Senior Director, Institutional Giving (Foundations)

Position: Senior Director, Institutional Giving (Foundations)

Location: Remote in CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, MD, MA, NC, NJ, NY, OR, PA, Puerto Rico, TN, TX, VA, and WA; with travel 10% of the time

Salary: $156,293 to $171,750

ABOUT AMERICARES

Global Health Starts with YOU!

Americares is a global health and disaster relief organization that helps people and communities around the world access health in times of disaster and every day. Each year, Americares reaches 85 countries on average, including the United States, with life-changing health programs, medicine, medical supplies and emergency aid. Americares is one of the world’s leading nonprofit providers of donated medicine and medical supplies. For more information, visit americares.org.

Americares Values:

We create global community, treating people as they want to be treated.

We respond effectively and responsibly, putting plans into practice.

We embed ethics and equity in our work and workplace.

We are better together; partnership is at our core.

We ask and listen, to create sustainable solutions for a healthier tomorrow.

We commit to quality, growing and improving to ensure individuals and communities thrive.

Position Summary:

The Senior Director, Institutional Giving will serve as a key leader on Americares Institutional Giving team, managing a portfolio of high-value institutional donors while providing strategic leadership and supervision to Institutional Giving team fundraising staff. This role will secure transformational multi-year, multi-million-dollar foundation grants and partnerships that advance our global health programs. The role will also strengthen team capacity through management of the Associate Director, Foundation Relations and Manager, Donor Stewardship, and drive execution of strategies essential to achieving Americares ambitious five-year goal to double revenue.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Portfolio Management & Frontline Fundraising: Personally manage and actively cultivate a portfolio of high-level foundation donors—primarily independent foundations with possibility of some corporate foundations—with the goal of securing seven-figure gifts and multi-year commitments; conduct donor meetings, presentations, and site visits to advance partnerships and secure funding.

Team Leadership & Supervision: Provide strategic direction, coaching, and day-to-day supervision to the Associate Director, Foundation Relations and Manager, Donor Stewardship; People manage team members, ensuring their success in meeting objectives while also supporting their professional growth.

Proposal & Grant Leadership: Lead and contribute to development of compelling, programmatically sound proposals and reports for high-dollar opportunities; ensure quality and compliance across team submissions; champion best practices in grant writing and institutional communications

Strategic Collaboration: Partner with VP of Institutional Giving on global health fundraising strategy, institutional donor pipeline development, and goal setting; serve as a thought partner in advancing the overall institutional giving program and achieving ambitious revenue growth targets.

Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate closely with Programs, Finance, and Communications teams to align fundraising strategies with organizational priorities; translate complex health program information into compelling funding opportunities; facilitate strong integration between programmatic work and donor engagement.

Pipeline Development & Prospecting: Leverage professional network and conduct research to identify new foundation and corporate funding opportunities for both personal portfolio and team; qualify prospects and develop cultivation strategies to expand Americares institutional donor base

Process Improvement & Team Operations: Support the establishment and implementation of standardized approaches to budgeting, proposal development, reporting, and portfolio management; contribute to tools and processes that enhance team efficiency and effectiveness in securing foundations funding; other duties as assigned

Actively model and contribute to Americares values, work culture and mission.

Engage in and contribute to team spaces with openness, global competencies, and a growth mindset.

Other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Key expectations for this role include:

In the first 90 days:

• Learn, live, and model organizational values.
• Assume management of a portfolio of high-priority foundation prospects and begin advancing relationships through strategic outreach and cultivation.
• Meet with key internal stakeholders (Programs, Finance, Communications, VP of Institutional Giving) to understand organizational priorities, team dynamics, and funding needs.
• Establish strong working relationships with direct reports (Associate Director, Foundation Relations and Manager, Donor Stewardship) through one-on-one meetings and clear goal-setting.
• Assess current team processes, workload distribution, and pipeline health to identify opportunities for improved efficiency and effectiveness.
• Collaborate with VP of Institutional Giving to refine 12-month team priorities and portfolio strategies.
• Submit at least one major proposal to a foundation partner in their portfolio.

In the first 6 months:

• Secure or significantly advance at least 2-3 major foundation partnerships through active cultivation and solicitation from personal portfolio.
• Provide regular coaching, feedback, and strategic guidance to direct reports, ensuring they are effectively managing their portfolios and meeting goals.
• Work with the VP, Institutional Giving to establish or refine standardized processes for proposal development, budgeting, and donor reporting across the team.
• Build out a robust pipeline of qualified prospects within personal portfolio aligned with Americares health program priorities.
• Strengthen collaboration between the Institutional Giving team and Programs staff through facilitation of joint planning meetings and clear communication protocols.
• Lead or contribute to development of at least one major funding proposal for a multi-year, multi-million-dollar global health initiative.

In the first year:

• Generate new institutional revenue from personal portfolio of grants.
• Successfully close at least 3-5 major multi-year commitments from personal portfolio that align with strategic organizational priorities.
• Build the capacity and grow direct reports through ongoing mentorship, professional development opportunities, and performance management.
• Contribute to team strategy sessions and planning with VP, Institutional Giving to advance overall institutional fundraising goals.
• Create comprehensive donor stewardship plans for portfolio donors ensuring retention and growth of existing institutional partnerships.
• Leverage professional network to open doors with 10-15 new institutional prospects previously unreachable by the organization.
• Support implementation of data-driven fundraising practices with regular portfolio reporting and pipeline management across supervised team members.

Competencies required for the role include:

• Experience as a leader of foundations fundraising teams.
• An established track record and professional network within the foundation community that can be leveraged to accelerate Americares institutional fundraising growth.
• Demonstrated track record of success in foundation commitments for INGOS (preference in health and development contexts).
• Ability to develop sophisticated fundraising strategies for donors and contribute to broader team strategy; capacity to identify opportunities, assess feasibility, and drive results in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Deep understanding of institutional funding landscape, particularly in global health and international development.
• Proven experience supervising and developing fundraising professionals; ability to provide clear direction, constructive feedback, and mentorship while fostering collaboration, accountability, and professional growth. Must demonstrate capacity to balance personal portfolio management with effective team leadership
• Exceptional competencies that result in successful internal and external stakeholder relationships and results. Proven ability to work effectively across departments, organizational levels, and within a team structure; skilled at building consensus, navigating organizational complexity, and influencing stakeholders without direct authority.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills with ability to craft compelling narratives that connect donor priorities with organizational mission; experience translating complex programmatic work into accessible, inspiring funding proposals and donor communications.
• Experience making data informed decisions, creating efficiencies and systems that enhance data driven decision making, and leading with data driven expertise.
• Deep global competencies, as well as experience navigating communication, power dynamics, and diversity across time zones and in work interactions.

These competencies are preferred but not required for the role:

• Fluency in languages that are spoken in at least one of our core locations (India, Philippines, Tanzania, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Colombia, etc.), in addition to English.
• Experience living in and/or working in countries outside of the U.S.
• Corporate Partnership Development: Experience structuring creative corporate partnerships that go beyond traditional grant-making to include in-kind donations, employee engagement programs, cause marketing, and multi-faceted strategic alliances

Additionally, our core competencies as an organization are:

• • Ownership and results
  • Communication
  • Problem solving
  • Equity and inclusion
  • Teamwork and conflict resolution
  • Leadership
  • Prioritization
  • Management
  • Strategy and planning
  • Decision making

If you move forward at each stage in the process, the following steps are included in this role’s recruitment: 

• • Submit resume and written application questions
  • Videocall interview with People and Talent recruitment lead
  • Panel Interview
  • Interview with SVP Development
  • Reference check
  • Offer
  • Background check
  • Onboarding

Medical, dental, and vision effective as of date of hire

Paid parental leave

401(k) match

Generous PTO available as of day one

Professional development opportunities

• Fluency in English required.
• Fluency in languages that are spoken in at least one of our core locations (India, Philippines, Tanzania, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Colombia, etc.), in addition to English, preferred.