Director of Fund Development

Director of Fund Development

The Queen City Academy Charter School (QCACS) is a K-12 public charter school in Plainfield, New Jersey, led by CEO Danielle West-Augustin, who has served the school community for 16 years. QCACS is a unionized charter school with a track record of strong academic performance, currently enrolling over 500 students.

QCACS is distinguished by its early college dual enrollment high school program, through which students earn associate's degrees in engineering or computer information sciences. Twenty percent of graduates have received associate's degrees, and the school's first 12th grade graduating class achieved 100 percent college acceptance.

Queen City is entering a transformational growth period. A building project currently underway will bring the Plainfield campus to 1,000 seats by the 2027-28 school year, and a second campus is planned in Hillside, New Jersey, initially serving 324 students in a K-8 model before expanding to K-12. The long-term vision is to formalize Queen City as a charter management organization, which would make it the first CMO in New Jersey founded and led by a Black woman.

Queen City has achieved 100 percent board giving and secured multiple rounds of state charter expansion funding. Day to day fundraising currently falls to the CEO and her assistant alongside their other responsibilities. Queen City operates a dual legal structure, the school and an affiliated Friends of Foundation established in 2013. The Friends of Foundation has been recently revitalized with an active board and currently serves as the vehicle for the school's building project and its inaugural gala. Queen City is now investing in dedicated fundraising capacity to build a sustainable development function that can match its growth trajectory.

Position Overview

The Director of Fund Development will serve as QCACS's first dedicated fundraising leader, reporting to founding CEO Danielle West-Augustin. This is a hands-on, builder role. The Director will set up core development systems (donor data, gift processing, acknowledgment and stewardship practices), grow foundation, individual and major gift giving, build relationships with institutional and corporate funders across New Jersey and the greater tri-state area, and lead post-gala stewardship following the Friends of Foundation's inaugural gala. The Director will work in tandem with the CEO, the Board of Trustees, and the Friends of Foundation board.

Key Responsibilities

Development Infrastructure and Strategy (25%)

• Build and maintain the school's donor database, gift processing, and donor acknowledgment systems from the ground up.
• Serve as the founding member of the development function, with the opportunity to grow a team of development professionals as fundraising capacity and results scale.
• Help establish a clear framework for how institutional and individual fundraising should flow between the school and the Friends of Foundation, including staffing considerations.
• Evaluate and strengthen current fundraising operations, including donor data management and stewardship practices, to match the organization's growth stage.
• Work in tandem with school leadership to develop a comprehensive annual Development Plan to ensure a balanced budget.

Foundation and Corporate Partnerships (25%)

• Cultivate relationships with foundation and corporate funders across New Jersey and the tri-state area aligned with QCACS's early college dual enrollment model, STEM pipeline, and expansion plans.
• Conducting research and identifying grant opportunities while preparing and submitting LOI’s, proposals and reports on time.
• Support Queen City's continued positioning with the Charter School Growth Fund and other national funders.
• Represent QCACS at relevant funder convenings and community events.
• Working with school staff to confirm proposal/program compliance and finance on project-specific budgets and grant revenue reconciliation.

Individual and Major Gifts (25%)

• Build and manage a portfolio of individual donors and prospects, including current parents, alumni families, and board connected relationships.
• Steward the Board of Trustees and the Friends of Foundation board, activating their networks for cultivation and solicitation.
• Develop and track a prospect pipeline informed by wealth screening and relationship mapping.

Events and Donor Stewardship (15%)

• Own the post-gala stewardship and follow-up plan following the Friends of Foundation's inaugural gala, including donor acknowledgment cadence and re-engagement of new contacts.
• Convert gala attendees, sponsors, and vendors into sustained annual or recurring supporters.
• Build differentiated stewardship strategies for board connected donors, corporate sponsors, vendors, and community supporters.

Board and Foundation Partnership (10%)

• Serve as the staff liaison to the Friends of Foundation board on fundraising matters.
• Prepare fundraising updates and materials for board and Friends of Foundation board meetings.

Qualifications

• Proven track record of writing highly competitive proposals and securing funding from the foundation community and family foundations
• Demonstrated ability to conduct research and analyze complex information and manage multiple assignments on deadline
• Excellent communication skills with strong written and oral presentation abilities (writing samples will be required)
• Must be able to work both independently and as a team player with motivation to develop relationships and work collaboratively
• Strong time-management skills and ability to uphold deadlines
• Knowledge of fundraising best practices, standards and ethics
• Commitment to QCACS mission and goals

Who Should Apply? Those Who Are…

• Passionate about education
• Strategic thinkers
• Familiar with or willing to learn about charter school systems
• Team players
• Detail-oriented
• Great writers
• Clear communicators
• Creative problem solvers
• Researchers
• Project Managers
• Driven by excellence
• High work ethic
• Empathetic
• Motivated
• Continuous learners
• Highly organized
• Reliable and responsible
• Collaborators
• Respectful, kind and compassionate

Committed to ending racism and white supremacy

Compensation & Benefits

Salary range: $100,000–$135,000, commensurate with experience and qualifications.

We also offer a competitive benefits package including participation in the Public Employee State Pension System, generous paid time off including year-end holiday break, AFLAC Life Insurance, 100% paid health insurance for employees, professional development and more.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We strongly encourage women, Black, Indigenous and People of Color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, foreign-born residents, and veterans to apply.

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