Career Center

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT:  DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT

Saint Ann’s School, an independent school in Brooklyn Heights enrolling students in Pre-Kindergarten through High School, seeks a visionary, creative, imaginative, and experienced advancement professional as its next Director of Advancement.

ABOUT SAINT ANN’S SCHOOL

Since its founding in 1965, Saint Ann’s has embraced a commitment to education for its own sake, oriented to the capacities of each individual student and free of the encumbrances of formal grading, prizes, and rankings. At the same time, we are unabashedly committed to excellence in all that we do. With a faculty and staff numbering close to 400, and nearly 1100 students, Saint Ann’s is among the largest and most selective independent schools in New York City. The lives of our graduates speak powerfully to the potential of an education based on these principles to ignite a love of learning and sustain creative energy in every field of endeavor. We accomplish this by bringing together talented teachers with creative and motivated students. Saint Ann’s is committed to centering anti-racism in the life of the school. Seeking to create a community rooted in trust and equity, we invite each other to take risks, pursue knowledge, and celebrate growth.

THE POSITION

The Director of Advancement will be a key partner with the Head of School, with other senior school administrators, and with members of the Board of Trustees in their solicitation and advancement efforts. The director will be expected to sustain and enhance the School’s connection to its growing number of alumni, and to communicate on behalf of the School with internal and external constituencies. The director is responsible for working with the Head of School to develop a strategic vision for advancement that supports the School’s academic mission, and for executing that vision in partnership with the Head and the Board, while sustaining a culture in which the primacy of the academic mission and magic of the School is paramount, and in which fundraising is a means of supporting the work of students and faculty rather than an end in itself.

The director will play a crucial leadership role in expanding the capacity of the advancement office and in the success and execution of Saint Ann’s fundraising through its annual fund and a capital campaign. They will provide leadership of all advancement operations, the supervision of the advancement team, and all advancement-related communications. The director will work with each team member on campaign planning, setting financial and activity goals, and will be responsible for evaluation of individual performance. The director’s responsibilities will include maintaining a portfolio of major gift donors, overseeing communications and alumni relations, setting and maintaining an annual calendar, establishing the departmental budget, overseeing advancement events, increasing prospect research, developing fundraising materials, and donor stewardship. 

PROFESSIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Education: BA; advanced degree preferred
• Work Experience: A minimum of 10 years of demonstrated experience in front line fundraising; at least 5 years of management experience.
• Fundraising: Track record of success and progressive accomplishments in financial resource development, including success as a development professional with the ability to effectively create and execute fundraising strategic plans, set and meet goals, and manage operations. Demonstrated ability to manage and support major donor programs; successful experience with direct solicitations and work with boards and volunteers on behalf of mission-driven, non-profit organizations. Successful leadership of a capital campaign and soliciting major gifts.
• Creativity: The successful candidate must possess high-level analytical skills, demonstrated ability to plan strategically and creatively in a dynamic environment, and capacity for developing research-driven strategies. 
• Writing Skills: Superb writing skills that capture and effectively communicate an organization's culture and mission.
• DEIB: Demonstrated ability to align fundraising strategies with an organization’s approach diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
• Interpersonal Skills: Superior interpersonal skills, the ability to engage effectively with parents, alumni, faculty and other constituencies in a way reflective of the School's culture, and to project professional competence, leadership capability and personal maturity.
• Management and Teamwork: Strong managerial skills, with a track record of leading teams and inspiring them to achieve benchmarks of success.    
• Work Habits: Ability to effectively manage multiple projects.
• Systems: Experience with fundraising databases and data management systems.
• Other: Commitment to the School’s unique mission and the ability to communicate that mission in an inspiring way to various constituencies.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Work closely with the Board of Trustees, the Board Advancement Committee, other administrators, and volunteers to ensure that the School’s financial and physical resources will continue to support the vitality and excellence of its academic program.
• Lead and manage Advancement Office personnel, including hiring, training, supervising and evaluating staff in order to sustain a highly-functioning and coordinated team.
• Provide effective and visible leadership of the School’s current capital campaign.
• Sustain the success of the School’s fundraising goals and participation levels for the Annual Fund. 
• Partner with the Director of Communications to implement effective communication strategies for the School and for Advancement Office activities.
• Sustain the alignment of Advancement Office activities that reflect the School’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
• Develop fundraising documents, including cultivation tools, briefing materials, and stewardship pieces that capture the School's mission in creative ways. Research and provide briefings to prepare leadership for effective meetings with major donors.
• Oversee alumni relations to effectively engage the alumni community
• Establish, manage, and monitor the annual Advancement Office budget.
• Ensure proper follow-up for all fund-raising activity with major donors and prospects, including donor acknowledgements.
• Develop, plan, and implement events with cultivation and fundraising as the key goal.  
• Oversee use of supporting systems and tools including donor database.
• Prospect, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of major annual prospective donors and capital campaign donors.

COMPENSATION

Salary range: $200-240,000 commensurate with level of experience. Compensation package includes a competitive benefits package.

TO APPLY

A cover letter and resume should be emailed to advsearch@saintannsny.org. To view the full position profile, visit www.saintannsny.org. 

Application deadline:  January 8, 2024 with an anticipated start date of August 15, 2024

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY

Saint Ann’s School admits students of any race, color, religion, creed, gender, disability, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation or any other category protected by applicable federal, state or local law, to all the rights privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, gender (which includes a person’s actual or perceived sex, as well as gender identity and expression), age, marital status, disability, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, familial status, predisposing genetic characteristics, actual or perceived domestic violence victim status, unemployment status, caregiver status or any other category protected by applicable federal, state or local law, in carrying on its educational activities or in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, employment policies, financial aid programs, and athletic and other school administered programs.

About Saint Ann's School

Saint Ann’s School is a leading independent not for profit school located in Brooklyn Heights, New York. Since its founding in 1965, Saint Ann’s has embraced a commitment to education for its own sake, oriented to the capacities of each individual student, free of the encumbrances of formal grading, prizes, and rankings. At the same time, we are unabashedly committed to excellence in all that we do. The lives of our graduates speak powerfully to the potential of an education based on these principles to ignite a passion for learning and to sustain creative energy in every field of endeavor. We accomplish this by offering talented students instruction shaped by creative and dedicated faculty, forming a true community of learners from pre-Kindergarten through high school. With a faculty and staff numbering close to 300, and nearly 1100 students, Saint Ann’s is among the largest and most selective independent schools in New York City. Occupying space in seven separate buildings clustered in Brooklyn Heights, Saint Ann’s draws most of its students from Brooklyn and Manhattan. Saint Ann’s is known for its commitment to an education that brings together passionate and talented teacher...s with gifted and motivated students; Saint Ann’s students excel in academic disciplines and the arts. Our students are the frequent recipients of national awards and recognition for their accomplishments as scholars and artists, and our graduates (who now number more than 2,000) matriculate at the nation’s most selective colleges and universities and have distinguished themselves as writers, poets, musicians, actors, lawyers, physicians, and teachers, among many other professions. Our faculty include authors and scholars, artists, composers, performers, and filmmakers. Our parent body is accomplished, diverse, and committed to the unique educational mission of Saint Ann’s, and our alumni retain profound connections and loyalty to the School.

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