Careers

Fistula Foundation seeks an experienced, ambitious, and globally minded development professional to lead its fundraising team and partner with the CEO to advance the organization’s strategic growth.

The Senior Vice President of Development will serve as a key member of the senior leadership team, providing direction and coordination for a comprehensive fundraising program that secures new financial resources from all donor segments, and particularly from individual donors across giving levels.

Our ideal candidate possesses strong leadership and organizational skills, as well as creativity and drive, to improve donor retention, increase donor value, and achieve a thriving and robust development program.

Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership

• Contribute to the senior leadership team’s overall decision-making and organizational planning
• Engage with leadership to develop a robust fundraising strategy for North American and global markets
• Partner with the CEO, Deputy Director, and Development Director to strengthen donor acquisition and retention

Development Operations

• Advise on all donor programs and make recommendations for improvements
• Directly supervise the Development Director and lead, mentor and support a strong team of development professionals
• Introduce and generate enthusiasm for new actionable donor insights, including analysis of donor segments, key messaging, and calls to action
• Manage successful direct mailing initiatives (average of one per month)
• Implement and impart new strategies and methods for donor stewardship, including effective approaches to relationship building, meaningful donor cultivation, and improving donor retention
• Optimize development operations to accurately record, maintain, and update donor and prospect records

Team Leadership and Performance Management

• Drive and contribute to an overall performance management culture while upholding the Foundation’s cohesive and family-friendly environment
• Lead and manage the current San Jose office team, and mentor staff using collaborative approaches
• Promote a culture of high performance that values continuous learning, improvement, and a commitment to quality

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will share enthusiasm for our mission and possess a strong fundraising track record, proven leadership on diverse and dedicated teams, and an entrepreneurial drive. The following is a representative list of knowledge, skills, and abilities recommended for this role:

Required Skills and Experience

• Fundraising: Someone who has a strong desire, proven capability, and drive to raise resources to support the ongoing mission of the organization. Proven ability to introduce and implement new and effective approaches to attract, steward, and retain donors
• Agile and Innovative: Ability to lead strategic and tactical fundraising initiatives with flexibility, adaptability, and creativity
• Exemplary Leadership: An intelligent, trustworthy leader who models personal and professional integrity
• Management: Strong organizational and time management skills and a meticulous attention to detail. Ability to inspire, motivate, and manage a growing team effectively
• Mentoring and Coaching: Committed to mentoring and coaching team members to promote professional development and quality performance

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Women: Demonstrated commitment to advancing the status of women
• Global: Understanding of global health development (and reproductive and sexual health), particularly in Africa
• Technical: Embraces technology and finds new tools to increase efficiency, sound working knowledge of Raiser’s Edge strongly preferred

Qualifications

• Working experience: 10+ years’ professional experience working in the international nonprofit sector. Demonstrated success significantly growing fundraising and development programs in more than one organization. Evidenced professional progression in roles and responsibilities at or across each organization
• Education: Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s a plus
• Travel: Ability to travel internationally one to two times a year

How We Invest in Our Team

Our team prioritizes gratitude, initiative, productivity, and teamwork. We share a deep passion and commitment to Fistula Foundation’s mission and work hard to help as many women as possible. Our colleagues have soft hearts and tough minds and celebrate the successes of our team and our partners. We also encourage our teammates to lead happy and healthy lives inside and outside of work. We’re a dog-friendly office with weekly fruit delivery, paid gym memberships, and a supportive office culture.

In this spirit, the Senior Vice President of Development position will invest in leading our core team in the San Jose office and is not a role suitable for telecommuting or remote management.

Our Benefits

The Fistula Foundation offers a generous, comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance,
a 403b match, and a significant vacation plan that begins accruing once onboard. We offer a competitive salary with the potential for performance-based bonuses and opportunities for advancement.

Fistula Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity among its applicant pool. We strongly encourage people from all backgrounds, especially racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, and veterans to apply for this position.

Expression of Interest

Koya Leadership Partners has been engaged by the Fistula Foundation to advise in this pivotal leadership hire. Leading this search is Nicole Kamaleson, Managing Director of the Global Practice. If you are ready to submit your completed application, kindly submit both your compelling cover letter (addressing motivation and suitability per the above role specifications) and CV/resume here. Only completed applications, with both CV/resume and cover letter, will be presented to the client.

Koya is an equal opportunity employer fully committed to creating an environment and team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, styles, and experiences. We encourage all to apply because we believe a diversity of voices leads to better discussions, decisions, and outcomes for Everyone.

We seek a seasoned, deeply experienced fundraising leader with a proven ability to build and strengthen relationships with new and existing major donors, and to generate significant new revenue. Major donor revenue fuels our ambitious goals, including geographic and programmatic expansion initiatives from our strategic plan. The new Senior Director of Philanthropy will develop a visionary plan to engage new supporters to fund a multi-year program plan to significantly expand Fistula Foundation’s global impact, thereby strengthening our international movement of dedicated supporters. The new Senior Director will lead a small team of major gift professionals, and work closely with the Senior VP for Development, VP of Communications, Chief Executive Officer, and will report to our Senior VP for Development.

Key Responsibilities:

• Build and strengthen relationships with a portfolio of 150-200 major donors.
• Create and lead a multi-year plan to grow our revenue base in support of an ambitious new program plan, working closely with the CEO and Senior Vice President of Development.
• Cultivate existing major donors and major donor prospects in pursuit of multi-year gifts to fuel our geographic and program expansion.
• Source new major donor prospects to increase the fundraising pipeline.
• Craft custom proposals and execute unique cultivation methods for major donor prospects
• Mentor and supervise team members who solicit and steward gifts of $10,000 and above, including planned gifts.
• Work closely with the Development Team to coordinate creative and persuasive donor communication materials.
• Engage with program staff to incorporate partner success stories into fundraising solicitations and donor communication materials.
• Conduct at least one trip to donors per month (regional), as well as an occasional international donor trip.

Ideal Candidate
Our new Senior Director of Philanthropy brings a depth of experience, wisdom and gravitas in strengthening major donor relationships and genuine enthusiasm and passion for connecting one-on-one with donors and prospects. A strong track record of success in identifying, cultivating, and soliciting multi-year gifts of over $10K from individual donors is critical. We expect the successful candidate will have at least eight years of experience cultivating and soliciting major gifts. The new Senior Director of Philanthropy will exhibit the following qualities:

• Commitment to our mission, vision, and values
• Honed listening and relationship building skills
• Flexibility
• Creativity
• Self-starter
• Sense of humor
• Humble self-confidence

Our Team

Our team prioritizes initiative, productivity, and teamwork. We celebrate the successes of our team and our partners. We value creativity and passion for our mission, while encouraging our teammates to live healthy lives.

We offer a generous, comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, a 403b match, and a significant vacation plan that begins in Year 1. We offer a competitive salary with potential for performance-based bonuses and opportunities for advancement.

We are proud of our supportive office culture, including gym memberships, fruit delivery, and a dog-friendly environment.

To Apply:

Please submit a thoughtful cover letter and resume to: Susannah Sallin, Search Consultant to Non-Profits, sallinsearch@yahoo.com. We will respond to all applicants. Thank you.