Overview

Yonkers Partners in Education (YPIE) is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Yonkers, NY that partners with students to ensure they are ready for, enroll in, and complete college. We confront the challenges of low-income, urban school districts by providing families with equitable access to the critical tools and services necessary for college success.

Job Mission

As an integral member of the senior leadership team, the Senior Director, Development will lead the organization’s fundraising efforts to support YPIE programs in Yonkers, NY and Jersey City, NJ. We currently seek a Senior Director of Development to:

  1. Drive the organization’s revenue generation efforts to raise more than $3M annually 
  2. Cultivate and retain individual, corporate, and foundation donors and government grants, while growing the pipeline of major donor revenue
  3. Manage the Strategic Partnerships Team staff and initiatives

Individual Donor Cultivation and Stewardship (50%):

  • Steward existing individual donors resulting in a 50% individual donor retention rate
  • Cultivate potential new donors to reach YPIE’s fundraising goal
  • Identify activities and opportunities for donors to be recognized for and stay engaged with YPIE’s work, including maintaining a donor recognition plan.
  • Manage general and targeted mail and online fundraising acknowledgements, solicitations and other communications
  • Conduct thank you and stewardship phone calls and meetings individually and in person with donors 

Corporate/Foundation/Government Donor Cultivation and Stewardship (30%):

  • Manage Manager, Grants to submit concept papers, pitch decks, grant proposals, and grant reports.
  • Maintain YPIE’s tracking and research system to cultivate potential new and steward existing corporate donors resulting in a 50% corporate/foundation/government donor retention rate.
  • Maintain a Corporate/Foundation/Government tracking system for weekly review of upcoming grant reporting and application deadlines
  • Working with the Senior Director, Communications and others on the program staff, oversee corporate recognition and employee engagement activities – including media and volunteer engagement projects

Leadership and Staff Management (20%)

  • Participate in leadership team activities, including but not limited to monthly meetings, board meetings as needed and other.
  • Manage and evaluate Strategic Partnership Team staff including, Associate, Strategic Partnership and Director, Community Engagement and/or other staff or consultants.
  • Set and execute YPIE’s annual strategic plan’s Fundraising Goals  and Tactics, including quarterly tracking reviews of plan status
  • Create and oversee an annual Stakeholder Outreach plan to regularly report to individual, corporate, foundation and government donors
  • Ensure the accuracy and reliability of YPIE’s donor management system, DonorPerfect as the core tool for acknowledging, managing, tracking and stewarding individual, corporate, foundation and government donors – including the system’s coordination with Constant Contact for accurate and effective email communication
  • Work with Senior Director, Communications to ensure timely partner publicity
  • Generate development reports and participate in Development Committee meetings, Board and other meetings as needed
  • Introduce innovations to enhance the effectiveness and long term success of YPIE’s development strategies

Who You Are

YPIE believes these traits are essential to achieving success in our efforts:

  • “Mission-first, ego-last” mindset regarding student success. We have an intentionally lean team with no purely administrative support, so we all pitch in on everything to get things done for students.
  • Extraordinary dependability in meeting high work-quality standards. YPIE’s team is detail-oriented and obsessed with follow-through. The strongest candidates will be seen by colleagues as extremely well-prepared and conscientious.
  • Positive vibes! Our work can be hard but if we’re doing it right, it can be thoroughly satisfying. We see our efforts as a marathon, and we believe humor and work-life balance are essential ingredients in our long-term sustainability.

Strong Applicants will possess: 

  • An outcomes-focused orientation
  • Ground-level experience as a fundraiser and/or in sales with a proven track record of success in personally cultivating, soliciting, and securing major gifts
  • An authentic belief in the mission and values of YPIE, including the belief that all students can succeed, and a deep desire to make a difference in the lives of our students, families, and communities
  • Passion for networking
  • Ability to navigate partnerships with diverse stakeholders
  • Attention to detail
  • Clear and polished written and verbal communication
  • A collaborative approach
  • Experience with Google platform, internet searches and research, social media.
  • Capable of quickly learning new software – DonorPerfect, Constant Contact, Asana, etc…
  • Flexibility to work some evening and weekend hours