Now Hiring: Foundation Development Director

America’s Newspapers Foundation is seeking a Development Director (Contractor) to coordinate and support senior leadership to execute our fundraising plan and grow our institutional and private funders pool. 

If you believe that having a sustainable local news source is important, this is a great opportunity to help us find funding to support local journalism training and other important initiatives that are sorely needed.   

We are looking for someone to start in July 2024 and continue until December 2024, with the potential to turn into a full-time role after 2024. This person will work an average of 15-20 hours per week. The hourly rate for this role is $55/hour. 

Our mission is to help newspaper publishers create sustainable local journalism organizations. Founded in 2019, America’s Newspapers is now a 6+ person, $2 million, all-remote organization. 

We've helped shape the practices of hundreds of local news organizations and thousands of individual managers and staff by providing relevant training and sharing of best practices.

We work with local news organizations to create sustainable business models in the local news ecosystem across the United States. 

As publishers face the decline of traditional advertising revenue and challenges of demonstrating the need for local consumers to support their newspaper through a paid subscription, we provide training and studies on alternative revenue streams and varying business models. 

From creating exciting events that impact a community and create incremental revenue, to fostering a climate that produces local philanthropic contributions, we seek alternative models that can help publishers find sustainability. We provide training online at low or virtually no cost and we provide sharing of best practices at our two annual in-person conferences.

You will work with Dean Ridings, the CEO, and with our team to identify organizations and individuals who are interested in supporting local journalism. The Development Director will be responsible for providing the systems, intel, writing and coordination of support that enables America’s Newspapers Foundation to grow and sustain a base of active funders. 

This person will generally engage in the following (exact duties and projects may be adjusted depending on experience):

• Support the execution of a fundraising plan with input from senior management 
• Coordinate the path (specific tasks and projects) to achieve quarterly goals; create and/or monitor project plans, coordinate with team members, track progress, send reminders and follow-up to support the team to advance key fundraising timelines, projects and goals
• Maintain systems for tracking incoming and existing grants, prospect potentials, deadlines, regular donor engagement communications, and key benchmarks.
• Connect with team members across roles and teams within the organization to move key fundraising projects forward
• Coordinate and support the organization’s efforts to grow and engage with our pool of identified potential institutional funders 
• Prepare senior leadership for funder meetings, including conducting research and developing prep materials for meetings that synthesize the funder’s portfolios, topics of interest and their connection to local journalism
• Write the first draft of Letter of Inquiry, grant applications, reports, and donor/stakeholder engagement emails and/or work with identified grant writers to submit grant requests
• Support follow-up after funder meetings – ensure next steps, tracking progress, timelines, deliverables, etc
• Research foundations and institutions for possible funding opportunities
• Monitor, coordinate, and support timely submission of grant proposals and reports
• Maintain project plans with benchmark deadlines to ensure the team gathers edits and submits data ahead of deadlines and submits proposals and reports on time.
• Consistently remind senior leadership and team members of upcoming deadlines
• Support senior leadership in narrative writing for proposals and reports: compile initial drafts using existing templates when needed, conduct copy editing, collect and incorporate edits

Part-Time Employee or Independent Contractor

Salary: $55/hr

Location: Remote (based in the US)

• We are an equal opportunity employer.
• At least two years of non-profit development experience
• Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal skills.
• Remote: The position can be based anywhere in the continental U.S.
• While travel is not a routine part of the position’s responsibilities, attendance at the organization’s conferences (two annually) may be beneficial.

Resumes should be sent directly to Dean Ridings dridings@newspapers.org

For more information about America’s Newspapers and America’s Newspapers Foundation, visit newspapers.organd newspapersfoundation.org