ABOUT JUMPSTART

Jumpstart envisions the day when every child in America enters kindergarten prepared to succeed. A national early education organization with operations in 14 states plus Washington, DC, Jumpstart drives outcomes for young children in three critical ways. Jumpstart provides language, literacy, and social-emotional direct service programming utilizing an evidence-backed curriculum for preschool children from underserved communities, workforce programming to expand the pipeline of qualified, diverse talent pursuing careers in early education, and policy advocacy to support the early childhood field and promote high-quality early learning for all. By leveraging nearly 30 years of experience serving over 140,700 children with the support of more than 60,400 college students and community volunteers, Jumpstart executes these three objectives to improve the quality of the early education workforce and increase opportunity for young children to succeed across America. Learn more at jstart.org and join us in transforming the lives of young children!

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Director, Donor Impact – California is a key position within the Development Division and the Donor Impact team and is responsible for maximizing the fundraising opportunities for Jumpstart, primarily in the Bay Area and greater Los Angeles. This position manages a portfolio of individual major donors and implements the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship moves necessary to meet an annual fundraising goal, contributing to a team goal of $7.7M+ and the organization’s annual private revenue goal of $15.8M+. The organization is entering year 2 of a $120M Growth Capital Campaign to fund a 5-year strategic plan.

This position also manages and informs the strategy for Local Advisory Boards in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The Director, Donor Impact supports board-driven local annual cultivation events in partnership with the appropriate staff on the Marketing and Communications team.

The ideal candidate has superb relationship management skills, demonstrating emotional acuity and the ability to listen to, understand, and meaningfully engage donors from diverse backgrounds and with diverse perspectives. Strong communication skills are a must, both in external and internal communications. The ideal candidate is a self-starter, thrives in a growing organization, and is comfortable navigating across time zones and geographies to get their work done while exemplifying Jumpstart’s values of community, learning, social justice, joy, and inclusive leadership.

The Director reports to the National Director, Donor Impact and is part of a 4-person team, including a Director, Donor Impact & Stewardship (in New York) and a Director, Donor Impact (in Massachusetts).

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

Donor Relationship Management

• Develop and implement a robust moves management plan to cultivate, solicit, and steward individual donors to meet annual fundraising goals. The role as it stands today includes approximately 150-200 major donors who contribute $1M. The expectation is to grow the base of revenue from this strategic market to build a sustainable fundraising program beyond 2025.
• Execute strategic engagement activities to build the pipeline of individual donors, including 1-1 donor meetings and small board-driven cultivation events, while leveraging Jumpstart’s existing network.
• With support from the National Director, contribute to discussions around the need for and the strategy behind event fundraising. If the organization determines that a fundraising event can strategically and meaningfully advance its mission, play a key role in the fundraising success of a local major event, including managing a Host Committee, making solicitations, and providing input on strategy; and where needed, provide some support for event logistics.

Board Management

• Co-support Jumpstart’s Local Advisory Boards in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, including meeting regularly with Board members, engaging them in Jumpstart’s work, and supporting solicitations of their networks; and informing strategic conversations with the entire division about the purpose and future management of these Boards.

Team and Organization Collaboration

• Collaborate with fellow Directors of Donor Impact, as well as other members of the Development and MarComm teams to meet Jumpstart’s fundraising goals.
• Partner with Leadership Team members, as well as other Jumpstart staff, to deepen relationships with funders as needed.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• At least 5-7 years of professional experience in fundraising, sales, or development work
• Commitment to Jumpstart’s core values: learning, social justice, community, joy, and inclusive leadership
• Demonstrated success identifying, cultivating, securing, and growing a network of individual donors, with evidence of securing gifts of $25,000 and greater
• Successful donor stewardship experiences, including excellent storytelling and impact reporting
• Strong communication, including written, public speaking and presentation skills, with evidence of relationship management and donor communication
• Comprehensive strategic thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills with the ability to plan and implement in a demanding, fast-paced environment
• On-going interest in social justice and diversity, equity and inclusion work
• Demonstrated ability to effectively leverage leadership and C-suite colleagues to manage and deepen donor relationships
• Experience and comfort working with individuals from diverse backgrounds, including varied socio-economic status, and communities
• Ability and willingness to travel to various locations as necessary for completion of job duties

Preferred or Ideal

• Board management and recruitment experience
• Experience asking for and securing multi-year gifts from individual donors
• Established network of philanthropic contacts in California and/or experience working in early childhood education
• Superb project management skills and ability to manage various timelines and deliver on deadlines and/or experience in supporting successful fundraising events
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant professional experience
• Experience with Salesforce
• Certification as a (CFRE)Certified Fundraising Executive