Director of Foundation Relations

Location: Minnesota preferred; open to location near another TPL office


Position Summary:
The Director of Foundation Relations raises funds and manages a team responsible for raising the organization’s national profile in the institutional giving community and supporting national, regional and local priorities for the organization. The Director manages a portfolio of 25-50 institutional prospects and donors with the capacity to make significant grants. The Director must have excellent communications and writing skills, a demonstrated ability to build effective internal and external relationships, ability to set and meet priorities and manage deadlines, and fluency in articulating the mission, programs and projects of the organization.

Responsibilities:

1. Manage a portfolio of 25-50 national institutional prospects and donors with the capacity to make grants at $250,000 or more, securing new grant commitments of at least $3 million annually.
2. Manage 3-5 staff members. The Director will lead, mentor and guide national, regional, and local Foundation Relations team to ensure that they are pursuing best practices in their field. The Director is responsible for fostering an environment of achievement and accountability for excellence through clearly defined and measurable goals. The Director will celebrate current achievements and set clear expectations for future success.
3. Work closely with Chief Philanthropy Officer, Vice President of Corporate and Foundation Relations, Vice President of Field Philanthropy, regional institutional giving team members, and other Philanthropy staff to insure effective coordination of effort with their programs and to move prospects along the relationship continuum.
4. Create gift opportunities with internal partners (program directors, senior leadership, major gift officers, and Philanthropy colleagues) to meet organizational priorities and pursue funding in support of these goals.
5. Visit with foundation and corporate prospects to establish contact, gather information, qualify prospects, present ideas, develop networks, promote understanding of TPL’s initiatives, and request invitations for proposals. Target = 55 or more visits annually. Strategically collaborate with senior TPL staff, volunteers, and program staff on such visits, preparing them with pre-meeting planning and post-meeting debriefing, and follow up.
6. Write and carry out prospect engagement strategies by identifying, qualifying, and cultivating prospects; determining amount and timing of requests; writing and overseeing the development of proposals; soliciting prospects in face-to-face meetings; providing verbal and written communication necessary to secure the gift, and delivering appropriate stewardship and reporting of grants made.
7. Plan and monitor timeline of activities for each grant maker including proposal due dates, reporting dates, cultivation and stewardship activities. With Corporate and Foundation Relations Philanthropy Coordinator, record and track contacts associated with the donor using fundraising database system.
8. Manage simultaneous proposals and strategies while meeting required deadlines. Determine an effective sequence of work.
9. Coordinate with finance director, program directors, and philanthropy directors to develop proposal budgets and monitor accountability for grant contracts.
10. Follow TPL policies and procedures for grant approvals and grant acceptance.
11. Serve as a member of the Corporate and Foundation Relations Management Team.
12. Ability to travel as necessary.

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• At least seven years of fundraising experience with a strong record of accomplishment in institutional giving. Ability to strategize large gift solicitations and to demonstrate a sensitivity to the motivations of those who can make them.
• Experience leading a team of high-performing institutional giving fundraisers.
• Ability to conceptualize and communicate persuasive materials including grant proposals, reports, letters of inquiry, interim reports, stewardship materials, and informational memoranda.
• Self-motivation: must be able to work effectively without close supervision and with a variety of people within TPL to keep a number of strategies and deadlines moving simultaneously. Must display a professional, mature approach to collaboration and problem solving and be able to produce in an unstructured work environment, based on setting own agenda and priorities.
• Ability to function effectively as a member of a team, and a willingness to participate in activities and assignments that will benefit other members of the team or will contribute to the accomplishment of team objectives.
• Willingness to accept liaison and special project assignments, and the ability to represent various organizational initiatives to prospects effectively and equitably.
• Appreciation TPL’s mission and the ability to market the many benefits of TPL’s initiatives and commitments effectively and with enthusiasm.
• Basic accounting and aptitude with numbers; ability to develop familiarity with TPL’s finance system by coordinating with finance directors.
• Experience with best practices including the efficient use of database systems, such as prospect tracking, and the protocols of institutional fundraising and grantmaking research.

Other Information
This is a hybrid position, with a schedule to be determined with input from the Vice President, Corporate and Foundation Relations.

Compensation
As a full-time exempt employee, you will be eligible for The Trust for Public Land’s comprehensive benefits program, which includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, three weeks of vacation annually plus 17 holidays, and a 403(b) retirement plan, currently with a company matching up to 7%. We offer competitive salaries commensurate with experience; the range for this position is $125,000 to $140,000 annually.

Trust for Public Land’s active goal is to be an inclusive and equitable place to work. As the organization actively works to eliminate racial and other disparities, it welcomes candidates with diverse backgrounds of all types and/or multicultural skill sets and experiences.