Exodus Lending | St. Paul, MN
Salary Range: $65,343 - $87,124
Position Title: Development Director
Reports To: Executive Director
Status: Regular, Full-time, Non-Exempt/Exempt
Starting Salary Range: $65,343 - $87,124
Organization Overview: Exodus Lending is a nonprofit founded in 2014 that works with financially excluded Minnesotans to advance economic justice through consumer lending, community organizing, and advocacy. We envision a financial system where everyone - particularly those who’ve been historically and systemically excluded - can access, protect, and build wealth. Our organization couples a transformative lending model with grassroots engagement and community-driven leadership through our Minnesotans for Fair Lending (MFL) advocacy campaign to create lasting structural, policy, and systems change.
Exodus Lending is actively growing having received a major 4-year institutional investment in 2024. Today, we are a team of 10 staff with an annual operating budget of $1.3 million. As an equity-centered organization with a small and hybrid team, creativity, collaboration, and open communication is essential. We model and fight for fair lending and wealth justice.
Position Summary: Fundraising is a team sport at Exodus Lending! The Development Director will work in close partnership with the Executive Director, Finance and Operations Director, and the Communications and Marketing Manager on a sustainable development plan and strategy that steadily grows organizational revenue to maintain recent organizational growth. They will lead the design, development, and implementation of a values-based individual giving program that builds upon the organization’s strengths. The Development Director will have the freedom to explore, experiment, analyze, and iterate in building out the fundraising infrastructure, culture, strategies, and tactics to move people and money to mission. They will also play a key support role to the Executive Director and contract grants management team in institutional fundraising. The ideal Director is a goal-oriented systems thinker and networker who has experience building something from the ground up.
Responsibilities
Donor Cultivation and Stewardship (55%)
- Conduct respectful research to identify prospective donors and assess their capacity, interests, and connections to the mission and work.
- Develop and execute an annual fund plan using creative strategies (mailed and/or digital appeals, campaigns like Give to the Max Day, earned media, etc) to identify, qualify, and solicit donor prospects to expand Exodus Lending’s network of champions.
- Expand major gift opportunities, loan pool investments, monthly giving programs, and planned giving portfolios.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with current donors and supporters by developing personalized strategies to deepen connections, including facilitating interactions with our programs and/or advocacy team members.
- Create a variety of donor cultivation and engagement opportunities in partnership with the Communications and Marketing Manager, including the logistics and planning of one annual fundraising event.
- Team up with the Executive Director to divide up the donor portfolio and develop a calendar to regularly meet with donors, one-on-one and in group settings, to share impact and seek additional support.
- Provide excellent and responsive stewardship by acknowledging gifts creatively and promptly, celebrating milestones, and leveraging staff and board capacity to engage.
- Work with the Communications and Marketing Manager on all external communications, including newsletters, social media, campaigns, appeals, and annual reports.
Strategy and planning (15%)
- Develop a realistic fundraising plan in alignment with organizational values to meet annual and future financial goals across multiple revenue streams including individual donors, grants, planned gifts, and/or events.
- Grow current and prospective giving, which may include annual, legacy, stock, matching, recurring, workplace, and/or multi-year gifts and special campaigns.
- Monitor, analyze, and report on fundraising performance and effectiveness of different strategies, providing regular updates to the staff and Board of Directors.
- Stay informed on best practices, trends, and innovations in fundraising and pursue a variety of professional development and networking opportunities.
- Work with the Finance and Operations Director on the revenue and contributions component of our annual budgeting and projections process and collaborate with the team to align the annual fundraising budget with org. values, goals, and priorities.
Grant Review and Reporting (15%)
- Manage the relationship with our contract grants management team which includes co-developing a yearly institutional fundraising plan and monthly check-ins.
- Review and provide feedback on all draft grant letters of inquiry (LOIs), applications, and proposals written by the contract team.
- Work with the Finance and Operations Director to provide organizational data and prepare grant budgets for grant applications and work with the program and advocacy teams to gather program impact and outcome data.
- Write and submit grant reports to institutional funders.
Donor Administration (10%)
- Co-manage the organizational donor database with the Finance and Operations Director, Little Green Light (LGL) that includes foundations, corporations, faith institutions, and individual donors.
- Utilize LGL to track interactions and progress, maintain accurate and timely donor records, retrieve donor data, and generate reports.
- Acknowledge all gifts and pledges promptly and accurately.
- Ensure data integrity by performing semi-annual audits of contact information.
- Manage and troubleshoot obstacles related to online donation forms or other methods of giving.
Other duties (5%)
- Serve as a member of the senior leadership team, aligning development strategies with programmatic and operational goals.
- Participate in bi-weekly staff meetings, directors meetings, and check-ins with supervisor.
- Represent Exodus Lending in the community.
- Assist in and support the overall efforts of the organization, as needed.
- Ensure the privacy of donor and participants' personal and confidential information.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree OR equivalent OR at least 5 years relevant work experience.
- Superior organizational and project management skills, meticulous attention to detail, and dedication to completing work in a timely manner.
- Proactive and self-directed; energized by problem-solving and teamwork and comfortable with continuous learning and change.
- A persuasive and credible communicator with strong interpersonal, writing, and verbal communication skills.
- Strong relationship-building skills with the ability to engage and excite people around a mission.
- Tech-savvy and proficient with Google and/or Microsoft applications and comfortable learning new software and technologies.
- Willing to work a flexible schedule, including occasional evening and weekend hours.
- Practices sound judgment and demonstrates cultural competency in communicating with diverse audiences, especially around current racial, socioeconomic, and political climates.
- Must reside in Minnesota, Twin Cities preferred, but open to considering candidates outside of the Twin Cities Metro.
Benefits:
- Generous Paid time off, starting with 216 hours of PTO, 10 holidays (5 paid and 5 floating), and 80 hours of Earned Sick and Safe time annually.
- Blue Cross, Blue Shield Health Insurance (employer pays 99% of the employee’s premium on base co-pay plan) & Dental Insurance (pays 70% employee’s premium)
- Non-custodial SIMPLE IRA retirement plan with 3% match.
- Hybrid, flexible work environment working part in the office and part remotely.
How to apply: We are committed to the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our work and are particularly interested in receiving applications from those whose identities reflect and/or have lived experiences similar to our program participants. We are accepting applications until noon on Monday, February 24. If interested, please send a cover letter and resume to Anne Leland at director@exoduslending.org.