Director of Strategic Partnerships

Washington, DC, United States

BoardSource is a globally recognized nonprofit focused on strengthening nonprofit leadership at the highest level—the board of directors. With more than thirty years of experience, BoardSource is at the forefront of nonprofit board leadership, research, and support. BoardSource provides leaders with an extensive range of tools, resources, and research data to increase board effectiveness, strengthen organizational impact, and serve as the national voice for inspired and effective board leadership.

Almost a decade ago, BoardSource embarked on a transformative racial equity journey. They began by focusing internally to ensure they were living their values and then making an explicit commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the boardroom. As part of their thought leadership work, they introduced the Purpose-Driven Board Leadership framework, offering a fresh approach to governance.

Today, BoardSource continues along its journey of transformation. While they used to be primarily focused on meeting the technical support needs of individual boards, it has become a more complex and impactful organization that marries technical support for boards with a strong leadership voice advocating for necessary change in social sector board leadership, particularly to center equity and shift power toward the communities served by nonprofits.

BoardSource now seeks nominations and applications for their next Director of Strategic Partnerships (Director) . The Director is responsible for leading and growing BoardSource’s corporate, federated, and foundation membership programs in partnership with the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships. This includes directly managing a portfolio of current and potential corporate, federated, and foundation members, focused on the mid-level giving range ($10,000-$25,000). This segment of BoardSource’s membership is critical to the organization’s long-term sustainability and has tremendous growth potential.

In addition to managing a portfolio, the Director will be responsible for designing and implementing a strategy to deepen member engagement and grow revenue from corporations, federated organizations, and foundations. They will report directly to the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships. As BoardSource continues to expand its reputation and impact in philanthropy, the Director will support the external positioning and amplification of BoardSource as a thought leader in the field.

ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW

BoardSource envisions a world where every social sector organization has the leadership it needs to fulfill its mission and advance the public good. This vision is grounded in community – and an understanding that if they are working towards a more just social sector, they must center those who are most impacted by injustice in all aspects of their work. As part of its newly launched Theory of Change, BoardSource will go beyond working for community and shift towards working in community – because those closest to the systemic challenges they are trying to solve have the most grounded perspectives and innovative solutions needed for change.

To realize this vision, BoardSource will ground itself in these four pillars:

Listening : Developing organization-wide mechanisms for gathering data, gleaning best practices, hearing diverse perspectives, and receiving feedback will expand and deepen our knowledge.

Learning : A culture of continuous learning, which seeks new information to evolve and shift thinking, will allow BoardSource to remain at the forefront of current challenges, trends, and innovations in governance.

Co-creation : By learning from and partnering with those closest to the systemic challenges, we aim to address and leverage BoardSource’s thirty-plus years of governance experience. We will develop innovative tools and practices that reflect the collective wisdom of our sector.

Expertise : Expertise rooted in humility, listening, and learning will enable BoardSource's knowledge to be co-created and far-reaching. Our resources will capture the complexity of our continuously evolving field and deliver tailored solutions to meet leaders where they are.

The lens through which they will carry out this work is racial equity and an understanding that boards are one of the most powerful levers for change, equality, and justice. In this moment of great challenge and possibility, they know that their work to support and empower boards is critical, and they feel that call to action every day in their interactions with nonprofit leaders on the front lines of change.

OPPORTUNITIES AND EXPECTATIONS OF THE DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

The Director of Strategic Partnerships will have the opportunity to strengthen and grow BoardSource’s corporate, federated, and foundation membership programs.

BoardSource’s corporate membership program provides access to educational resources to corporate employees serving on nonprofit boards. Through membership, corporations are able to support employees who serve on boards and match employees with nonprofit boards.

BoardSource’s program for federated networks provides both the headquarters and all of their affiliate organizations with access to BoardSource’s educational resources and tools to answer their governance questions, making it simple for the headquarters’ staff to increase governance capacity across the full network.

The Partnership for Effective Board Leadership is a membership program through which foundations are able to support BoardSource’s sector leadership initiatives. Through membership, foundations also enjoy unlimited access to BoardSource resources for their staff and board.

Corporate membership forms part of BoardSource’s earned revenue programs, while foundation membership provides contributed revenue for BoardSource.

Partnering closely with the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships (VP) and the Strategic Partnerships Coordinator (Coordinator), the Director will be entrusted with the following:

Corporate & Federated Memberships

In conjunction with the VP, design and implement BoardSource’s revenue strategy to maintain and grow financial support from corporate and federated members.

Cultivate deep and authentic relationships with current and potential partners through a combination of stewardship, direct outreach, participation in convenings and events, and broad positioning of BoardSource’s corporate partnerships. Work closely with the strategic partnerships team to steward and strengthen member relationships.

In partnership with the Coordinator, manage day-to-day activities of the corporate and federated programs, including renewals, partner meetings, events, communications, and administrative functions.

Develop compelling presentations, proposals, and other creative copy related to the corporate and federated programs.

Serve as liaison with external board matching partners for our corporate members.

Develop expertise in board governance, federated organizations, corporate volunteering programs, corporate social responsibility programs, and current issues in the corporate DEI space. Serve as an external representative for BoardSource with these core audiences.

Identify and execute opportunities to market BoardSource’s membership to the federated audiences proactively.

Embed feedback loops and learning opportunities across relationships to amplify voices in the sector and to inform BoardSource’s resources and tools.

Foundation Memberships

Cultivate and maintain an individual portfolio of relationships with current and potential foundation members.

Ensure deep member engagement and develop member events and special opportunities in partnership with the VP.

Serve as a thought partner for potential expansion of the foundation membership program.

Research prospective funders and partner with the VP on the discovery and solicitation of foundation prospects.

Track and submit grant reports and proposals.

Work across teams to gather data, resources, and perspectives on the field that will support cultivation efforts and strategy.

Collaborate across teams to embed membership learnings within our organization-wide listening work.

Team Management and Operations

In partnership with the Coordinator, ensure streamlined operations, including cross-team workflows and database optimization.

Create and manage a comprehensive moves management system.

In partnership with the Coordinator, manage renewals, agreements, and acknowledgments.

In partnership with the VP, manage corporate, federated, and foundation budgets and analyze reports and pipelines against revenue goals.

Work closely with the marketing and member engagement team to partner on membership campaigns and communications.

Supervise the Coordinator.

Provide direction and guidance on the implementation of strategies and daily/weekly supervision of workload.

Conduct timely performance appraisal reviews; set appropriate, measurable performance goals; provide timely feedback on performance; and ensure individual goals are met.

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS

BoardSource’s next Director of Strategic Partnerships will be someone with strong relationship management skills, experience with fundraising strategy, and a keen collaborator with an eye toward improving systems and processes. Ideally, they will have the following knowledge, skills, and abilities:

5+ years of nonprofit fundraising experience, including independent management of a portfolio; corporate social responsibility and/or foundation experience a plus.

Demonstrated track record of success in identifying, cultivating, and closing revenue-generating partnerships.

Exceptional communication skills and strong writing ability.

A high degree of professionalism and excellent external representation and presentation skills.

Strong organizational skills; ability to balance competing priorities while meeting deadlines.

Knowledge of and passion for the nonprofit sector and boards. Experience working with or serving on boards is highly desired.

Deep commitment to racial equity and an understanding of the role of governance as a lever for change.

Aligned with BoardSource’s values, with the ability to bring a lens of humility, listening, learning, and co-creation to all aspects of the role.

Openness to travel (less than 10%).

Knowledge of MS Office required; familiarity with Salesforce a plus.

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