Career Center

Rockwern Academy, Cincinnati’s pluralistic Jewish Day School, is looking for a director of
development.

Who are we?
Rockwern Academy’s mission is to expand minds, celebrate Judaism, nurture community, and commit to building a better world. An exceptional student-teacher ratio allows us to value each student as a true individual, discovering what gives them their inner spark. Serving toddlers through sixth graders (and in some years, seventh and eighth graders too), we

• Inspire a lifelong love of learning, as our experienced teachers prepare our students to thrive in top high schools.
• Create a more compassionate world by teaching values and ethics that last a lifetime.
• Nurture our powerful sense of community, fostering strong relationships between students of all ages, teachers, staff, and families.
• Explore the power of technology to engage students, developing tools for critical thinking and problem solving.

Overview
The director of development is a driven self-starter who is comfortable building relationships with multiple donor audiences and is committed to cultivating, stewarding, and soliciting donors for the school’s annual, capital, and legacy campaigns. The director is passionate about the mission of the school and the growth and health of the broader Jewish community. The professional comes to the role with extensive campaign management experience and the ability to be a strategic implementer and problem solver. The director will partner with staff, board members, volunteer solicitors, parents,
and funders to develop and implement a comprehensive fundraising strategy.

Reporting Relationship
This position is full-time and reports directly to the head of school.

Responsibilities

• Work with the head of school to develop and implement a comprehensive fundraising strategy and execute to achieve annual development revenue goals.
• Develop an annual fundraising budget that is linked with the priorities of the department and school. Monitor and track budget progress in coordination with Rockwern’s accounting team, including through monthly income reconciliations.
• Manage the annual calendar, coordinating the timing of campaigns, events, and grant writing and reporting.
• Oversee and coordinate the effective solicitation of the organization’s major donors, assigning solicitations to volunteers and key staff, soliciting a portfolio of donors, and coordinating a major donor recognition event.
• Manage the work of a development committee and multiple campaign sub-committees with a focus on planning and solicitation.
• Spearhead a targeted campaign for family and friends (grandparents); oversee the work of a grandparent committee, implement a cultivation event, and coordinate solicitations.
• Collaborate with the director of admissions & outreach to execute an annual community fundraising event (Rockwern Alive!) and other donor events such as major donor recognition and a grandparents and special friends’ day.
• Lead the implementation of Rockwern’s Create Your Jewish Legacy program, including cultivation, stewardship, solicitation, and recognition of legacy donors.
• Work with the head of school to identify key funding needs that lend themselves to grant support. Identify new grant opportunities. Manage writing, reporting, and occasionally implementation of grants.
• Lead strategy for all donor communications including Annual Campaign promotional materials, website, and direct mail appeals, with appropriate messaging, in coordination with marketing staff.
• Work with the development administrator to track all donor giving as well as cultivation, stewardship, and other donor engagement in Rockwern’s development database (Blackbaud RE-NXT). Ensure integrity of data.
• Meet with major donors on an ongoing basis; cultivate relationships with current donors, and grow prospective donor relationships.
• Build ongoing relationships with key stakeholders in the community, including regular meetings with Rockwern’s development liaison from the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati.
• Attend school and community events as a representative of Rockwern Academy.
• Supervise the office administrator as their work relates to development.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; master’s degree preferred
• 5-7 years of experience or more in development or similar role
• Past experience raising significant funds from diverse constituencies
• Experience with major gifts fundraising and grant writing strongly preferred
• Passion for and commitment to Rockwern’s mission and larger Jewish community
• Ability to plan, implement and collaborate across projects
• Ability to establish goals, prioritize requests, and demonstrate results
• Excellent organization, problem-solving and decision making skills
• Ability to maintain confidentiality
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Technological savvy; director will use Google Suite, Blackbaud RE-NXT, and Qgiv
• Ability to work evenings, weekends or irregular hours as needed