POSITION DESCRIPTION April Canine Companions for Independence National Director of Development

Transcription

1 POSITION DESCRIPTION April 2016 Canine Companions for Independence Canine Companions seeks an experienced fundraising strategist to architect a national fundraising model to target, cultivate and solicit individual, foundation, government and business donors; expand fundraising for annual operations; and drive multi-year capital and endowment campaigns. Canine Companions for Independence enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly-trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to assure quality partnerships. Canine Companions is the world's largest provider of assistance dogs to people with physical disabilities. Headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, the organization has an annual budget of $23M and a staff of 200 located in Santa Rosa and regional facilities in Delaware (OH), Medford (NY), Orlando (FL), Irving (TX), Oceanside (CA), and an office in Colorado Springs (CO). Regional facilities coordinate the activities of volunteer puppy raisers and other volunteers, manage pairing and training for dogs and recipients, and provide associated services. The Santa Rosa facility functions as the organization's primary administrative center, Northwest Regional Training Center, and as the sole breeding center through a new Canine Early Development Center. Recent and planned capital projects are likely to increase Canine Companions annual operating budget to $26m by The organization benefits from a strong national community of clients and their families, volunteers, business partners, staff and others. In the last 40 years more than 5,000 graduate teams have been placed, approximately 300 teams graduate annually, and there are currently over 2,000 active teams. Over 1,600 volunteer puppy raisers, 120 breeder caretakers, 3,000 volunteers and 110 active breeder dogs contribute their time to Canine Companions nationwide. FUNDRAISING SUCCESS, NEXT STEPS REQUIRED The past approach to development is best described as enthusiastic, uneven but successful at current levels, and requiring greatly improved coordination. There is overall consensus that fundraising has not been orchestrated to bind together regional and national efforts in a way that optimizes results for the organization as a whole. This realization coincides with a larger shift in Canine Companions culture to enable increased organizational growth. Initiatives to support successful scaling include a greater shared sense of accountability for key metrics. That said, Canine Companions fundraising track record is good. Past and current CEOs have been successful fundraisers; Board members and other volunteers are happy to contribute and advocate for the contributions of others; Regional Executive Directors and their staff have a successful track record of raising funds in their geographies; and nationally managed direct mail, mass outreach and corporate sponsorship efforts have elicited strong results. The organization has an active planned giving program that has generated more than $28 million over the past five years. There are letters of intent from over 600 prospective donors, new planned giving expectancies annually, a pooled income fund and a charitable gift annuity program in 49 states (Hawaii excepted), and there are a number of Charitable Remainder Trusts under management. Success has been driven by capable, passionate people working as individuals to raise funds, and this approach was sufficiently successful to grow Canine Companions to this point. However, Canine Companions reached a level of operating complexity and cost where such approaches must now come together in a more organized fashion in order to significantly improve fundraising yields.

2 BASIC FUNCTION Reporting to the CEO in Santa Rosa, and working closely with the National Board, Department Heads, Regional Executive Directors, and the National Development Department, the National Director of Development (NDD) will: Shape the organization's overall fund development strategy; Collaborate with regional and headquarters staff to set targets for individual and institutional giving in a comprehensive way that is organized by giving capacity, giving cohort (foundation, business, individual), and region; Manage fundraising workflows, events, activities, and milestone reporting; work with regional and headquarters leaders to assure regional and headquarters staff accountability for generating results; With appropriate department leaders, set standards for communications with donors, for planned giving agreements & compliance, for corporate & business sponsorships, for grant requests, for reporting linked to annual employee reviews, etc. With the IT Department, provide support and reporting on all fund development activities through a lean, functional, cost-effective fundraising systems infrastructure. The greatest challenge of this position in the first 12 to 18 months will be to work closely with the CEO, the Board Chair of the Development Committee and others across the organization to produce a fundraising model that places a high value on accountability, recognizes and rewards outstanding results, and establishes the NDD as a position of substantial clout and positive impact within Canine Companions. The new fundraising model will include articulated, explicit rules for targeting and soliciting donors across regions based on their giving capacity and relationship preferences. There will be definition of matrixed reporting relationships, so that Regional Executive Directors (who report to the CEO) will be directly accountable to the NDD for all matters pertaining to fundraising in their regions; and revenue allocation rules will be developed to assure that funding flows throughout the organization based on need and strategy. There will be an equally significant change in headquarters fundraising functions, operations and systems infrastructure. The National Development Department currently includes a Director of Planned Giving assisted by a paralegal staff member; a National Director of Development Services; and a centralized data entry unit consisting of four staff and a data entry supervisor. Core fundraising systems include a number of systems, yet there is no one unified donor database that includes all s, calls, appointments, events, activities and donations. Separate systems in use for the above function include Clearview CRM, Outlook/Exchange, Blackbaud Luminate, Crescendo and PG Calc planned giving software packages, WealthEngine and Foundation Center Online research databases. The NDD will implement information systems so that regions and headquarters personnel can directly enter and retrieve data at need. Implementing structured goal-setting, rational workflows, and a culture of accountability while avoiding a top-down command and control hierarchy, will be a significant challenge for the Canine Companions management team. The impact of this change on the organization's culture, org chart, infrastructure and systems should not be underestimated. 2

3 ONGOING RESPONSIBILITIES The NDD will view all Canine Companions activities, advocacy, partners, programs, facilities, events, gatherings, social media and websites as opportunities to market and raise funds for Canine Companions; and all constituents, staff members, National Board, Regional Board and other volunteers as part of the fundraising team. The NDD will be responsible for marshalling the attributes, resources and networks of Canine Companions to raise annual, endowment and capital funds through: major gifts from individuals, foundations, businesses and government entities with an abiding interest serving those with disabilities or those who can benefit from a partnership with highly trained dogs, grants from local, state and national foundations, grants from government sources, contributions associated with particular Canine Companions events or projects, restricted giving campaigns, planned giving, matching and in-kind gifts, mass, direct mail and web-based giving that also builds mass awareness and support for the work of Canine Companions for Independence. This does not mean that all solicitations are directly managed by members of the Development Department. A development lead can come from any part of the organization. What is important is that this person, once assigned to that goal, becomes a member of the Development Team, is supported by the National Development Department, and is accountable to the NDD for delivering anticipated outcomes. The will be expected to immediately: Assess the status of play for in-process fundraising efforts, and assume responsibility for such individual and institutional (ie., foundation, business and government) giving opportunities; directly support pending initiatives where appropriate; Familiarize him or herself with the mission and history of Canine Companions, and the core values that run through all activities of the organization; Strengthen the development operation nationally and regionally by: hiring talented development professionals, improving use of appropriately scaled systems (including an accurate, easy to use and deploy database) that help drive fundraising results, and provide for recognition of major donors and annual giving that encourages long-term engagement with Canine Companions; Personally solicit funds, while taking up the task of orchestrating all solicitation efforts by professional staff, National and Regional Board members, Regional staff and volunteers. Counted among the ongoing responsibilities of the will be to: Set overall annual and campaign objectives for individual and institutional fundraising; define targets for various kinds of solicitations; implement appropriate fund development support workflows and infrastructure; develop and agree upon annual fund, unrestricted and restricted giving, capital campaign and endowment targets (quotas) for national and regional offices; 3

4 Assist in the development of materials that tell the Canine Companions story, ensuring that they are regular, timely, impactful and consistent; define and continually upgrade solicitation protocols that address the questions and concerns of each prospective donor, segmented by type (individual, foundation business and government), level (various major gift levels, planned giving), and fund (capital & endowment, annual operating, and unrestricted and restricted for specific purposes); Aggressively implement a structured program for fostering strong relationships with targeted individual and institutional donor constituencies, involving where appropriate the CEO, Board members, and other Canine Companions leaders, staff and constituents; personally engage in active solicitations around the country; Provide support to the National Board Development Committee and Regional Offices with specific responsibilities for raising restricted and unrestricted gifts; working with the National Board, help to set governance policies and practices pertaining to fundraising; help attract and train new Board members in their fundraising responsibilities; oversee the involvement, identification, training and support of fundraising volunteers across the USA in various states, and work with state offices to coordinate solicitation activities; In partnership with the National Director of Marketing, establish clear standards for stewardship, donor recognition, and institutional sponsorship, with particular emphasis on the proper use of logos, brands, naming and other recognition opportunities; ensure successful adherence to grant and restricted giving agreements; implement basic guidelines for sponsorship to preserve the integrity of the Canine Companions brand; strengthen the stewardship and donor recognition program for all donor categories, and develop annual special events that boost institutional and individual fundraising efforts at the state and national levels; As part of the senior management team, participate in long-range strategic planning for Canine Companions; prepare annual operating plans and budgets, incorporating fundraising projections into the budget of the organization. EXPERIENCE AND CHARACTERISTICS Candidates should have the following type of experience and qualifications: Substantial nonprofit fundraising experience with a sizable nonprofit or institution that includes annual operating, restricted giving, capital and endowment elements; a record of personal success in raising very large gifts, including some at the seven-figure and above levels from individuals, foundations and public sector sources; Broad-based knowledge of various development activities including: proposal and grant development, planned giving, capital campaigns, event planning and management, direct solicitations, and mass outreach; An ability to work closely with a wide range of people including senior business professionals and philanthropic donors, academic and policy leaders, nonprofit and government professionals; the NDD must be particularly adept at collaborating with various subject matter experts and leaders of the highest caliber, and in leveraging the abilities and knowledge of such leaders for fundraising purposes; 4

5 Personal experience with shaping fundraising systems and data that are operationally sustainable, and enable large and geographically dispersed groups to coordinate their fundraising activities; experience leveraging fundraising databases and support systems for donor segmentation, research and volunteer management; Demonstrated management skills in motivating, directing and managing staff, Board members and consultants, and in coordinating and supporting the fundraising activities of others. Intrepid yet tactful; determined yet respectful of others' concerns; someone with the flexibility and creativity needed to find alternative ways to reach funding objectives when barriers arise; a skilled negotiator who does not drive themselves or others into a corner; a good listener and strategist; comfortable receiving input from many sources, and able to analyze and formulate disparate information into a well-organized plan; A charismatic communicator, able to build enthusiasm for Canine Companions, its work with dogs and those receiving dogs who benefit from the partnership in various ways; exceptional verbal and written communication skills are important; A hard worker with a high energy level; a "doer" with a willingness to work hands-on in developing and executing a variety of development and advancement activities; Emotionally mature with a very good sense of humor and the flexibility and sensitivity to work with diverse personalities and situations. For more information please contact: Mark Oppenheim (415) or [email protected] m/oppenheim Associates 425 Market Street, Suite 1020 San Francisco, CA