ABOUT FORTERRA

Forterra’s mission is to secure places—urban, rural, and wild—that are keystones of a sustainable future for all. From wildlands and working farms and forests, to places in the city for affordable housing, parks and the arts, we work simultaneously across all landscapes because they are interconnected. And ultimately people and lands must all thrive together.  To achieve this mission, Forterra works with regional partners and stakeholders to engage in community visioning, planning, policy work, economic development, recreation initiatives, and conservation—all with the aim of making land conservation work for our communities. Forterra also draws on its real estate expertise to help urban communities accommodate new growth while maintaining a high quality of life for all residents.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Philanthropy Director of Institutional Strategy is responsible for foundation and corporate partnership strategies to advance the mission of Forterra. Maintains a full portfolio of approximately 100 funders, while working collaboratively across the organization with the Philanthropy team, board members, the CEO, programs, and other Executive Leadership Team members. Primary responsibilities include cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding institutional partners; building and maintaining individual relationships with current and potential grant funders; and the development and qualification of new institutional giving prospects. The Director will also develop the grants submission pipeline, oversee sponsorships and fulfillment plan, and drive corporate strategies around VIP event planning and workplace giving. This position supervises one or more team members and provides guidance and support for all institutional giving strategies across the organization.  As a senior staff member of the Philanthropy team, this role will be committed to the DEI work ahead for the organization and the Philanthropy team.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Job responsibilities and tasks are stated in broad terms and are not intended to be a comprehensive listing.

Strategic Fundraising (80%)

• Builds out a collaborative corporate and foundation fundraising program across the organization, working closely with program teams.
• Manages corporate and foundation prospects, working with the VPs, CEO, program staff, portfolio holders, and board members to identify the strongest opportunities for funding aligned with Forterra’s organizational priorities.
• Directs a portfolio of approximately 100+ funders; completing an average of 8-10 meetings per month with funders and prospective funders and engaging 80% of their portfolio every 6 months.
• Ensures that all institutional relationships are effectively managed from identification to stewardship with the goal of strengthening partnerships. Identifies and implements acquisition, retention, and renewal strategies leading to increased contributions from foundation and corporate partners.
• Researches and qualifies new institutional partnership opportunities and completes outreach to potential partners, either independently or through a solicitation team.
• Responsible for working collaboratively with programmatic staff members to leverage their expertise and support the best model for funder engagement.
• Secures new grants through foundations and corporations through carefully planned and executed solicitations each quarter.
• Oversees the strategic priorities for sponsorships and partner benefits.

Administration and Analytics (15%)

• Builds and maintains a comprehensive organizational calendar of grant activities from identification to stewardship, working collaboratively across the organization.
• Accountable for the accurate and timely entry of all foundation and corporate prospect cultivation, stewardship and solicitation activity into Raiser’s Edge/NXT, including proposals and reports.
• Maintains fundraising best practices and trends in corporate partnerships, foundation giving and prospect research.
• Accountable for the timely and accurate development of all institutional collateral materials, written proposals, communication, presentations, informational materials, and sponsorship opportunities using a donor-centered lens.

Service and Collaboration (5%)

• Provides counsel, coaching, and collaboration to staff across the organization as it relates to institutional giving opportunities, working closely with the Director of Individual Giving and the VP of Philanthropy.
• Strengthens the philanthropic culture throughout the organization in all interactions within the organization and with supporters at all levels.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

This role supervises one or more team members within the institutional giving function of the team. Responsibilities include the following

• Coaches and trains staff within the supervisory culture and policies of the organization.
• Provides leadership and strategy counsel to all supervisees, working collaboratively across the team to ensure that comprehensive team goals are met, and individual team members are successful.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in related field; or equivalent education/experience.
• Experience fundraising at a small to mid-size organization.
• At least 5 years of successful experience in nonprofit fundraising, with an emphasis on building corporate and foundation partnerships.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience securing foundation and corporate grants at the $100,000+ level.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience managing staff.
• Experience working directly with a board, institutional leaders, and the philanthropic community to fundraise for a nonprofit organization.

Preferred

• Knowledge of the Pacific Northwest corporate and foundation philanthropic landscape.
• Experience as a frontline fundraiser or in a philanthropic capacity/role for conservation, environmental, or other relevant nonprofit subsector.
• Certified Fundraising Executive or other fundraising certification.
• Experience building key metrics and analytics that will support institutional giving priorities.
• Experience with fundraising software such as Raiser’s Edge/NXT.
• Experience with corporate and foundation prospect and institutional research.
• Experience with building strong connections/relationships with knowledge of this region’s philanthropic community.

COMPETENCIES

Required

• Ability to represent and support Forterra’s mission, vision and values through the priorities of their role.
• Ability to be a strong lead on the team in supporting a positive team culture and the organization’s DEI priorities.
• Demonstrates awareness and willingness to consider historically uninvited or underserved populations, as it relates to their work.
• Proven success in solicitations with foundations/corporations (at least $50K) including cultivation, case presentation and gift closure.
• Demonstrates exceptional communication and collaboration skills across an organization to ensure that all donor relationships are managed with care and a donor-centered focus.
• Self-motivated; able to multi-task with excellent attention to detail and deadlines; able to work independently and with teams of all sizes.
• Proven success in developing and cultivating positive working relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders including board members, elected officials, foundation officers, business leaders, community advocates, landowners, volunteers, and internal staff/leadership.
• Takes responsibility and initiative to set and meet goals, objectives and obligations of their position.
• Ability to make decisions in ambiguous situations, exercise good judgment in a fast-paced, dynamic, deadline-driven environment.
• Proficiency Microsoft Office Suite (Microsoft Word, Excel, Teams, Skype, Outlook and PowerPoint). Willingness and ability to learn how to effectively use and leverage the Raiser’s Edge/NXT customer relationship management system.
• Ability to successfully manage teams and individuals, providing a balance of coaching, support and accountability.

Salary Target:  $80,000 to $95,000

BENEFITS

Forterra’s benefits include ten paid holidays per year and paid time off (PTO) leave. You will be eligible to enroll in the employer-sponsored medical, vision dental, and flexible spending account (FSA) plans. You will also be able to enroll in Forterra’s 401(k) program.

BACKGROUND CHECK

Because this position involves access to confidential/sensitive information and physical assets, a criminal history background check will be conducted on the final candidate prior to beginning employment.

TRAVEL, WORKING CONDITIONS, AND PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

Forterra is currently requiring all employees to work from home due to COVID-19 precautions. This position will be based in the home office and field for the foreseeable future. This position is subject to indoor environmental conditions typical to a professional office setting. Forterra will provide reasonable accommodation for people who are differently abled. The essential physical requirements of this position include:

• Ability to exert up to 20 pounds of force occasionally and/or a negligible amount of force frequently to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects.
• Ability to sit, stand or otherwise remain in a stationary position at a computer workstation for the majority of the work day.
• Ability to occasionally move about inside the office to access file cabinets, office equipment, etc.
• Ability to constantly operate a computer and other office equipment such as calculators, copy machines and printers.
• Ability to communicate accurately and persuasively with co-workers, clients and members of the public about Forterra’s work.
• Ability to lead and participate in outdoor project/site tours. This may require navigating uneven terrain in inclement weather.
• Frequent travel in the Greater Puget Sound and Central Cascade regions, mostly in the form of day trips from Seattle.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer that values diversity of all kinds. We encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply for this opportunity.  It is our policy to ensure that qualified individuals are considered for employment and treated equally without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran status, or any other class protected by law. Assistance and/or reasonable accommodations during the application process are available to individuals with disabilities upon request. To request assistance or accommodation, please contact Human Resources at jobs@forterra.org.

Apply: https://forterra.org/about#careers