Development Director

Development Director

The National Young Farmers Coalition (Young Farmers) represents, mobilizes, and engages young farmers to ensure their success. Since our founding in 2010, we have grown our grassroots network to over 200,000 individuals and partner organizations. We give young farmers tools to become leaders in their communities, building an effective political voice at the local, state, and national level. Together, we tackle the most critical structural and economic barriers that prevent motivated young people from starting and growing successful farm businesses—including access to affordable farmland, student debt, climate change, healthcare, racial inequities, and more. We have won historic investments in beginning farmer training, outreach to farmers of color, and farmland conservation. Our advocacy for a USDA Farm Service Agency microloan resulted in a loan program in every county that has served more than 30,000 farmers. 

Young Farmers seeks an experienced, creative, and proactive Development Director to join our team. The Development Director leads the development and fundraising work of Young Farmers, providing vision and guidance in the creation and implementation of fundraising strategies  to raise $4.5 million annually across foundation, corporate and individual funders. The Development Director supervises a team of four development staff including a Development Associate, Grant Manager, Corporate Engagement Manager, and Associate Development Director, and collaborates closely with Young Farmers’ executive, program, and finance staff. The Development Director will be responsible for day-to-day management and mentorship of the development team’s members in addition to strategic direction.

The Director will expand and diversify Young Farmers funder base and prospective funder relationships and work closely with senior management and staff to identify, solicit, and steward funding opportunities that align with our organizational goals and values. The Development Director will ensure that our fundraising and development plan meets our organizational funding needs, expands our network, and engages our funders. In addition to setting and monitoring key performance indicators for the development team, the Development Director will also manage a portfolio of principal funders and prospects (individuals, foundation, and corporate contacts) by regularly engaging this portfolio through meetings, calls, and email check-ins and timely and thorough follow up. The Development Director will also manage donor communications efforts  including quarterly updates, annual direct mail appeal, mass email campaigns, and annual reports.

In alignment with our organizational commitment to racial equity and community-centric fundraising, the right candidate for this role will be able to effectively communicate with funders about our efforts to shift power to young and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) farmers and create bold structural change to transform agriculture in service to the next generation. You will be comfortable taking a community-centric approach to fundraising and working across our ecosystem of supporters that are passionate about equity in agriculture, including farmers, advocates, and funders.

Title: Development Director

Reports to: Deputy Director

Status: Full Time; Exempt 

Location: Remote, U.S. Based Home Office – Applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S.

Start date: September 2024

Responsibilities

Development Strategy and Priority Setting  (35%)

• Designs and manages annual fundraising and development plans for the organization including revenue prospecting, grant reporting schedule, fundraising campaigns, funder engagement, and events. 
• Ensures that our fundraising and development plan meets our organizational funding needs, expands our network, and engages our funders. 
• Sets and monitors goals and KPIs related to fundraising revenue, recruitment and retention of donors, and funder engagement. 
• Oversees organization-wide development efforts to meet our strategic plan goals including applications and submission of grants and reports.
• Supports program teams in development strategy and securing funding for a variety of farmer-facing and internal programming.
• Oversees data management plan for development team and supports team to ensure that funding metrics are aligned with organizational needs. 
• Aligns our development processes and relationship management approach with our organizational values and a community-centric fundraising approach. 
• Supports the long-term planning and development of the business plan and philanthropic revenue goals/projections.

Stakeholder Engagement (25%)

• Manages a portfolio of principal funders and prospects (individuals, foundation, and corporate contacts), regularly engages this portfolio through meetings, calls, and email check-ins and timely and thorough follow up.
• Oversees our funder relationships and supports staff with funder relationship management including engagement plans, meeting preparation, materials review, and follow-up. 
• Manage donor communications efforts including drafting and/or editing quarterly updates, annual direct mail appeal, mass email campaigns, and annual reports.
• Supports partner organizations, fiscally sponsored chapters, and farmer-led projects in equitable fundraising, including prospecting, funder introductions, and grant reviews.
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Staff Management (15%)

• Manage direct reports – attend & lead weekly check-ins, monitor team workflows through Asana, prioritize and delegate tasks, recognize and address performance gaps and achievements, provide consistent and timely feedback, and support professional development. 
• Attend the monthly Management Team call, helping to shape staff experiences at Young Farmers and stay up to date on organization-wide processes. Hold reports accountable to their completion of organization-wide and role-specific processes.
• Inform team of any organizational decisions/processes, make space for feedback, escalate feedback, and to ensure alignment with confirmed decisions.
• Perform managers’ administrative duties, such as approving time cards, time off requests, and expense reports, on time.

Leadership Team Duties (6%)

• Attend and participate in bi-weekly Leadership Team meetings. Complete all pre-work in order to provide thought partnership in org-wide discussions, decision-making, and updates. 
• Direct team-level responsibilities to ensure the team meets its annual goals by facilitating weekly team meetings and quarterly stepbacks, supporting team members through regular check-ins, and facilitating opportunities for professional development.
• Lead goal setting, tracking, and accountability for the team. Make high-level strategic decisions regarding the direction of the team’s work in alignment with strategic plan goals.
• Manage program budgets; lead the development of program budgets and forecasts, understand the specific resource needs of their program and how their programs are funded. Lead budget tracking and forecasting. Communicates budgetary issues with the Finance Director and Executive Team in a timely manner.
• Advise Executive Team on major organizational decisions, and serve as a problem-solving partner to other managers on staff.

Budget Management (9%)

• Regularly coordinate with the Finance Team on revenue progress. 
• Maintain Development Team budget.
• Drives organizational financial processes across the Development Team.

General Staff Responsibilities (10%)

• Serve as a contributing team member who willingly supports organizational efforts in alignment with the strategic plan and models the organizational values.
• All staff admin: individually complete time cards and expense reports on time, attend weekly staff calls, supervisory meetings, team meetings, staff retreats, and other staff social spaces, and participate in providing feedback and implementation of annual processes. 

Qualifications

This could be the right position for you, if you have:

• At least 6 years of non-profit development experience, including at least 2 years in a management role (relevant foundation experience considered). 
• Experience leading a fundraising team in raising at least $3M annually from foundations, individuals, and corporations, with significant philanthropic growth achieved over subsequent years.
• Strong interpersonal, verbal communication, and presentation skills.
• Exceptional communication and storytelling skills; ability to craft pitches that resonate across audiences and cultures.
• Proven track record in bringing in new major funders and supporting long term organizational sustainability planning.
• Proven track record soliciting and closing 6+ figure gifts from individuals and foundations and proven success with complex programmatic requests.
• Excellent writing skills and prior experience in grant solicitation from foundations and other grant-making entities including government and corporate funders.
• Strong people and project management skills; ability to work well on a collaborative and interdisciplinary team.
• Demonstrated proficiency with Salesforce (or comparable CRM), and using historic giving data to make informed decisions and work plans.
• A passion and commitment to Young Farmers mission and vision, and enthusiasm for implementing organization’s racial equity practices and upholding the organizational values. 
• Knowledge of experience implementing community centric fundraising principles
• Excellent work planning, prioritization, and independent time management skills
• Experience in managing or coaching others to complete their fundraising responsibilities

The ideal candidate may also have:

• Ability to understand and follow our federal policy advocacy work, and to describe many different areas of our work in a way that is concise, compelling, and easy to understand for funders and prospective funders.
• Experience working in a fully remote environment.
• Experience working on or with a farm or ranch and/or rooted in the agricultural community.
• Experience using Asana or other project management softwares
• Excellent analytical and problem solving skills
• Experience supporting C-suite leaders in fundraising solicitation and successful closing of 7+ figure gifts. 

Schedule and Compensation

• Regular full-time exempt employees work 40 hours per week including a one (1) hour paid lunch break each day. 
• The current salary range for this role is $103,824, in accordance with our 2024 Salary Guidelines. 
• Young Farmers offers a competitive benefits package, health, vision and dental insurance, generous paid time off, paid sick days, personal days, paid family leave, and retirement matching.   

A note to potential candidates: Studies have shown that women, trans, non-binary folks, and BIPOC are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they meet every single one of the qualifications as described in a job description. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organization, and we are most interested in finding the best candidate for the job. That candidate may be one who comes from a background less traditional to our field of work, and that's okay. We would strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don't believe you meet every one of the qualifications described.

How to Apply

Apply by August 4th using the form at www.youngfarmers.org/about/jobs/ to be considered for an interview. Applications without both a cover letter and resume will be considered incomplete. *The job post is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing every activity, duty or responsibility that is required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change slightly or be added depending on the needs of the organization.