Head of Philanthropy

Remote (United States)

About TalkingPoints

TalkingPoints (TP) is an award-winning education technology non-profit organization with the mission to drive student success by unlocking the potential of families to fuel their children’s learning. We do this through universal family engagement technology with a focus on supporting underserved and/or diverse students and their communities. TalkingPoints transforms something as simple as a cell phone into a tool that empowers PK-12 families and educators to form strong relationships through two-way translated digital conversations, data analytics, and resources in 145+ languages.

Since 2015, TP has impacted millions of students across 70,000 schools in the US with 10x growth in reach in the past two years alone. Recent research has shown that in a large, diverse urban school district, TP improved academic outcomes, equivalent to 7.3 months additional learning for the average student, with greater impacts for traditionally underserved students. TP works with key districts such as Fairfax County School District, Wake County Public Schools, Elk Grove Unified School District, Boston Public Schools, among others. TalkingPoints has received awards and recognition including: Chicago Tribune, NPR, Common Sense Education, and Google Impact Challenge Winner, Forbes 30 Under 30, Echoing Green Fellowship. Current philanthropic partners include Arrow Impact, Ballmer Group, Carnegie Corporation, Cisco, Gates Foundation, Google.org, Overdeck Family Foundation, MacKenzie Scott, Valhalla, Walton, among others. Learn more from Founder and CEO, Heejae Lim’s TED talk.

The Opportunity

The Head of Philanthropy (HOP) will lead strategic fundraising and support TP through a critical inflection point to triple the organization’s reach to impact 10m+ students and significantly narrow education gaps in the US. The HOP will build upon TP’s successful philanthropic track record, define our philanthropic revenue strategy, oversee its implementation and nurture a culture of philanthropy for our work in family engagement. The HOP will lead a growing team, be a member of the leadership team, report to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and play a leading role in a leading national education technology organization.

Key Responsibilities:

Team and Org Leadership

Be accountable for the organization’s fundraising performance and ensure the team is meeting or exceeding fundraising goals
Set strategy based on fundraising trends and best practices to ensure revenue generation
Hire, develop, manage, coach, and evaluate team members. Create a supportive, goal-oriented and productive work culture based on organizational values
Oversee and manage development current team that includes our Institutional Giving Manager who manages TP’s Grants Program, writing and storytelling for philanthropic partners and a Philanthropy Operations Manager who manages all fundraising support, systems, and tools (e.g., donor database using Salesforce, operational, gift processing etc.)
Provide financial modeling, analysis, planning, and reporting in coordination with other leadership team members
Create and monitor the team budget. Work closely with the finance and leadership teams in creating the organization’s overall budget
Collaborate across the organization to ensure all philanthropic efforts are aligned with TP’s goals

Fundraising

The HOP will oversee the organization’s comprehensive fundraising efforts, including spearheading a $65m campaign to carry out TP’s growth agenda over the next three year period
Be the external representative of the org for philanthropic partners and effectively deploy the CEO/Board as ‘door-opener, deal-closer’ to achieve TP goals
Cultivate new and renewing ‘big bet’ investments with an emphasis on 7 and 8-figure gifts for growth, innovation and field building. Build and maintain relationships with existing and prospective donors, ensuring a personalized and meaningful engagement.
Lead a robust moves management system to cultivate all key donor relationships (foundation leaders, corporate partners, individuals, government funders, etc.). Develop tailored cultivation and stewardship plans for major donors, including recognition and appreciation initiatives
Oversee grant applications and ensure compliance with grant reporting requirements
Provide training in fundraising principles, techniques, and tactics to staff and board members
Support the CEO with board engagement, management, and recruitment

Marketing/Communications

Oversee TP’s funder-facing positioning and storytelling. Collaborate with marketing on overall communications efforts to increase the propensity of funders to invest in TP
Represent TP in our external facing work with the general public and key stakeholders. Serve as a passionate and informed advocate for TP. Clearly communicate the impact of our work, verbally and in writing, throughout philanthropic, education and community networks
Work in close partnership with program leaders on ideas to meet emergent needs, craft strategic funding proposals

Requirements/Qualifications:

10 or more years of relevant experience preferred, including at least 5 years of senior management or executive-level experience running philanthropy teams
Track record of high-level, high-return fundraising results of $50m+ campaigns with strong donor relationships with institutional, venture philanthropy, and technology-related high net-worth individuals (HNWI) donors for organizations with $20m+ annual budget and 100+ people teams
Comfortable building relationships with foundation leaders, HNWI, and community leaders and with making transformational 7-8 figure requests
Proven experience in leading people and managing systems to achieve fundraising goals and substantial increases in revenue
Excellent written and oral communication skills. Excellent networking skills with the ability to engage, inspire and educate in personal meetings, group settings and in written form
Preferred experience in an EdTech, earned-revenue modeled non-profit and/or start-up environment

What we offer

An incredible opportunity to build a mission-driven, rapidly growing startup tech nonprofit
Competitive salary, full coverage health insurance, benefits, and unlimited time off
401K match and annual professional development benefit
Flexibility to work remotely
Fun, smart, dynamic, and motivated team

How to apply

Please submit your resume, a brief paragraph describing your interest, and a link to your LinkedIn profile