Director of Development - OU Advocacy Center

About the OU Advocacy Center:

The OU Advocacy Center is the nonpartisan public policy arm of the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish organization‚ representing nearly 1,000 congregations and hundreds of day schools nationwide, and leads the Orthodox Union’s advocacy efforts in Washington, DC.

OU Advocacy engages leaders in Congress, The White House and cabinet agencies as well as the broader public to promote and protect the Orthodox Jewish community’s interests and values in the public policy arena.

The OU Advocacy Center:

• Protects and strengthens the Orthodox Jewish community by ensuring that federal laws and programs support the life and security of the Jewish community and our institutions.
• Addresses the challenge of the affordability of Jewish day school education through securing public sector support and funding.
• Serves as the voice of Orthodox Judaism regarding the concerns and interests of our community in the media.
• Trains community leaders to be advocates on critical issues.
• Convenes Orthodox Jewish community leaders to discuss critical issues and develop strategies to address them.

The Orthodox Union Advocacy Center (OUA) seeks an experienced Director of Development (DoD) who can lead OUA’s fundraising efforts in support of its important advocacy work in Washington, DC. Reporting directly to OUA’s Executive Director, the DoD is responsible for the identification, cultivation, and solicitation of charitable gifts from existing and new donors for both annual and legacy gifts. The OUA Director of Development is responsible for cultivating and maintaining close relationships with key community members to strengthen OU’s fundraising capabilities in partnership with the Executive Director of OUA.

Utilizing a collaborative mindset with the Executive Director of OUA and the OU’s development team, the OUA Director of Development will play an integral role in achieving annual fundraising objectives.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Independently manage a portfolio of fundraising donors and prospects through all phases of the giving cycle, from validation and engagement through cultivation, solicitation, gift negotiation, and stewardship.

• Conduct a minimum of 70 prospect meetings annually to cultivate and solicit prospects and close gifts.

• Complete a minimum of 35 major gifts asks annually.

• Assist in organizing/planning on fundraising events, and annual events to fulfill fundraising goals.

• Responsible for managing communications and follow-up, including maintaining detailed contact reports and phase changes on all donor prospects in portfolio.

• Evaluate various gift opportunities and giving vehicles; recommend the most suitable for particular donors.

• Interact with contacts both within the OU and across the Jewish community to consult on needs, formulate proposal strategies and identify potential donors.

• Meet agreed-upon fundraising goals and metrics by identifying and working with major gift prospects through successful gift closings.

• Promote positive donor relations and stewardship.

Secondary Responsibilities

• Actively maintain a current body of knowledge about OUA’s programs, campaigns, aspirations and development priorities as well as a basic knowledge of general OU programming.

• Perform additional duties and responsibilities as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in education and experience and a minimum of 10 years of fundraising or related transferable experience required.

• Strong commitment to Jewish philanthropy and advocacy.

• Ability to be a persuasive advocate for OU Advocacy’s priorities and present information in a clear and compelling manner, both in writing and in person.

• Have successfully closed 6 and 7 figure gifts

• Ability to use current desktop/mobile office technologies proficiently and to adapt to and usefuture technologies.

• Highly motivated self-starter who can initiate and maintain contacts, relationships, projects, meetings and events.

• A problem solver, able to visualize and articulate solutions using an analytical mindset.

• Ability to handle multiple tasks under deadline pressures.

• Ability to self-motivate, prioritize, work independently and complete multiple assignments with attention to detail in fast paced, rapidly changing environment.

• Sound judgment, tactful and ability to handle highly confidential information.

• Strong initiative and attention to detail.

• Demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a team.

• Enthusiastic, creative and enterprising.

Ancillary Requirements

• Ability and willingness to travel.

• Some weekend and evening work hours required.

The Director of Development for OUA reports directly to the Executive Director of the OU Advocacy Center and has a “dotted line” relationship to the central OU Institutional Advancement team.

Salary Range: $175,000-$200,000