At The Obama Foundation, our mission is to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world. We seek to build an active democratic culture where people are equipped and motivated to make change in the communities where they live, work, and play. Right here on the South Side of Chicago, we’re building a home for this vision, a global center for change with a range of opportunities - coordinated programming, community outreach events, educational moments, and more - that invite visitors from down the block or across the globe to turn hope into action.

Achieving our ambitious goals starts with an exceptional team built on our Hope to Action Values - Courage, Empathy, Integrity, Accountability, Community, Inclusivity, Pragmatism, Resilience, Imagination, and Hope. A Framework that anyone, anywhere, can use to build trust, activate participation, and expand opportunity in their community.

We are deeply committed to creating an actively anti-racist organization, leveraging our global reach to combat systemic racism and inequity wherever it exists. Read our full statement on anti-racism and equity here.

Purpose of the Role

The Senior Director of Development, East, will lead a strategic fundraising program for the eastern region of the United States. You will cultivate and steward a small portfolio of critical seven- and eight-figure relationships, and will manage and grow the region’s team of high-caliber fundraisers who are responsible for aggressively expanding the prospect pipeline. You will work closely with select Board members and volunteers, Foundation leadership, and other principals from the Obama network to cultivate, solicit, and steward key prospects.

Reporting directly to the Vice President of Development, the Senior Director will be part of a core group of senior leaders across the Frontline Fundraising team responsible for leading a comprehensive fundraising strategy at a critical moment in our fundraising campaign. This is an ideal opportunity for a proven, fearless, creative, and values-driven nonprofit leader with management experience who’s highly motivated to work collaboratively in pursuit of big goals.

Core Job Responsibilities

• Leadership: Partner with the Vice President of Development to develop, implement, execute, and evaluate long-term goals and strategies in the region. Establish supportive and cooperative working relationships with other Senior Directors to share best practices and new ideas, and collaborate on donor cultivation when needed.

• Portfolio Strategy & Management: Lead the strategy for a portfolio of annual, major, and principal gift prospects for your region. Manage your own portfolio of 50+ seven- to eight-figure prospects and develop customized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship plans for each, in collaboration with the Foundation’s CEO and Obama network surrogate.

• Volunteer Engagement: Develop strong partnerships with select Board members and members of the Board’s Development Committee to provide support for their fundraising efforts in the region. Assess the need and strategy to establish a Regional Council of volunteer leaders responsible for peer-to-peer fundraising in the region.

• Coaching and Management: Manage and develop fundraising professionals in the region. Provide guidance and strategic counsel to help advance their portfolios.

• Philanthropy Stewardship: Represent the Development team in external settings (conferences and gatherings) and partner with other teams across the Foundation to help advance a culture of philanthropy.

• Operating Effectiveness: Build a culture of Salesforce utilization to track and evaluate the team’s key metrics, and use meaningful data to continually improve practices and inform decisions.

• Other duties as assigned.

Key Deliverables / Outcomes

• Meet fundraising targets and other key metrics.

• Regional prospect portfolio strategy and annual cadence of fundraising activities.

• Expanded prospect pipeline.

• Prospect stewardship and engagement plans.

• Fundraising/stewardship materials, collateral, briefings, and highly personalized proposals.

• Regional development events.

Required Qualifications

• Extensive professional fundraising experience, with expertise in principal and major gift cultivation and solicitation.

• Demonstrated experience leading an aggressive fundraising program during a capital and/or endowment campaign at a large institution.

• Experience building, leading, and coaching dynamic, diverse, and highly competent teams of fundraisers.

• Superior oral and written communication and presentation skills.

• An ability to work with donor data and analytics, and accountability to metrics.

• A highly developed talent for collaboration and an ability to interact with leaders across the Development team and the broader Foundation.

• Track record of building relationships with major and principal gift level donors, ideally closing principal gifts of at least $1M+.

• Excellent interpersonal skills and high emotional intelligence, with an ability to develop and maintain long-term, productive relationships internally and externally.

The salary range for this role is between $166,820 and $208,573.

This is a remote role.

Don’t check off every box in the requirements listed above? Please apply anyway! Studies have shown that marginalized communities - such as women, LGBTQ+ and people of color - are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. The Obama Foundation is dedicated to building an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible workplace that fosters a sense of belonging – so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to still consider submitting an application. You may be just the right candidate for this role or another one of our openings!

Equal Opportunity Employer

The Foundation is committed to creating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. The Foundation does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, parental status, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable laws. We encourage individuals of all backgrounds to apply. If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please e-mail us at careers@obama.org if you require a reasonable accommodation to complete this application.