Foresight Institute Seeks Vice President for Development
Job Description - November, 2004
Foresight Institute is searching for an outstanding Vice President for Development to design and lead ongoing and diversified fundraising campaigns.
Basic Function
Reporting to the President of the Foresight Institute, the Vice President for Development will harness the energy and commitment of the community to build Foresight revenues.
Internally, the Vice President will collaborate with the President, the Vice President for Policy, the Vice President for Government Relations, and the Communications Manager. Externally, the Vice President for Development will also collaborate closely with members of the Board of Directors, Board of Advisors, members of Foresight, and various funders and prospective funders of the Institute.
The Vice President for Development will be a critical member of the Institute's management team. He or she must have the ability to represent the Institute to a variety of constituencies, and must significantly enhance support for the Institute among public sector funders, venture capitalists, foundations, think tanks, high net-worth individuals and businesses. He or she must have the drive, maturity, entrepreneurial spirit and communications skills required to take on the task of securing the financial health of the Institute over the next years, and must gain the respect of a broad constituency.
The Vice President will also be responsible for fine tuning and/or proposing new fund-raising events, mailings, telephone campaigns and outreach programs that engage and excite the Foresight community, entice new members to join the Institute, and encourage current members into higher levels of support for the Institute and its programs, events, publications and services.
Emphasis will be centered on major gifts, event-driven donations (through dinners, speeches, symposia, special events and other activities), planned giving; encouraging moderately sized annual gifts from individual donors, regular giving from businesses, and support from governmental and non-governmental institutions. Over time, the development staff can grow in line with the success of the Institute.
IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
The Vice President's immediate priorities are to:
- Thoroughly understand the Foresight Institute—its history and culture; governance structure, staff, and Board; long and short term funding requirements, programs and projects; nanotechnology public policy issues and communities; and other constituencies.
- Know and understand the President, Foresight staff, board and advisors, the Foresight membership and the broader community with an interest in nanotechnology, in order to bring forth their best ideas and efforts to enhance fundraising activities.
- Develop a strategic plan to accomplish the Foresight Institute's long range goals, review and obtain approval from the Board, and insure that the plan is well understood by all appropriate persons.
- Working with the President and Board, develop specific quarterly, annual and three year fundraising targets; develop a strategic context for fundraising that includes capital campaign, major gift, annual giving, planned giving, membership dues, earned income, private and institutional philanthropy elements.
- Be a driving force for establishing personal relationships with the network of organizations, companies, government entities and other constituencies interested in nanotechnology; develop strategic and tactical partnerships that enhance the Foresight Institute's financial position.
- Install appropriate fundraising support processes and systems for managing various campaign data and processes, including donor lists, solicitation scheduling, donor recognition, designated giving plans, etc.
Major Responsibilities
The Vice President's major responsibilities will be to:
- Understand the actual and prospective funding communities for the Foresight Institute; develop strategies to secure ongoing significant sources of private/unrestricted funds to support the organization; plan and execute innovative ways of raising increased funding from Foresight members, foundations, corporations, private donors, government agencies and other sources, while nevertheless ensuring that the Foresight Institute maintains its independence of any one funder.
- With the President, the Vice Presidents and the Board of Directors, establish clear guidelines to cultivate and solicit major gifts; inject energy and organization into annual giving; shape the planned and designated giving programs; cultivate new prospects; identify private and business donors, and position other leaders of the Institute to solicit major donations.
- Personally drive fundraising solicitations, develop fundraising alliances, maximize revenue from current sources of earned income and develop new earned income sources, appeal to individual and institutional donors, and lead and direct all other fundraising efforts.
- Collaborate with the President and staff to continually explore new and creative marketing strategies that extend the Foresight Institute's support to a broader base; create new opportunities for branding and enhancing the image of the Foresight Institute so that any organization involved in nanotechnology and nanoscience views membership and participation in Foresight events as essential.
- Review the Foresight Institute's communications materials, including direct mail, telecommunications, brochures, website, and other written materials to integrate fundraising messages into all communications; assure the continued articulation of an organizational vision and mission statement that provides the appropriate context and focus for cultivating financial support.
- When appropriate, help to influence US government policy as it relates to funding for the Institute's programs and the research that underpins the Institute's programs.
- Actively facilitate and stage all fundraising events; fine tune awards and recognition programs to recognize donors, volunteers and other members of the Foresight community for their efforts.
- Keep abreast of external environmental factors that could affect fundraising.
- Provide appropriate oversight of development systems and procedures; control expenses associated with Foresight fundraising and accurately report the results in compliance to standards set by the President.
Ideal Experience
The Vice President should have the following experience and qualifications:
- A record of success in raising money that can include elements of the following: building membership organizations and attendant services; shaping and implementing fund raising or earned-income events (seminars, speeches, dinners, awards ceremonies, etc.); broad-based knowledge of various development activities including: phonathons, mailing campaigns, events-within-events, recognition and awards dinners, direct solicitations etc; broad-based familiarity of how to leverage fund-raising databases and support systems for donor segmentation and research.
- A keen interest in technology and the impact of new technologies on society. While exposure to related fields of endeavor and public policy is beneficial, it is not necessary for this exposure to be in the field of nanotechnology.
- Ability to represent the Foresight Institute to a wide variety of individuals and groups, both internally and externally; ability to communicate effectively both in writing and verbally, including excellent public speaking skills for both formal and extemporaneous presentations; adept at writing proposals, solicitation letters, donor correspondence, and other kinds of material for publication;
- An understanding of the dynamic of fundraising for scientific, technical, medical, public policy or academic endeavors; proven ability to engage a diverse group of personalities with a demonstrated ability to gain the respect from, and support of, a broad constituency.
- Knowledge of philanthropic, grantmaking, government, private sector, venture, science and technology, academic, and other funding sources in the United States; connection to a comprehensive network in the fundraising community, with the ability to extend that network.
Personal Characteristics
The successful candidate should be:
- A good listener and strategist; comfortable receiving input from many sources, and able to analyze and formulate disparate information into a sound, well-organized development plan.
- Comfortable spending time with different private and public sector funders, venture capitalists, scientists, technologists and engineers, businesses, and high net-worth individuals; a leader who understands the subtleties of attracting support from a diverse group of personalities with different motivations.
- Decisive and resourceful, with the sensitivity to gain the support and confidence of Foresight's Board and President, advisors, all levels of staff, and Foresight's broader constituency.
- Results-oriented, adept at planning, prioritizing, organizing and following through.
- A team player, who values and models working collaboratively; a hard worker with a high energy level; a leader who also has the ability to share credit with others and put others forward when that is what is best.
- A "doer" who will work hands-on in developing and executing a variety of fundraising activities ranging from the internal day-to-day, to the highly creative, external and visible;
- An energetic, alert, creative, hardworking person, able to take immediate action when needed, recognize and exploit success, and triage failure when necessary.
- A willingness to travel in order to build support for, and funding of, the Foresight Institute.
- Emotionally mature with a sense of humor and grace under pressure.
Contact:
Mark Oppenheim
Phillips Oppenheim - West Region
425 Market Street, Suite 2200
San Francisco, CA 94105
Work: 1-415-955-2646
Mobile: 1-650-619-1551
Fax: 1-309-415-3028
e-mail: WEST@PhillipsOppenheim.com
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