Job openings/Development Director

JOB TITLE

Development Director [CLOSED]

REPORTS TO

Chief Community Officer

JOB SUMMARY

As the professional focused on developing sustainable support for the Foundation, the Development Director will report to and work with the Chief Community Officer to drive high-dollar fundraising efforts. Succeeding in this environment will require taking a hands-on approach to connecting with a broad array of donors and using traditional development methods, while implementing the infrastructure required for developing sustained annual stewardship and support. This person must be process oriented, yet have a dealmaker’s creativity and speed. A deep passion for the mission will align this development role with the urgency and creativity of the Wikimedia Foundation’s culture. The challenge of the position will be to balance development of sustainable and repeatable best-fundraising practices with a rapid expansion of the current base of support.

The Development Director will be based in Wikimedia Foundation’s headquarters in San Francisco. The Wikimedia Foundation has had its main high-dollar fundraising success inside the United States; however, this is an international organization serving an internationally distributed audience. A strong international perspective with personal experience in cross-cultural communication is extremely important in this position. The Development Director will manage a development staff of two to three others, and additional consultants when necessary.

ABOUT THE WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION AND COMMUNITY DEPARTMENT

Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects are authored and edited entirely by communities of volunteer contributors. The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) maintains the technical infrastructure to support these communities and pursues a permanent agenda of technical and programmatic innovation. It also supports an incredibly diverse global community of editors and readers through global conferences, public outreach activities, and strategic relationships which support the cause of free knowledge. It is a highly transparent, collaborative organization. A global network of Wikimedia chapter organizations conducts important activities to support the movement in a fast-growing number of countries.

The WMF Community Department collaborates with and works as a part of the broad Wikimedia community -- including readers, donors and editors/contributors -- to encourage the health and growth of Wikimedia communities and the projects they create and manage.

IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES

The Development Director’s immediate priorities are to:
 * Thoroughly understand the Wikimedia Foundation – its values, history, culture, traditions, communities, programs, personalities, constituencies and governance structure; understand its base of financial support and the short and long-term funding requirements of all segments of the organization;
 * Immediately assess the “state of play” of in-process fundraising efforts and provide support for those efforts as needed; assume a hands-on, creative leadership role in the identification, cultivation and solicitation of major individual and institutional gifts; personally cultivate and solicit as appropriate.

RESPONSIBILITIES
 * Develop and implement a fundraising plan that expands revenue through enlarging and diversifying the donor base, increasing major gifts and private foundation grants; enhanced long term stewardship and donor recognition;
 * In collaboration with the Foundation’s technical team, ensure that special attention is paid to in-kind giving, particularly to build out the Foundation’s infrastructure;
 * Strengthen the Wikimedia brand and actively broaden and deepen support for the Wikimedia Foundation among all current and prospective donors nationally and internationally;
 * Grow an appropriately lean fundraising team scaled to the results and requirements of the overall fundraising effort.

The Development Director will execute the following responsibilities on an on-going basis:
 * In collaboration with the Executive Director and the Chief Community Officer, develop a systematic fundraising plan that includes both individual (community and major gift) and institutional (business and foundation) targets.
 * Ensure that the Development Department has a strong fundraising infrastructure, and that its staff is knowledgeable, enthusiastic and effective, including:
 * Evaluate current processes and systems that support fundraising initiatives, donor recognition, and campaign management for the various kinds of campaigns and events; ensure that information systems are scaled to need, are properly maintained and used, and build on sustainable open source solutions (e.g. CiviCRM) where possible;
 * Retain, recruit and manage a team of development professionals and consultants; establish work plans, performance objectives, and goals for each team member and regularly review performance; provide professional development and training required to cultivate staff skills and professionalism;
 * Ensure successful adherence to grant and restricted giving agreements;


 * Manage day-to-day fundraising at the Wikimedia Foundation, including:
 * Undertake direct individual donor solicitations as appropriate, engaging the Executive Director, other Foundation staff, members of the Board or other community members when necessary;
 * Establish an institutional giving program for foundation solicitations primarily for unrestricted giving;
 * Aggressively implement a structured program for fostering strong, long-term relationships with targeted individual and institutional donors; organize events that boost institutional and individual fundraising efforts, which are also aligned to Wikimedia’s egalitarian values; strengthen the stewardship and donor recognition program for individual donors, with the objective of establishing a lifelong, planned giving relationships with major donors;
 * Develop a proactive funder communications and accountability program that regularly educates our funders about the organization’s progress, in addition to complying with each donor’s reporting requirements;
 * Manage prospecting efforts to identify and secure new individual and institutional funders;
 * Assist the Head of Communications in the development of materials (on-line and published, text and multi-media) that tell the Foundation story to donors and individual prospects;
 * Assist the Chief of Community with the annual community fundraiser;
 * Establish good communication with the development directors of Wikimedia Chapters around the world and partner with them on fundraising efforts when appropriate;
 * Collaborate with the senior leadership of the Foundation in the preparation of annual operating plans and budgets, incorporating fundraising projections into the budget of the organization.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Candidates should have the following type of experience and qualifications:
 * A record of personal success in raising money from individual major donors and from foundations; experience building relationships through mission-supporting ventures; comfort and experience in a technology-driven environment;
 * Experience with institutional grantmaking and/or advising major donors; a deep understanding of institutional foundation’s decision making processes and grantmaking strategies; a comfort with major donors and a respect for and understanding of their goals and objectives;
 * Broad-based knowledge of various development campaign activities including: proposal and grant development, annual fund and planned giving, event planning and management, direct solicitations, and leveraging fundraising databases;
 * A track record as an exceptional communicator, in writing as well as verbally; adept at writing solicitation letters, donor correspondence, proposals and other kinds of material for publication; experience preparing and making effective presentations to diverse groups large and small;
 * A college degree in Communications or a related field.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

The successful candidate should be:
 * A mission-driven individual with an understanding of, belief in and commitment to the open source movement, net neutrality, the benefits of the free exchange of information; a passion for communicating how these principles are important in the development of civil societies; an ability to communicate that passion without losing focus;
 * An independent and open-minded individual who values and appreciates diversity, input and collaboration from various constituencies; has the ability to make unpopular decisions when necessary;
 * A charismatic communicator, both in writing and speaking, and particularly able to recognize the alignment of a donor’s interests with the value of Wikimedia Foundation programs, communities, services and events; ability to be the public face of fundraising;
 * A good listener and strategist; comfortable receiving input from many sources, and able to act on information to develop increased support;
 * A strong manager who will advocate for the development team and its needs. A skilled teacher who can help staff to improve their skills;
 * A hard worker with a high energy level; a “doer” with a willingness to work hands-on in developing and executing a variety of development and advancement activities;
 * A person who is emotionally mature and self-reliant; someone who will thrive working in a small but growing office;
 * A person who has an ability to tolerate a high degree of ambiguity, and to negotiate with people having sharply defined opinions while maintaining positive, respectful relationships;
 * A person who has a sense of humor.