Director of Advancement

Project Equity grows community wealth by creating more equitable communities and a resilient future through employee ownership transitions

Do you want to see a world where the average employee has economic security and businesses help build resilient communities? So do we! Project Equity helps employees, especially those in low- to middle-wage jobs, become co-owners of the businesses where they work. We raise awareness of employee ownership as a business succession strategy, conduct business outreach, and education, and provide direct support for business owners and employees to transition to employee ownership. Project Equity has grown its team three times over in recent years and is currently expanding into multiple regions around the country and piloting strategies for scale.

Help us tap incredible momentum

With income and wealth inequality (including the racial wealth gap) in the spotlight, interest in employee ownership as a practical solution has gained strong momentum and is in a moment of tremendous opportunity. Thanks in significant part to our own efforts, media outlets such as Forbes, Fast Company, National Public Radio (NPR) and The New York Times have highlighted employee ownership. 

In the seven years since our launch, Project Equity has developed successful, replicable programs designed to scale; seen mounting support from foundations, financial institutions, and like-minded organizations in the field; and built a team that is well equipped to increase our impact. All of these factors put Project Equity in an exciting leadership role in a growing movement to harness employee ownership to maintain thriving local business communities, create quality jobs, and address income and wealth inequality. Join us in tapping this incredible momentum in the employee ownership space!

Your role

As Project Equity’s Director of Advancement, you will lead the refinement and implementation of a robust fundraising strategy. Building on a solid foundation of funding and working closely with our Leadership, you will spearhead our next stage fundraising efforts to support growth, innovation, and large-scale impact.

How you work

• You are passionate about making a difference and supporting employee-owned businesses, and you gracefully convey your passion to others
• You are highly collaborative both with internal teams as well as external partners and contractors
• You approach things systematically and are a natural at zooming out to see the big picture, then diving in to focus on the important details. You get a lot of pleasure in seeing projects through
• You are a strategic thinker and enjoy setting up systems and processes that support effective strategy development and execution

Your experience includes

• At least 8 years of successful nonprofit fundraising experience with strong track record with both institutional donors (foundation, corporate or government) and with individual major donors (you have likely been a development director, advancement director and/or executive director in the past)
• At least 5 years experience growing and leading teams
• Demonstrated experience leading a team to bring in multi-million dollars in philanthropic support annually
• Superb relationship management, interpersonal, and communication (written and oral) skills, including the ability to inspire and hold accountable diverse internal and external stakeholders
• Demonstrated project management skills; ability to work independently and successfully manage multiple projects with competing deadlines.
• A strong understanding of institutional fundraising best practices and dynamics
• Successful major donor fundraising track record
• Bachelor’s degree required 

Areas where you shine

• You’re a strategic thinker. You are adept at identifying traditional and “out of the box” funding opportunities to meet aggressive growth goals.
• You have a real human sensibility. You are a people person and love to engage at a strategic level with donors and philanthropists. You understand what makes people tick, how to connect with their intellect and passions and how to move them to action.
• You’re a communicator. You are an outstanding writer and storyteller, and you love the craft of writing. Your communication skills shine across platforms, whether proposals, articles, emails, presentations, phone or in person.
• You love working with people. You are excited to work with a small, very agile, fast-moving and sophisticated team. You can bring impactful leadership and also integrate well into our team.

Benefits

• Medical, dental and vision coverage: employer covers 100% of employee premium and 30% for dependents
• Simple IRA: A dollar for dollar employer match of the employee's contribution, up to 3% of gross wages
• Short and long term disability, life insurance policy
• Generous holiday, vacation and sick leave.
  • Holidays: 12 days annually, which includes 2 floating holidays.
  • Vacation: 15 days (years 1 ‐ 4) 20 days (year 5+).
  • Sick: 10 days annually