Vice President of Development

July 2022 | Boston, MA
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The Home for Little Wanderers seeks an experienced and strategic leader for the position of Vice President for Development.

About The Home for Little Wanderers

The Home for Little Wanderers helps create permanent, positive change for some of the most vulnerable children and families in our communities—and has for over 200 years.

As many of the children we serve have experienced abuse, neglect, homelessness and other hardships, we provide trauma-informed care, behavioral health support and clinical counseling. We serve youth at any age and at any stage, through at-home, school and community programs, special education, residential care and foster care and adoption programs, and strive to step in before a child enters the state welfare system.

We know that children who grow up in safe, supportive families have a far greater chance of thriving and succeeding in life, so that is our goal. Our team works tirelessly to give every child loving, lasting connections, because no child should have to go through life alone.

The Home’s 25+ programs serve 15,000 children and family members each year in their homes, in schools, after school, in group residences, at clinics and throughout the community in MA, NH and NY, providing:

• Residential Care for children whose home environments are unsafe, unstable or unable to support them
• Behavioral Health and Clinical Services for kids with severe psychological, behavioral or emotional issues
• Foster Care & Adoption for children who need new loving adults and families
• Special Education Schools for youngsters with learning difficulties and behavioral challenges
• Young Adult Programs for kids who are pushed out of the system at age 18, but still need help

About the Strategic Plan

The Home recently completed an inclusive and extensive strategic planning process across the entire organization and emerged with a bold, four-year plan. The plan is ambitious and essential to meet the urgent needs of the children and families The Home serves, and has four clear priority areas:

PRIORITY 1:    Create new opportunities for Revenue Generation and Smart Growth

PRIORITY 2:    Maintain and Strengthen The Home’s Financial Operations to Enhance Programs and Services

PRIORITY 3:    Foster and Cultivate a Culture of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging and Excellence

PRIORITY 4:    Leverage The Home’s Brand and Thought Leadership to create better, brighter futures for children and their families.

To meet these priorities, The Home is embracing and focusing on sustainability and growth, increasing diversity and inclusion, and enhancing the organization’s position as a thought leader in the field of child welfare.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging at The Home

In support of the plan, The Home developed a strategic roadmap for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB)  to guide its work over the next three years. This plan communicates goals, strategies, and actions that will be implemented to increase diversity, advance equity, and foster both inclusion and belonging within The Home:

• Actively Recruit a Diverse Workforce that is Reflective of the Populations The Home Serves
  • Pursue a comprehensive strategy to build and maintain a high performing workforce, with a focus upon increasing diversity at the Board of Director, Leadership (Director, Vice President and Executive) and Clinicians within The Home.

• Take Proactive Measures to Retain The Home’s Diverse Workforce
  • Develop and implement strategic actions to keep employees motivated and focused so that they elect to remain employed and fully productive for the benefit of children and families served.

• Foster an Inclusive and Connected Culture
  • Cultivate a supportive, welcoming, inclusive, and fair work environment that allows employees to feel connected to the agency’s mission and contribute to their full potential.

Philanthropy plays a significant role in The Home’s ability to meet its goals.

About Philanthropy at The Home

Government grants provide most of the basic needs for at-risk children and youth, but public funding does not cover all the investments required to help ensure that these children are fully prepared to lead meaningful and productive lives. Private philanthropy helps to close this gap, and increasing major gifts, foundation and corporate support, annual gifts, special events and planned gifts is vital to The Home’s ability to provide essential and innovative services. While The Home has developed a solid base of philanthropic support that contributes $8.5M currently, the organization seeks to significantly expand investments from the private sector to ensure the sustainability and growth of its mission critical services.

The new VP for Development will help raise awareness of The Home and its brand with major donors and prospects to significantly increase giving in support of the ambitious vision.

About the Position

The new VP for Development will report to the President/CEO and serve on the Executive Leadership Team. They will manage a department of thirteen and will have five direct reports who oversee major giving, corporate relations, foundation support, special events, direct mail, and operations. The VP will create a plan that will  identify new prospects to grow the major gift pipeline and program and broaden the diversity of donors in support of the goals of the Strategic Plan.

The VP will be expected to engage high level donors and be responsible for direct solicitations that contribute to meeting bold long-term development goals. They will also support the senior leadership team and Board in fundraising activities. The VP will collaborate closely with the President/CEO to build the capacity of the Board to identify and invite new donors and will provide direction for the overall vision of the development program.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership

• Partner with the President/CEO to continue to ensure that the comprehensive development plan supports the goals of The Home’s new strategic plan.
• Provide leadership to all facets of the development department including planning, analysis, implementation, major donor identification and cultivation, coordination of Board efforts, and related activities.
• Work closely with the Board of Directors regarding development strategy, event planning, donor and prospect engagement and reporting.
• Lead Board Development Committee and staff Nominating/Governance Committee.
• Coach, mentor and motivate team members, and draw upon their potential and talent, individually and collaboratively.

Management

• Assess the current development program and evaluate department performance to ensure achievement of department revenue goals in support of The Home’s mission and direction.
• Develop strong and collaborative working relationships with the leadership of other departments to best understand The Home’s mission and services and articulate this information to donors and the public.
• Oversee the development of a best practice development infrastructure, including systems, policies, and procedures to ensure effectiveness and accountability across the program.
• Prepare and monitor the annual development budget.

Fundraising

• Oversee and manage all development functions, including annual giving and direct mail, major gifts, planned giving, corporate and foundation gifts, and capital campaign. Ensure effective cultivation and stewardship of donors.
• Personally initiate, cultivate, and maintain relationships with major donors and corporate prospects; manage a portfolio of principal donors and solicit and close gifts of 6 and 7+-figures.
• Identify donor funding opportunities that match The Home’s institutional priorities and operational needs.
• Develop and implement a plan for a more targeted planned giving program.
• Attend special events as a key representative of The Home.
• Partner closely with the President/CEO and Board to plan major capital campaigns that support the goals of the agency’s strategic plan.

Key Qualifications

• Authentic commitment to The Home’s mission and ability to articulate the case for support to a variety of stakeholders
• Minimum of 10 years of development experience with a proven track record of securing major gifts
• Demonstrated record of closing 6+ figure gifts from individuals; experience in an organization without a natural constituency preferred
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience partnering closely with Board and leadership
• Minimum of 5 years of staff and operational management experience of a department
• Excellent communications skills (public speaking, verbally and in writing)
• Knowledge of child welfare system or social services desired
• Familiarity with the greater Boston philanthropic landscape preferred
• Strategic mindset, compelling leader
• Independent with high level of accountability
• Diplomacy and tact
• Some travel and weekend and after-hours work as needed.

Please email your cover letter and resume in confidence to: home@developmentguild.com

Tracy Marshall

Senior Vice President, Principal

Development Guild DDI

Compensation

The salary range for this position begins at $200,000; the successful candidate’s starting salary will be determined commensurate with experience, competencies, and skillset.

COVID-19 Vaccination Policy

Employees of The Home are strongly encouraged to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Employees who are COVID-19 vaccinated must provide proof of vaccination to Human Resources. Employees who are unvaccinated for COVID-19 or whose vaccine status information is incomplete will be required to sign a COVID-19 Vaccination Declination Form.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The Home provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, disability, pregnancy, gender identity, results of genetic testing or service in the military. Equal employment opportunity applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leave of absence, compensation, and training.

The Home expressly prohibits any form of unlawful employee harassment or discrimination based on any of the characteristics mentioned above. Any discrimination based on an individual’s protected status will not be accepted or tolerated. It is our goal to provide equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment and to prevent any unlawful discrimination or harassment of any individual working at The Home.

Any employees with questions or concerns about equal employment opportunities in the workplace are encouraged to bring these issues to the attention of the Director of Human Resources. The Home will not allow any form of retaliation against individuals who raise issues of equal employment opportunity. If an employee feels they have been subjected to any such retaliation, he or she should bring it to the attention of the Director of Human Resources.