Director, External Affairs

Job Title: Director, External Affairs

Team: New York City (NYC)

Location: In-Person in New York City

Employment Type: Full-time

Start Date: ASAP

About Braven

Braven is a national nonprofit that prepares promising young people—many of whom are people of color, from low-income backgrounds, and the first in their families to attend college—to secure a strong first opportunity after college graduation through a career-accelerating program.

We work with higher education and employer partners to offer a life-changing experience that begins with a semester-long course for college students followed by support that lasts through graduation.  

Together, we are helping to open up access to the American Promise, empowering a generation of leaders who mirror the diversity of our country.

To learn more, take a look at Braven’s Impact Report and Jobs Report.

About the Role

To achieve its goal of serving 80,000–100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring a Director of External Affairs.  This role is critical to meeting the New York City region’s $5.95M fundraising goal for fiscal years 2025–2027. It involves cultivating and managing philanthropic and employer partnerships, supporting volunteer recruitment, engaging the NYC Board, and advancing Braven’s brand. 

This role is on the New York City team, reports directly to the Executive Director (ED), and manages one part-time intern.

What You’ll Do

Development  [35%]

• Support the ED to establish NYC’s fundraising strategy, and work with ED and Braven’s development team to complete NYC’s annual revenue gameplan.
• Track NYC’s revenue progress to goal and overall weighted pipeline; project managing the implementation of NYC’s quarterly action plans and adjusting as needed based on lessons learned.
• Support the ED in stewarding donor relationships with excellence; leading prep/follow-up, joining most regional meetings, and owning a portfolio of relationships.
• Partner with the ED and Braven’s development team to identify, vet, and cultivate new prospects; conducting research on priority prospects and creating individualized cultivation plans.
• Strategize with the ED to secure and prepare for donor meetings by leading meeting prep and follow-up (e.g. drafting emails, creating agendas, and customizing meeting collateral).
• Strategize with the ED on how to engage donors through the Moves Management stages and project manage execution of next steps, from making an ask to securing a commitment and stewarding relationships effectively to win a renewal.
• Review grant application and report drafts and support the central development team in submitting high-quality narratives/data on-time.

Employer Partnerships & Volunteer Recruitment [15%]

• Partner with the ED to create NYC’s Employer Partnership (EP) strategy for revenue, volunteer, and program opportunities - identifying EP prospects, building a pipeline, researching and creating engagement plans.
• Serve as a conduit of information about NYC’s program needs, deeply understanding nuances and priorities and advocating for shared-value solutions for Fellows and EPs.
• Manage a portfolio of ~5-10 NYC local EPs, recruiting volunteers, preparing meetings, sourcing opportunities, and (co-)hosting events.
• Collaborate with the central EP team on local contacts for EPs in the national portfolio, joining the ED or taking lead with the central EP director in meetings.
• Support in-person events at EPs for Fellows.
• Support volunteer recruitment through in-person info sessions, tabling, and personal outreach with national and local partners.

Board Management [15%]

• Support the ED on the recruitment of NYC board members -  identifying and vetting board prospects, partnering with the central team on briefs, developing cultivation and engagement plans.
• Prepare the ED for their 1:1 meetings/engagements - customize meeting collateral, lead meeting prep and follow-up.
• Project manage all board meetings - collaborate and coordinate across teams on the draft of the management memo, run of show, deck, pre and post follow up emails; note-taking during meetings.

Operations [15%]

• Create action plans for the quarter, month, and week to achieve goals across workstreams; adapting and adjusting when we’re not hitting shared goals. 
• Ensure systems are accurate with external stakeholder information (e.g. Salesforce, Asana/Jira, Confluence).
• Ensure strong preparation and follow-up for all internal meetings.
• Attend key pr