About the Obama Foundation

At the Obama Foundation, we are guided by a core belief: that ordinary people working together can change history. Our mission is to inspire those people to take action, empower them to change their world for the better, and connect them so they can achieve more together than they can alone.

We were founded by community organizers, so when we seek change, we do it by bringing people together. 

That approach begins at home, on the South Side of Chicago, where we are building the Obama Presidential Center. The Center represents a historic opportunity for Chicago: a chance to build a world-class museum and public gathering space that celebrates our nation’s first African American President and First Lady, steps away from where he began his career, where she was raised, and where—together—they made their home. 

But that approach extends to all our work, whether it’s holding leadership training sessions in communities throughout the U.S., bringing local leaders together in countries around the world, working to support the global education of girls, or ensuring young men of color have pathways to opportunity.

As President Obama has said, “we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together.” So join us. 

For more information, please visit www.obama.org.

Purpose of the Role

The Senior Director of Development, International will design and execute a strategic fundraising program outside of the United States to meet short-term goals and set the Foundation up for long-term sustainability. Working closely with select Board members and volunteers, principals from the Obama network, and Foundation leadership and program teams, you will cultivate and steward a small portfolio of critical seven- and eight-figure donor relationships across the globe. You will also manage and grow a team of high-caliber fundraisers who are responsible for rapidly expanding the individual prospect pipeline in key markets outside of the United States.

Reporting directly to the Vice President of Development, the Senior Director will be part of a core group of senior leaders across the Frontline team who are developing and executing a comprehensive fundraising strategy at a critical moment in our fundraising campaign. This is an ideal opportunity for a proven, fearless, creative, and values-driven nonprofit leader with management experience who’s highly motivated to work collaboratively in pursuit of big goals.

Core Job Responsibilities

  • Leadership: Partner with the Vice President of Development to develop, implement, execute, and evaluate long-term goals and strategies in your region. Establish supportive and cooperative working relationships with other Senior Directors to share best practices, new ideas, and collaborate on donor cultivation when needed.
  • Coaching and Management: Hire, train, manage and develop a small team of fundraising professionals and support staff. Provide guidance and strategic counsel to help advance their portfolios.
  • Principal Gift Portfolio Management: Create and lead the strategy for a portfolio of 50+ seven- to eight-figure prospects and develop customized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship plans for each.
  • Volunteer Engagement: Develop strong partnerships with Board members, members of the Board’s Development Committee, and principals from the Obama network to provide support for their fundraising efforts in your region. Develop strategies for engaging other volunteer fundraisers in peer-to-peer fundraising.
  • Philanthropy Stewardship: Represent the Development team in external settings, such as conferences and gatherings. Become a content expert on the Foundation’s programs and partner with other teams across the Foundation to help advance a culture of philanthropy.
  • Operating Effectiveness: Build a culture of Salesforce utilization to track and evaluate the team’s key metrics, and use data to continually improve practices and inform decisions.
  • Fundraising Collateral: Ensure the timely creation and distribution of fundraising/stewardship materials, collateral and briefings, and highly personalized proposals with support from Development’s Donor Relations team.
  • Events: Develop a regular cadence of virtual and in-person events in key markets to identify, cultivate, and steward donors and prospects.
  • Other duties as assigned.

Key Deliverables / Outcomes

  • Meet fundraising targets and key activity metrics.
  • Regional prospect portfolio strategy and annual cadence of fundraising activities.
  • Expanded major gift prospect pipeline through traditional major gift acquisition channels, and through a growing Direct Response program.
  • Curated donor stewardship and engagement plans.
  • Fundraising/stewardship materials, collateral and briefings, and highly personalized proposals.
  • Curated and flawlessly executed regional development events.

Required Qualifications

  • Extensive professional fundraising experience in markets outside of the United States, with expertise in principal and major gift cultivation and solicitation.
  • Demonstrated experience building a successful fundraising program at a large, growing institution.
  • Experience building, leading and coaching dynamic, diverse and highly competent teams of fundraisers, often in remote settings.
  • Superior oral and written communication and presentation skills.
  • An ability to work with donor data and analytics; accountability to metrics.
  • A highly developed talent for collaboration, and an ability to interact with leaders across the Development team and the broader Foundation.
  • Track record of building relationships with major and principal gift level donors, ideally closing principal gifts of at least $1M+.
  • Excellent interpersonal skills and high emotional intelligence, with an ability to develop and maintain long-term, productive relationships internally and externally.

The salary range for this role is between $164,663 and $295,914.

Don’t check off every box in the requirements listed above? Please apply anyway! Studies have shown that marginalized communities - such as women, LGBTQ+ and people of color - are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. The Obama Foundation is dedicated to building an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible workplace that fosters a sense of belonging – so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to still consider submitting an application. You may be just the right candidate for this role or another one of our openings!

In the interest of employee health and safety during the pendency of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Obama Foundation is requiring that all prospective employees present proof that they are fully-vaccinated against COVID-19, or seek a reasonable accommodation for religious or medical reasons, prior to their first day of employment.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The Foundation is committed to creating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. The Foundation does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, parental status, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable laws. We encourage individuals of all backgrounds to apply. If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please e-mail us at careers@obama.org if you require a reasonable accommodation to complete this application.

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