Director of Development

About NYC Kids RISE

NYC Kids RISE is a nonprofit organization working to expand economic opportunity and equity by providing families, schools, and communities with a way to work together to invest in their children’s future. NYC Kids RISE manages the NYC Kids RISE Save for College Program as a public-private-community partnership with the NYC Department of Education (DOE) and the City of New York. The Save for College Program is a universal scholarship and savings program designed to make college and career training more accessible and achievable for all NYC public school students—regardless of their family’s income or immigration status. The Save for College Program is a tool that families, along with their schools and neighbors, can use and customize in the way that best fits into their lives and best supports their dreams for their children.

The Save for College Program launched a three-cohort pilot phase in School District 30 in Fall 2017. The Save for College Program has so far enrolled more than 10,000 kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students (around 95% of all the students in those grades across District 30) and opened an NYC Scholarship Account invested in a 529 plan with an $100 initial deposit for each one. Their families can view this account online, open their own college savings account, and start saving their own money in the ways and amounts that make sense for their financial circumstances, earning additional scholarship rewards. At the same time, their communities can contribute to groups of these NYC Scholarship Accounts to further increase the savings in each child’s account and demonstrate their community’s support for every child’s success. Together, these two accounts enable families, friends, schools, communities, and larger institutions and systems to work together to build assets and support expectations for each child’s future.

NYC Kids RISE is driven by the belief that every NYC public school child should have a real financial asset for higher education, starting in kindergarten, and support from every part of their community to achieve educational and economic success. Based on the successes of the pilot phase, NYC Kids RISE is currently working with its public, private, and community partners to prepare to expand the Save for College Program beyond School District 30 to other NYC school districts. The ultimate vision is to create a universal, community-driven wealth-building platform--embedded in homes, schools, and neighborhoods--across all 32 school districts in the NYC public school system. This approach draws from a variety of best practices and disciplines across the fields of asset building, child savings accounts, financial empowerment, education, community wealth building, urban poverty, neighborhood effects and social capital research, collective impact, and more. Learn more about NYC Kids RISE and the Save for College Program at nyckidsrise.org.

Director of Development

NYC Kids RISE has put in place a multi-pronged fundraising strategy to secure both the sustained public funding and sustained private funding required to continue and expand the Save for College Program across the city and ultimately reach all 1.1 million NYC public school students. NYC Kids RISE seeks a fundraiser, relationship builder, and communicator to serve as the organization’s first Director of Development. Working closely with the Executive Director, the Executive Team and the Board of Directors, the Director will provide strategic leadership and oversee the ongoing refinement, implementation and the successful execution of the organization’s private fundraising strategy.

Key responsibilities will include but not be limited to:

• Refine, continuously improve, and execute a short-, medium-, and long-term strategic plan for securing sustained private funds for expansion and operation of the Save for College Program, including creation of an endowment to seed scholarships for every NYC public school student in perpetuity;
• Lead and implement full range of development services: identifying potential funders; creating tailored outreach plans, providing research and prep, and determining appropriate “asks”; writing, submitting and following up on proposals and letters of interests (LOI’s); setting up donor meetings and awareness-raising events; identifying program champions in corporate/tech/Wall Street sectors (including NYC Kids RISE Board Members) to make connections to potential donors; intensive follow-up with all donor contacts; reporting on all activities; maintaining and adhering to timeline to reach objectives;
• Develop and maintain long-term relationships with major philanthropies and high-net-worth donors in the New York region and across the country;
• Make direct, face-to-face solicitations, and assist NYC Kids RISE leadership and board with their solicitations, including strategic counsel, briefing packets and meeting preparation, and management of donor communications and meeting follow-ups;
• Align the organization with industry best practices for donor prospecting, meeting tracking, and contact management;
• Work with the NYC Kids RISE communications team to create print and digital materials, tools, and campaigns to support business development
• Work with Chief of Administration and Finance and legal counsel to develop the infrastructure and compliance systems for an endowment and/or other sustainable funding strategies; and fundraising goals and projects;
• Participate and share in the organization’s work to advance racial equity and anti-oppression in the organization’s and program’s operations and practices; proactively identify opportunities to advance the development of an anti-racist organization; share and solicit ongoing feedback and conversations to advance this work;
• Maintain, and support other staff and volunteers to maintain, strict adherence to NYC Kids RISE data security and privacy policies.

Qualifications

• At least eight years of experience with proven track record in non profit, political or venture fundraising, public-private partnerships, or comparable experience, including experience creating and successfully executing on fundraising plans and identifying and securing major gifts;
• Bachelor’s degree required; graduate degree in public policy, public administration, business, communications, or related field preferred;
• Superb communication and relationship building skills, including writing, public speaking, and presentation to diverse audiences;
• Deep familiarity with and relationships in New York City philanthropic networks;
• Expertise in industry-standard fundraising tools, databases, and best practices;
• Adaptable, flexible, and effective problem solver in fast-paced settings;
• Proven project manager, highly organized, strong attention to detail, excellent follow-up;
• Willingness to work long hours, evenings, and some weekends as needed;
• Strong judgment;
• Ability to work with people from a variety of backgrounds;
• Demonstrated interest in and commitment to increasing economic opportunities and long-term financial security for low-income New York City families and neighborhoods;
• Experience in a start-up setting preferred.