnership opportunities with focus exceeding an organizational development goal of $2MM+, and laying the groundwork to prepare for expansion
• Coordinate strategy and provide support for the Executive Director, Board of Directors and development staff in fundraising efforts, specifically through corporate and foundation partners, major donors, special events, individual giving and communications
• Lead a team to drive success in Read Ahead’s signature fundraising events and campaigns, including its Annual Gala, #GivingTuesday, NYC marathon and half marathon events, and the Junior Board annual spring fundraiser
• Monitor and evaluate the success of development efforts, adjusting strategies as needed to achieve organizational goals

Relationship Management & Donor Stewardship

• Partner with the Executive Director and serve as a point of contact and relationship manager for Read Ahead’s Board of Directors, including committee leadership, as well as providing regular fundraising updates
• Increase donor retention by designing cultivation, recognition, and stewardship plans for donors, corporate partners and other key stakeholder groups

Event Planning & Production

• Drive success for Read Ahead’s annual gala, including project planning, coordination with the Board of Directors Gala Committee, oversight of vendor management, coordination of silent/online auction and fundraising success
• Support Development and Communications team lead on the Junior Board’s in-person spring event, including project planning, coordination with Junior Board committee members, logistics, vendor management, and guest management

Marketing & Communications

• Manage and develop compelling content for the website, campaigns and events, and supporting team members across the organization to identify great stories and contribute content
• Draft content for online fundraising campaigns, write donor acknowledgement and stewardship letters, and ghost write emails and other communications for board members and Read Ahead leadership
• Lead organization in maintaining and updating brand standards
• Manage external vendor relationships pertaining to marketing and communications

Operations & People Management

• Ensure centralized development and communications operations, in partnership with the Chief of Staff, maintaining standard procedures for organization-wide fundraising efforts that are aligned with best practices and Read Ahead’s mission
• Oversee budget and expenses the Development & Communications team
• Recruit, train, retain and cultivate professional development of direct reports
• Lead and manage resources (people and capital) that retain and cultivate positive, measurable success

Culture

• Be an active and engaged collaborator in Read Ahead’s organization-wide efforts to advance our DEIB goals, including ensuring that all project plans and outcomes are aligned with DEIB goals
• Cultivate an environment where all team members feel valued, included and empowered to achieve their full potential
• Demonstrate commitment to Read Ahead’s values, including a Student First perspective, Relationships, Growth, Opportunity, Empowerment and Joy.

Preferred Qualifications

• Passion for Read Ahead’s mission
• 7-10 years of experience in a nonprofit fundraising role, leading on fundraising initiatives of $2MM or greater
• Experience leading or partnering with communications teams at a nonprofit organization
• Commitment to anti-racism and equity in your work and communications
• Practices a growth mindset, along with a deep commitment to genuine learning and self-improvement for self and others
• Comfort, familiarity and/or interest in working on a small team
• Skilled listener, with the ability to understand diverse stakeholder perspectives, and tailor messaging accordingly
• A proven track record of building strong relationships internally and externally
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills across a variety of platforms including marketing collateral, donor outreach letters, grants, and social media
• Strategic thinker, with a demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex projects, maintain strong attention to detail, meet deadlines, and exceed fundraising goals
• Ability to learn & leverage technology including Google Suite, fundraising CRM databases, and online donations platforms - prior experience with Bloomerang, Qgiv, and/or Canva a strong plus

We seek to build a diverse staff representative of the communities we serve. Even successful candidates may not have all of the preferred qualifications indicated above; if you are excited about the role, believe you can successfully fulfill its responsibilities, and don’t have every single preferred qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway.

Hybrid Work Policy

As an organization that partners with New York City public schools, afterschool service providers, families, corporate partners and other stakeholders, Read Ahead recognizes that in-person work in our Broad Street offices is required to achieve our mission. Additionally, this role requires site visits to our partner schools, partner offices and vendor locations.

Current Read Ahead policy dictates approximately 2-3 days/week in-person to perform essential job responsibilities but you may be required to work up to 5 days/week in-person during busy times of the year, with a schedule determined by organizational needs and approved by the Executive Director. Essential in-person responsibilities for this role include, but are not limited to: meetings, regularly scheduled in-office days, and events. This role requires occasional evening hours for meetings and special events.

In addition to the essential in-person job responsibilities described above, this role also includes other essential functions which may be performed remotely.