Executive Vice President of Development
National Immigration Law Center
Location Flexible; Los Angeles, CA and Washington, D.C Preferred
About National Immigration Law Center
Founded in 1979, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is a leading U.S.-based non-profit organization (501(c)3) exclusively dedicated to defending and advancing the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants and their loved ones. NILC’s mission is grounded in the belief that everyone living in the U.S.--regardless of race, gender/gender identity, immigration status, or economic status — should have equal access to justice, resources, and educational and economic opportunities that enable them to achieve their full human potential. Together, NILC and its affiliated NILC Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF), a 501(c)4 organization, work to advocate more directly for federal immigration reform policies. NILC is deeply committed to advancing its mission through racial, economic, and gender justice equity analysis.
Following a period of intense growth, NILC’s annual budget is now approximately $20 million, approximately 85% of which is from institutions and 15% of which is from individuals (both grassroots and major donors). Additionally, IJF’s budget is approximately $1 million. NILC also serves as a fiscal sponsor for certain initiatives of varying size and complexity, ranging from a few thousand dollars to more than $1 million.
Today, NILC is at an exceptionally exciting moment in its organizational trajectory. In addition to announcing national immigration rights leader, https://www.nilc.org/2023/04/26/national-immigrant-rights-leader-kica-ma..., as NILC’s new President in April 2023, NILC is currently implementing a https://www.nilc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/NILC-Strategic-Framework..., improving its operational model, and maximizing an already significant impact on advocating for fair and just immigration policies, challenging unjust practices through litigation, empowering immigrant communities with legal support and resources, and protecting the overall rights, dignity, and well-being of immigrants in the United States.
For more information on NILC, please visit https://www.nilc.org/. For more information about the NILC IJF, please visit https://www.immigrantjusticefund.org/.
The Opportunity
Though public awareness and engagement regarding immigrant rights reached an all-time high during the Trump administration, low-income immigrants and other vulnerable immigrant communities still face significant threats to their right to fully integrate into the social, economic, and political fabric of the U.S. As NILC works to build political power for immigrant communities and ensure that immigrants’ rights activists are equipped to combat the aggressive political rhetoric surrounding immigration policies and practices, we now seek a seasoned fundraising professional to lead our development team. Tasked with building and implementing a compelling fundraising vision, our inaugural EVP will partner closely with the President, Executive Leadership, and a talented Development team to align NILC's fundraising efforts across shared goals and impact, implement a robust development strategy, and cultivate an organization-wide culture of philanthropy.
Reporting directly to NILC’s President, the EVP serves on the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and provides overall strategic leadership and guidance on NILC’s and IJF’s fundraising functions. They will lead a mission-driven development department, create, and successfully implement a diversified fundraising plan that meets and exceeds the annual and multi-year revenue needs of both NILC and IJF, and strengthen the long-term sustainability of both organizations by positioning NILC to effectively attract and sustain philanthropic attention and revenue.
Highlighted Position Responsibilities Include:
• As chief development advisor to the President, Executive, Senior Leadership Teams (ELT/SLT), design effective fundraising strategies, execute successful fundraising campaigns, identify, and pursue prospective new funders and major donors, and address the funding priorities necessary to advance NILC’s programmatic goals.
• Lead a comprehensive, diverse fundraising program (institutional giving, a major individual donor program, planned giving, unions and private sector contributions, and a general donor program).
• Directly build and steward a portfolio of 50+ major donors and/or prospects by cultivating meaningful individual donor relationships.
• Develop, monitor, and assess annual fundraising goals and long-term targets for NILC and NILC IJF, in alignment with NILC’s Strategic Framework.
• Closely collaborate with the EVP, Strategic Communications & Narrative to develop and implement compelling marketing and communications strategies tied to programmatic content.
• In partnership with departmental leaders, facilitate collaborative partnerships between Development and Communications teams to co-create unified messaging for funder-facing products and other marketing collateral (i.e., appeals, annual reports, website and social media content, donor cultivation events, donor communications).
• Align short-, medium-, and long-term strategic and operational planning for the development department with overall organizational priorities.
• Build and champion a fundraising culture that empowered NILC and NILC IJF teams to develop and steward high-impact partnerships that provide visibility, build credibility, and grow our list of prospective funders and donors.
• Role-model high standards of excellence for Development team and supervise, mentor, and empower staff, vendors, outside consultants, and third-party administrators by providing constructive and timely feedback, fostering a collaborative environment, identifying individual and collective strengths and opportunities, and encouraging creative problem-solving.
• Provide training, advisory, and resources to principals, partners, and volunteers on best practices for building relationships with donors, including effective communication strategies, cultivation techniques, and stewardship activities.
• Actively engage board members to effectively engage in fundraising activities, serve as a liaison on development and donor cultivation and stewardship.
• Represent NILC and NILC IJF in external networks and alliances.
In recognition of the fluidity of the work and ecosystem that NILC operates in, other duties may be assigned depending on organizational need.
Candidate Profile
NILC firmly believes that everyone has the potential for success and recognizes a range of skills and experiences that complement our mission, goals, and priorities. We strongly believe that diversity in all dimensions of our organization supports and bolsters the innovative thinking essential to our success and are committed to providing equal employment opportunity.
Please note that all staff are currently working remotely. Post-pandemic, up to 20 - 50% travel may be required; role-specific travel as well as quarterly to the NILC Washington, DC office or another location within the U.S. for 3-5 nights.
Compensation & Benefits
NILC’s compensation philosophy is to pay competitively in the nonprofit sector and ensure equity across the organization. The salary range for this role is $230-250K per year. Compensation for the role will depend on several factors including qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience.
NILC provides a generous benefit package that includes employer-paid healthcare coverage (100% for employees and 75% for dependents), employer-supported dental and vision coverage, a 403(b)- retirement plan including an automatic contribution from NILC, paid parental leave, monthly cell phone and wellness stipends, pre-tax accounts for transit, health, and childcare benefits (FSA), and employer- paid short- and long-term disability and life insurance. NILC also provides a generous paid-time-off policy including15 holidays and 22 days of paid time off annually (increased to 32 after 2 years of employment).
NILC is also a qualifying public service employer, which means all full-time NILC employees qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. To learn more about the program, please visit https://studentaid.gov/welcome/?redirectTo=%2Fpslf%2F.
Contact
Koya Partners, the executive search firm that specializes in mission-driven search, has been exclusively retained for this engagement. Molly Brennan and Malissa Brennan of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search. Please submit a compelling cover letter and resume by https://apptrkr.com/4323622.
Koya Partners is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email https://tinyurl.com/4s3eh7j9. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.
National Immigration Law Center is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ applicants.
About Koya Partners
Koya Partners, a part of Diversified Search Group, is a leading executive search and strategic advising firm dedicated to connecting exceptionally talented people with mission-driven clients. Our founding philosophy—The Right Person in the Right Place Can Change the World—guides our work as we partner with nonprofits & NGOs, institutions of higher education, responsible businesses, and social enterprises in local communities and around the world.
At Koya, we don’t just accept difference—we celebrate it, support it, and thrive on it for the benefit of our team, our clients, and the communities we serve.
For more information about Koya Partners, visit https://diversifiedsearchgroup.com/koya-partners/.
Successful candidates will demonstrate these fundamental qualities, skills, and characteristics:
Mission Alignment
A mission-driven fundraiser, you are attracted to the opportunity to challenge injustices, promote fairness and dignity, and advocate for policies that uphold the rights of all immigrants, regardless of their immigration status. You lead with a strong service mentality, experiment to find fresh solutions, extract lessons learned from your failures and mistakes, recognize that your colleagues, teams, and peers bring a unique background and perspective to the work, and assume good intent from all. Throughout your career, you have developed a collaborative, proactive, and action-oriented working style that promotes mutual accountability and inspires trust and confidence from colleagues, team members, and leadership. You bring deep knowledge and understanding of the nonprofit advocacy space, understand its impact on development and fundraising tactics and practices, and feel compelled to champion NILC & IJF’s mission of advancing the rights of immigrants by demonstrating an unwavering commitment to human rights, and racial, economic, and social justice.
Fundraising Strategy
Highly strategic and results-oriented, you leverage a nuanced understanding of effective development principles to build comprehensive strategies that seamlessly align with organizational mission, values, and goals. You create integrated fundraising strategies and campaigns that incorporate donor cultivation, major gifts, grants, corporate partnerships, and fundraising events to elevate the development function and increase philanthropic revenue and fiscal health. You conduct market research to influence strategy, identify emerging trends, and effectively analyze fundraising data, forecast projections, track progress, and make informed decisions based on rigorous financial metrics and KPIs. A reflective leader, you bring broad and deep development expertise, foster organizational growth while strategically considering and leveraging current resources and capacity, and build comprehensive development programs that both attract and sustain philanthropic attention.
Leadership and Management
A reflective leader, you engage in introspection, critical-thinking, and self-assessment to continually improve your effectiveness as a supervisor, partner, and advisor. You foster cross-departmental collaboration to create a cohesive and unified approach to fundraising, amplify your team’s skills and capacity, and empower staff, donors, and partners to actively support fundraising initiatives. An excellent written and oral communicator, you build effective feedback loops, are skilled in assessing organizational needs, and present complex programmatic information clearly and persuasively to your teams, colleagues, and internal and external partners. You learn from past experiences, adapt to new challenges, and consistently build a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. A self-starter, you balance high-level strategy with operational effectiveness, follow-through on commitments, act with a clear sense of individual and collective ownership and accountability, establish clear responsibilities and processes for monitoring work and measuring results, and manage workflows that balance your team’s capacity with ambitious organizational goals and priorities.
Marketing and Storytelling
A skilled storyteller, you bring a record of accomplishment developing and implementing marketing and communications strategies that drive donor engagement, enhance fundraising outcomes, and successfully advance your organization's mission, goals, and strategic priorities. You infuse best- practices with bold, innovative ideas to build and align a strong brand identity with your team’s fundraising activities, ensure consistent messaging by partnering cross-functionally, and develop compelling narratives that position your organization as a trusted and impactful philanthropic partner. You work collaboratively to create and implement comprehensive fundraising campaigns by developing persuasive content, utilizing various marketing and communications channels, and both assessing and optimizing campaign performance through analytics and data-driven insights.
Donor Engagement and External Relations
An adaptable communicator, you tailor your marketing and communications strategies to engage, cultivate, and sustain mutually beneficial relationships with donors. You are energized by developing lasting relationships skills with diverse stakeholders, including institutional funders, high-net-worth donors, political donors, and other internal and external constituents. You model timely and meaningful stewardship practices for your team, utilize storytelling techniques to convey the impact of donor contributions, and effectively leverage your principals to promote fundraising initiatives, engage donors, and achieve fundraising goals. You lead with humility, develop mutually beneficial donor relationships, and work in close partnership with principals to foster effective donor and funder relationships that increase philanthropic revenue and improve the fiscal health and well-being of your organization.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
A culturally competent leader, you take an equity-forward approach to developing fundraising campaigns that are diverse, inclusive, multifaceted, and reflective of the voices and experiences of underrepresented and marginalized populations. You are drawn to NILC’s values of racial justice and equity, value diversity, foster partnership and collaboration, encourage respect and personal well-being, and strive for transparency, integrity, and honesty in your decisions, actions, and intentions. You thrive in mission-driven, culturally diverse organizations that are committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. Inspired by NILC’s goal for our people to reflect the communities in which we live and serve, you ensure that people of color, women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities are welcome, included, and celebrated within your teams, your audiences, and your networks.
In addition, strong candidates will offer:
• Candidates with lived experience are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Experience in progressive movements, advocacy-based organizations, and/or C4 nonprofit
organizations preferred.
• Deep understanding of ethical standards and regulatory fundraising guidelines, sound judgment
in decision-making, high integrity, utmost respect for confidentiality, and a nuanced understanding of the ethical standards and regulatory guidelines in fundraising practices are non- negotiable.
For full job description and to apply, visit https://apptrkr.com/4323622