Vice President of Transformational Philanthropy

Title:  Vice President of Transformational Philanthropy

Supervisor: President and CEO

Organization Overview: United Way of Anchorage mobilizes the community to make lasting, measurable changes in community conditions that improve lives. We have adopted a unique approach to community problem-solving called collective impact which allows us to directly engage with communities. Our workplace is fast-paced, collaborative, and adaptive.

Position Overview: United Way of Anchorage (UWA) is committed to improving the quality of life for all people in Anchorage by building meaningful, impactful philanthropic opportunities for businesses, institutions, employees, and individuals. With a focus on increasing engagement of individuals within the workplace channel, reengineering this unique relationship with corporations to spur growth, and creating a robust strategy and action plan to generate individual giving, we are seeking a dynamic, experienced, strategic, and results-oriented fundraising professional to serve as Vice President of Transformational Philanthropy.

The Vice President of Transformational Philanthropy is a member of the Executive Team and reports to the President and CEO. The Vice President of Transformational Philanthropy is responsible for leading, planning, and implementing all external fundraising activities for United Way of Anchorage. He/she will manage a team of approximately 5 professionals, and co-direct the work of the communications and marketing team.

The Vice President of Transformational Philanthropy designs, guides, executes, evaluates, and constantly improves the strategies essential for making United Way of Anchorage the go-to destination to turn philanthropy into action. Through exceptional donor engagement, experiences, communications, and product development, this position will lead the staff and volunteer teams to significantly increase UWA’s overall revenue; grow and retain the donor base; implement innovative revenue growth strategies; and use data to promote continuous improvement.

While the primary responsibility is for philanthropy goals, the position also actively contributes to the goals of UWA around improving the education, financial stability, and health of our community. UWA is committed to working cross functionally to achieve our goals, and the Vice President of Transformational Philanthropy serves with other UWA senior leaders to build a culture of collaboration and alignment of strategies and tactical execution.

The individual that fills this role is a highly experienced philanthropic and business development entrepreneur, with demonstrated success. The individual should have both strategic-level and practical/tactical thinking, leadership and management capability, influence and consensus building acumen, and a passion for UWA’s mission and vision.

Essential Functions/Roles & Responsibilities of the Position:

• Build and manage all donor relationships, including an extensive donor pipeline. Increase donor recognition and retention, increase reach/penetration of workplace campaigns within existing partners, and cultivate new corporate partnerships.
• Oversee all fundraising initiatives such as corporate campaigns, corporate grants, major gifts, and new business.
• Partner internally with Community Advancement, Marketing, and Engagement on foundation grants, individual giving, event revenue, and other fundraising vehicles. Grow our fundraising efforts with a solid strategy and execution plan.
• Manage and personally solicit a group of major gifts donors and coordinate the cultivation of new prospects; develop a strategy around how the organization grows major gifts, including the introduction of planned giving vehicles.
• Create fundraising strategies to wrap around appropriate events, initiatives, and programmatic work; develop strong communications and recognition of donors and prospects to maintain and build the image of UWA.
• Lead a staff of fundraising professionals to deliver on goals. Develop and build out relationships with labor organizations, as well as public sector campaigns.
• Partner closely with Community Advancement and Marketing and Communications to link fundraising to advancement work, including creating engagement opportunities that engender donor loyalty and additional action
• Oversee a new business pipeline that introduces UWA to new corporate entities; develop initiatives that allow for corporate participation beyond the traditional corporate campaign.
• Build and motivate an enthusiastic and effective team that works in cooperation, but independently. Provide annual assessments of team members’ performance.
• Leverage UWA board members through leadership of the campaign cabinet, to increase fundraising results and relationship building. Provide quarterly revenue updates to the Board of Directors.
• Establish annual goals and objectives and be accountable for ensuring that set goals and objectives are met.
• Assess annually, through quantitative and qualitative analysis, all fundraising activities and the metrics associated with donor experience annually to ensure quality, productivity, and relevance and to adapt and evolve plans and strategies
• Support executive staff, board members, and other volunteers in all aspects of donor stewardship and solicitation; provide training/coaching as needed.
• Be an exceptional communicator and an articulate, passionate, and credible public presence for UWA and an effective, strong, inspirational, and focused leader within the community.
• Actively model and promote UWA’s cultural value that every staff member is responsible for raising resources and for creating donor value and delight through each interaction with potential donors and volunteers.
• Work directly with the Finance Department to ensure all donations and pledge processing are handled with the highest levels of stewardship, accuracy, and security.
• Collaborate with the Marketing and Communications team on strategies to honor and engage donors, partners, and community members through effective communications.
• Help guide the ongoing strategy of UWA by serving on its senior team.
• Help UWA to become known as an employer of choice and team that people want to join.
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Education, Skills & Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree; advanced degree and/or C.F.R.E preferred. Equivalent experience may substitute for education.
• Experience with grant writing and serving as principal investigator for a grant.
• Demonstrated experience implementing quality improvement methods to achieve efficiencies and improve products and services.
• Demonstrated experience writing plans, policies, tools, presentations, and reports related to leadership development, change management, strategic planning, and organizational development.
• Demonstrated project management skills with the ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously and prioritize effectively with competing deadlines and time constraints
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and as part of a team, sometimes directing the work of peers who don’t report to you.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across the organization under challenging circumstances while maintaining composure and patience.
• At least 10 years with a proven track record of fundraising experience gained in relevant positions of increasing responsibility and scope. At least 5 years of direct people leadership with both direct and indirect reports.
• Demonstrated fundraising success in corporate, foundation, workplace, individual and major gifts along with additional sources of revenue generation.
• Change Management experience – training team members and others in the organization to think creatively and manage through times of organizational transition. Proven success in maintaining fundraising operations while exploring new technologies and methods of connection with donors.
• Experience in linking fundraising efforts to community impact; good knowledge about community impact work, metrics, and grant-making.
• Several years’ experience building, developing, and retaining strong relationships with donors and volunteers, including board members. A collaborative and communicative workstyle that translates into strong results with donors as well as internal partners.
• Bilingual is a plus

Competencies:

• Self-Development: Aware of strengths and limitations, seeks feedback and knowledge to continually learn and grow from their experiences. Transparent with leadership and teams about their growth areas.
• Employee Engagement: An approachable, outward leader who seeks to understand all perspectives and leverages differing opinions and experiences. Consults, advises, and provides tools to employees and managers to help resolve interpersonal communication issues.
• People-Centered: Has a passion for public service and leads with a customer focus. Incorporates the perspectives of underserved and unrepresented communities in decision-making processes. Leads with employer of choice values in making decisions that support our business needs, communities we serve, and employees that perform our work
• Leadership Excellence: Proactively develops the talent in their area; provides ongoing constructive performance goals, objectives, and development plans; and ensures ongoing performance feedback. Ensures accountability and success through continuous improvement, coaching, and recognition. Clearly articulates our vision and expectations to the team and garners support. Possesses courage to address serious performance issues. Responds quickly to address harassment, discrimination, or any behaviors that threaten our respectful and inclusive work environment.
• Trusted Team Player: Gains the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity, and professionalism. Works as a collaborative and dependable team member and ensures others’ needs are heard. Demonstrates organizational and political awareness, relationship building skills, and effective decision-making in day-to-day operations and in response to public health emergencies. Trusted advisor and leader when activated for emergency or incident response.

UNITED WAY CORE COMPETENCIES FOR ALL STAFF