Cradles to Crayons seeks a creative, strategic, and entrepreneurial leader to head a newly created Vice President of National Philanthropy role focused on establishing national fundraising efforts.

To apply, please email your cover letter and resume in confidence to: cradlesvp@developmentguild.com. For more information, please visit www.developmentguild.com.

About Cradles to Crayons

Cradles to Crayons (C2C), founded in 2002, provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thriveat home, at school, and at play. C2C supplies clothing, shoes, diapers, school supplies, and more, free of charge. Its vision is that one day all children will have the essentials they need to thrive.

Two in five kids in the United States are currently facing Clothing Insecurity, going without basic essentials like pants, shoes, diapers, and school supplies during their critical development years. Three of the top ten reasons kids miss school are rooted in Clothing Insecurity just one example of the significant short- and long-term social and economic costs when these needs go unmet. C2C keeps Clothing Insecurity at the core of its mission and is the only large-scale nonprofit organization to focus on this resource gap. Since its founding, C2C has distributed more than three million customized packages of essentials to children in Massachusetts, Greater Philadelphia, Chicagoland, NYC, and nationally, through Giving Factory Direct a first-of-its-kind online product donation platform launched in 2021.

C2C takes a three-pronged approach to mitigating Clothing Insecurity:

• In-Person Engagement Tens of thousands of children and adults volunteer at the Giving Factory warehouses to sort and package high volumes of new and like-new donations from local communities for Service Partners to then distribute to the children they serve.
• Online Product Donations Giving Factory Direct (GFD) matches product donors directly to children anywhere in the U.S. who need the items they have to donate. GFD is currently available in a growing number of communities as C2C expands its reach nationally.
• Advocacy and AwarenessC2C is uniquely positioned to raise Clothing Insecurity as a national issue through awareness campaigns, data/evaluation, and legislative outreach.

C2C has earned the highest possible rating from Charity Navigator for 13 consecutive years. Only 2% of charities nationwide have received this distinction.

About Philanthropy at Cradles to Crayons

Cradles to Crayons is growing. The philanthropy program at C2C is robust with current annual fundraising at $14M organization-wide. About 50% of this revenue comes from individuals through both annual giving and major gifts, and the other 50% comes from institutions, with strong corporate partnerships nationally and within the various C2C markets. Fundraising for Giving Factory Direct is in the early stages, with most of its funding coming from individuals and corporations.

There is tremendous opportunity to build upon the relationships that have been established and to leverage the organizations national partnerships to develop new partnerships with individuals, corporations, and foundations. Additionally, there is opportunity through the relatively new advocacy initiative to grow government funding. More broadly, a feasibility study has recently been completed and supports C2Cs plans for an 8-figure, multi-year fundraising initiative. The study is a piece of the foundation from which to build C2Cs national fundraising strategy.

About the Position

The Vice President of National Philanthropy (VPoNP) is a critical position as C2C embarks on a new national strategy and strategic plan that evolves the Cradles to Crayons brand and reach. Reporting to the CEO, the VPoNP will be a member of the 6-person Executive Team and will be responsible for driving national fundraising efforts and collaborating with the CEO, and the Executive Directors (EDs) and Development leads within each market (Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia), as well as the VP of Giving Factory Direct, to build a culture of fundraising and grow fundraising for both national initiatives and market operations. They will build and manage a prospect portfolio and partner with the CEO in executing plans for their prospects, as well as prospects of others where the CEO should play a role.

The VPoNP will also work closely with the CEO and other leadership as appropriate in developing fundraising strategy and fundable programs and will establish and staff the National Boards Development Committee. In addition, they will be responsible for further developing and managing the National Board prospect pipeline, identifying new Board prospects, working closely with leadership and the Nominating & Governance Committee.

Additionally, the VPoNP will work closely with the CEO and External Affairs around both national and market level advocacy efforts, serving as an additional spokesperson around advocacy initiatives as needed, and building brand presence, and identifying and helping to cultivate prospects interested in supporting advocacy efforts.

This is a remote position in which VPoNP would be required to live in, or be able to commute to, one of the C2C Giving Factory markets (Boston, Chicago, or Philadelphia) or New York City.

Key Responsibilities

• Model and lead a positive One Cradles to Crayons culture, underpinned by C2Cs Cultural Values and related behaviors.
• Establish the National Fundraising function ensuring that structure, people, and processes are in alignment with overall C2C strategy and development goals.
• Develop and execute strategy for a national fundraising effort, working in close collaboration with the CEO, EDs, Development Directors, and the VP of Giving Factory Direct.
• Utilize current systems and processes to support the strategy and develop new ones as appropriate.
• Develop and execute annual National Fundraising plans including metrics.
• Establish and lead One Cradles to Crayons Fundraising Campaign(s).
• Establish and lead a One Cradles to Crayons Development working group (with dotted line reporting from EDs and Development Directors) with a goal of building capacity, strategizing across regional markets, as appropriate, for national partnerships and coaching on best practices in fundraising.
• Build and manage a portfolio of national individual, corporate and foundation prospects and donors through active identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Working in partnership with the CEO, help to manage their donors and prospects, and direct the CEOs fundraising activity to assist with other prospects as appropriate.
• Collaborate across the organization to build upon the existing individual major gifts program to elevate and formalize the program, engaging more 6- and 7-figure donors in OneCradles to Crayons initiatives.
• Work closely with the National Board and, in collaboration with EDs to further engage them in identifying and connecting new prospects as potential National funders.
• Establish and serve as liaison to the National Board Development Committee and National Chairmans Council.
• Serve as a spokesperson around advocacy and awareness initiatives, and identify, develop, and maintain strong relationships with corporations, individuals, and foundations interested in and/or currently supporting advocacy efforts that align with C2C and elevate its brand.
• Develop a multi-site and national corporate partnership program, working closely with internal stakeholders.
• Research opportunities and prepare national foundation grant proposals, presentations, and other necessary materials.
• Manage and utilize fundraising and donor management systems in support of National Fundraising needs.
• Develop and manage to a National Fundraising budget and goals.

Key Qualifications

• Passion for the C2C mission and commitment to and alignment with C2C values.
• Strategic leader, liaison, and collaborator externally and internally.
• Self-starter with ability to work independently and remotely.
• 10+ years fundraising experience in leadership positions, including experience raising major gifts (6- and 7-figure), annual support, corporate and foundation gifts, as well as managing campaigns.
• Experience developing and managing strategic and annual fundraising plans.
• Strong network, knowledge, and experience working with national funders individuals corporations, and foundations with specific interest in expanding funding outside of current operational areas
• Advocacy experience and familiarity with Marketing/Communications plans a plus.
• Experience partnering with organizational leadership and serving on an executive team.
• Demonstrated success working with Boards and other volunteer committees.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, including persuasive writing and public speaking ability.
• Budget creation and management experience.
• Fluency in Salesforce or other CRM.
• Willingness to travel regularly for donor visits and onsite volunteering.
• Demonstrated ability to hold themself and others accountable.

The salary range for this position is $150,000 to $185,000; the successful candidates starting salary will be determined commensurate with experience, competencies, relevant education and training, as well as skillset. Within the range, individual pay will also be based upon market compensation analysis and geographic location.

Diversity and Inclusiveness are core values at Cradles to Crayons, and we continuously strive to be a team where everyone feels welcome and supported. It is the policy of Cradles to Crayons to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information and/or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. Individuals from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.

Please email your cover letter and resume in confidence to: cradlesvp@developmentguild.com.

For more information, please visit www.developmentguild.com.

Lynn Shevory

Senior consultant

Development Guild DDI

For more information about Cradles to Crayons, please visit https://www.cradlestocrayons.org/