Director, Philanthropy (Corporate & Foundation)
About Us
The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming education. Founded in 2007, NMSI has empowered over 2.9 million students and 72,000 teachers across 1,800 high schools in 43 states. Our staff drive impactful programs that foster success in the 21st-century global economy. NMSI operates remotely, allowing staff to work from home offices with dedicated spaces and reliable internet.
What You’ll Do
Create a vision and strategy for a growing portfolio of corporate and foundation funders.
Manage and execute comprehensive portfolio plans, including cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, reporting, strategic communications, site visits, and donor engagement activities.
Prepare for and support donor meetings by developing agendas, briefing materials, talking points, follow-up notes, collateral, and next-step plans.
Leverage Salesforce and other systems consistently to track donor activity, reporting requirements, next steps, relationship history, deadlines, expected revenue, and progress across the portfolio.
Oversee all or much of the external grant reporting process, including tracking deadlines, coordinating cross-functional inputs, gathering data and impact examples, drafting narrative content, and ensuring final submissions are accurate, compelling, and on time.
Develop high-quality proposals, concept notes, reports, letters of inquiry, donor updates, and other funder-facing materials that clearly communicate NMSI’s impact, priorities, and funding opportunities.
Identify the right story for each donor audience and pull together relevant examples, assets, collateral, and data to support cultivation, solicitation, reporting, and stewardship.
Drive ongoing research and analysis to identify new funding opportunities, understand donor priorities, and stay current on trends in education, STEM, workforce development, philanthropy, and corporate social impact.
Represent NMSI at conferences, meetings, site visits, and other external events to build relationships, showcase NMSI’s work, and generate interest from potential partners.
Collaborate closely with internal teams to gather the information, data, stories, budgets, and collateral needed to support donor strategy and deliverables.
Manage internal requests and timelines with strong attention to detail, clear communication, and disciplined follow-through to ensure donor-facing work moves forward efficiently and accurately.
Contribute to broader Business Development Philanthropy efforts as a key member of a highly collaborative, mission-driven team.
What We’re Looking For
Experienced fundraisers and donor relationship managers with at least five years of growing responsibility in fundraising, corporate and/or foundation relations, institutional giving, business development, or a related field, with demonstrated success cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding significant philanthropic partnerships.
Strong writers and storytellers with skills in developing compelling narratives for proposals, reports, donor communications, and other external materials. Skilled at synthesizing complex programmatic information and data into clear, persuasive language that resonates with donor audiences.
Skilled project managers, action oriented, and results driven with focus on prioritizing tasks, solving problems, attention to detail, and delivering measurable results that align with our organizational priorities. Able to manage donor portfolios, proposal and reporting timelines, meeting preparation, follow-up, and internal coordination with discipline and consistency.
Relationship-minded and team-oriented with ability to build strong internal and external relationships, communicate with clarity and professionalism, and foster collaboration across teams. Comfortable working with colleagues across departments to gather information, align strategy, and move work forward.
Agile strategic learners with curiosity, judgment, and aptitude to grow into a more strategic portfolio leadership role over time. Adaptable, able to navigate ambiguity, and work across different departments to gather what is needed.
Tech-savvy and systems-disciplined with comfort using technology to strengthen organization, communication, and accountability. Experience with a CRM is required; Salesforce experience is preferred.
Mission-aligned with enthusiasm for NMSI’s mission and interest in becoming a subject matter expert in NMSI’s work, programs, outcomes, and donor-facing value proposition.
Physical Requirements
Remote employees working from a home office must be able to sit or stand for extended periods, use a computer and other standard office equipment, and have the capability to perform the required tasks and participate in virtual meetings, as well as occasionally in-person meetings.
Employees must be able to travel overnight away from their home office environment as needed.
Reasonable accommodation can be arranged if necessary.