Director of Development, North America Region

What We Can Achieve Together:

The Director has responsibility to both grow TNC’s donor pipeline and engage current TNC prospects and donors in a way that will inspire significant gifts. The Director is externally and internally focused with four main responsibilities. First, they will manage a small donor portfolio of current and prospective donors. Second, they are responsible for coordinating, networking, and partnering with fundraisers across TNC to both support existing work with donors and to identify new prospects for NAR and Global priorities.

Third, the Director will partner with the Executive VP, North America, Caribbean, and Micronesia and other North America Region Program Leads to prioritize strategic fundraising activity. Finally, they are responsible for working across the fundraising network at TNC to mobilize an average of $10-12 million annually for the NAR budget.

Specifically, the Director is responsible for:

• Working with Executive VP, North America, Caribbean, and Micronesia, other TNC leaders, and development staff to develop, execute, and communicate a development vision and fundraising plan for the NAR business unit that aligns with TNC’s global campaign and multi-year fundraising goals,
• Having a line of site on and raising, directly and indirectly through supporting fundraisers throughout the organization – $10-12 Million in gifts and pledges annually for the North America Region at the least restricted level possible.
• Setting an example for raising flexible funds supporting the Global Priorities of TNC, including those in NAR, by increasing the percentage of flexible funds raised by 10%.
• Leading and managing the NAR matrixed fundraising team, including one direct report and multiple indirect reports, to execute on the fundraising plan and support a networked approach to fundraising for NAR priorities.
• Managing an Associate Director of Development, who primary focus is fundraising for the Indigenous Right Relations Program, including the Buffalo Restoration Program.
• Motivating the efforts of a multi-disciplinary network of staff and volunteers in activities related to donor identification, cultivation, and solicitation, participating in some cases as the direct relationship manager and in other cases as an active team member to fundraisers across TNC.
• Partnering with Executive VP, North America, Caribbean, and Micronesia in prioritizing PG donor work – maintaining a “top 20+” list and ensuring these donor relationships are managed with excellence and the VP is deployed strategically.
• Growing the donor prospect pipeline for TNC and NAR. The pipeline goal in the first year will be to identify and begin relationships with 10-15 new individuals and foundations that can make 7-figure+ philanthropic gifts to TNC (some managed by Director and some managed by fundraising colleagues within the Principal Gifts team and/or Regions or State Chapters).
• Engaging key North America Cabinet members (volunteer leaders that are high major and PG level) and working with the key fundraisers on Cabinet member strategies and volunteer networking “work plans”.
• Partner with the Managing Director, Operational Excellence, NAR to develop the annual development plan for Executive VP and ensure strong linkages with the NAR Management Team, as well as appropriate engagement of NAR program staff (NAPGR, Climate Mitigation, IRR, Community and Equitable Conservation, and Leveraging Our Lands).
• Ensuring responsiveness to donors/prospective donors and to fundraisers throughout TNC related to engaging them in TNC global priorities.
• Partnering closely with the development operations team, ensuring the fundraising goals for the North America Team and the progress against those goals are clearly tracked and monitored.
• Leading the feasibility analysis related to the health of the donor pipeline and adjusting the fundraising plan and goals accordingly.
• Establishing and monitoring activity level benchmarks and measures of success pertaining to pipeline growth, donor engagement, # of solicitations, dollars raised annually.
• Serving as a liaison with the Principal Gifts fundraising team and network, the Global Priority…