Senior Director, Major Gifts Officer

Company Description

KIPP Public Schools is a national network of public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 275 schools, nearly 16,500 educators, and more than 175,000 students and alumni.  

Our mission: Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose—college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world. 

Our vision: Every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities. 

The KIPP Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports KIPP schools across the country. The KIPP Foundation trains and develops outstanding educators to lead KIPP public schools; provides tools, resources and training for excellent teaching and learning; promotes innovation; and facilitates the exchange of insights and ideas across KIPP and other public schools and organization.

About Our Values: 

Focus on Excellent Results: Winning for Children and Families – Denying people of color and people experiencing economic hardship excellent outcomes from public organizations is longstanding and only perpetuates inter-generational racism and poverty.  We pursue excellence at a world-class level because our children and families deserve nothing less.  We focus on excellent results, generated by excellent daily action, because intentions alone will not enable our children to lead fulfilling lives. 

Courageous Action: We do Hard Things All day, Every Day – Our work is centered on reversing the impact of generational racism and poverty on children of color from low-income families.  This work is inherently challenging and will never be easy.  Our mission requires that, through concerted action, we embrace, confront, and overcome adversity. 

Resilient Solutions Focus – Find a Way or Make One – We doggedly pursue solutions to every problem we confront.  For every problem, we find or invent a solution.  We are smart, optimistic, and thoughtful in crafting solutions, but also timely, recognizing that our children only have one life to live.  We embrace a growth mindset, believing that simply because we have not achieved our ultimate aims today does not mean that we cannot tomorrow.  We chase the continuous improvement of ourselves, our interpersonal relationships, our teams, and our organization. 

Job Description

About the position 

KIPP Foundation is raising funds to fuel our ambitious plan: One KIPP. Centered on K12 academic excellence, our strategy entails a shift to aligning all regions and schools to a core set of best practices in K8 literacy, K8 math, high school, Match, and leadership development. By implementing these practices with high-quality, we will achieve our goal of having 75% of students ready for positive college and career outcomes. At KIPP’s scale, tens of thousands of students from Black and Latinx communities coast-to-coast will be pursuing college degrees, equipped with the knowledge and skills required to graduate and succeed in their chosen career.  

Expanding the set of champions invested in and engaged with KIPP, at the national and regional level, is critical to deliver our ambition. Under the leadership of Chief Development Officer (CDO) Ben Cope, a longtime KIPP leader with a track record of raising gifts from high net worth individuals and institutions, our talented, passionate development team seeks to add three Senior Directors, Major Gifts who will each play a pivotal role in fueling the One KIPP plan and advancing educational opportunity.  

Reporting to the CDO, each Senior Director, Major Gifts is responsible for: identifying and cultivating individual donors to invest in KIPP at the national and regional level, raising $5-20 million per year, and managing and stewarding major gifts. They will partner with 2-5 KIPP regions to cultivate local donors for joint national and regional investments; this is a new approach to our work, and the person will be shaping the approach alongside our Chief Development Officer. 

The right person will bring a passion for KIPP’s students; an unquenchable drive to meet ambitious goals; and experience inspiring high net worth individuals. They bring the highest level of care and intentionality to their work and are energized by serving as an external leader representing KIPP. The person in this role will join a talented, passionate development team with strong operations and communications capacity.  

Fundraising: Identify and Cultivate Individual Donors