Director of Development

PushBlack is the nation's largest media advocacy organization for Black Americans, currently serving 9 million people monthly across all platforms. We use the power of narrative, especially Black History, to educate and activate our subscribers to build their personal power and create lasting economic and political change.

In 2021, PushBlack grew to 5.9M subscribers on Facebook Messenger and 500K followers on Instagram. We also ran the nation’s largest GOTV campaign for Black Americans. In May 2020, we launched Black History Year, our critically-acclaimed podcast, which has received over 3M downloads.

What We’re Looking For

We‘re hiring an experienced, motivated, and entrepreneurial-driven leader to be our first Director of Development. The Director of Development will expand current fundraising efforts in partnership with the CEO to reach - and exceed - our annual revenue goals. The incoming Director of Development will manage a portfolio of major donors and institutional funders as well as support our evolution as we develop new areas of our work and strive to reach more inclusive fundraising opportunities.

The ideal candidate for this position is deeply committed to challenging and disrupting the dynamics of white dominant culture in the workplace and in our fundraising methods, including by ensuring that our funders and donors share our values and are key partners in our work to advance Black liberation. The Director of Development will be responsible for supervising a newly hired Development Manager who is passionate about the work and has already demonstrated key fundraising results.  

This opportunity will expose the right candidate to a highly innovative, impactful, and growing organization that is leveraging media to build trusting relationships with Black Americans in order to fundamentally transform our material conditions.  

What You’ll Be Doing

Fundraising 

• In partnership with the CEO, develop and implement a multiyear development strategy for major donors and institutional funders that is intentionally inclusive, comprehensive, innovative, and far-reaching, aligned to PushBlack’s strategic plan, and contains measurable goals.
• Oversee a system of the donor management system and processes, prospect research, gift entry and acknowledgment, and donor communications and stewardship.
• In partnership with the CEO, develop and monitor the annual fundraising budget (currently $5.4M) and goals to ensure 10-15% growth in revenue on an annual basis.
• Collaborate with Products and Content Teams to develop funding strategies, write proposals and reports
• Collaborate with the Operations Team to ensure responsible stewardship of funds and financial reporting
• Prepare the CEO for donor meetings and events 
• Manage multiple, complex and multifaceted projects and relationships
• Participate in the development of the organization’s Board of Directors

Team Leadership

• Set and drive team-wide goals and engage in active coaching and professional development conversations with the Development Manager
• Establish a strong partnership model for how other teams will work with development to advance the organization’s goals.
• Partner with teams before, during, and after projects are completed to ensure they are smoothly integrated into the operational structure and fully functional.

Skills + Experience

• Seven (7) or more years of experience in nonprofit fundraising
• Demonstrated experience raising six-figure gifts from major donors and institutional funders
• High proficiency in Salesforce
• Solid writing skills and strong ability to motivate the actions of others through writing
• Attention to detail, deadline-oriented and keen ability to problem solve
• Ability to build systems that support a national team
• Ability to execute independently
• Strong communication, listening, and influencing skills
• Ability to prioritize actions to align with strategic priorities 

This Would Put You Over The Top

• Demonstrated knowledge of media, civic engagement, and narrative change work
• Demonstrated experience cultivating and engaging major donors
• Understands that this work is in service of the organization and the people who do the work of the organization
• Familiarity with G-Suite, Slack, Trello, and/or other online productivity tools