Chief Institutional Advancement Officer

Salary: Level H - Salary starts at $175,840, commensurate with experience

About People’s Action/Institute

People’s Action Institute (501c3), and sister organization People’s Action (501c4), are national progressive organizations supporting the mobilization and leadership of the grassroots in support of an agenda that reflects people over profits. People’s Action/Institute builds the power of poor and working people in rural, suburban, and urban areas to win change through issue campaigns and elections. 

With offices in Washington, DC, and Chicago, IL, and remote staff across the country, we support and advance state-based and national fights for progressive policies on the environment, decarceration, health care, economic security, housing, education, and more. Our member organizations, 40 organizations across 30 states, improve lives by running local- and state-level issue and electoral campaigns, leading statewide tables, and collectively coming together to change national policy and politics.

 

People’s Action/ Institute has a track record of leadership in coordinating field mobilization and advocacy in advancing an array of issues at the local, state, and federal levels. Our member organizations have won important victories at the national, state, and local levels, including health insurance for millions and the reversal of health care laws that discriminate based on citizenship, stopping Wall Street banks from selling predatory payday loans to their customers, and historic legislation like the Community Reinvestment Act to victory and the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

 

For more information on PAI, please visit https://peoplesaction.org/.

The Opportunity

People’s Action Institute is hiring for a Chief Institutional Advancement Officer! You should apply if you are: 

• A proactive and visionary leader with organizing and communications experience who seeks opportunities to drive philanthropic and external communication strategies at the national and local levels. 
• If you deeply understand donors and the philanthropic ecosystem and can move them on behalf of social justice movements.
• If you’ve built strong relationships in the social justice and philanthropic ecosystem.
• If you can craft long-term goals and plans with annual milestones in a broadly participatory process.
• If you’re excited about organizing money and new ideas.

Overview of the Position

The role of the Chief Institutional Advancement Officer is to plan, manage, and oversee all fundraising and external communications activities for the organization. It is their responsibility to ensure that the organization's mission, vision, and work are communicated effectively and with a strong impact. The Chief Institutional Advancement Officer must bring their own ideas to the table and collaborate with campaigns, power-building, movement politics, and the organizing revival to generate projects, ideas, and experiments that will be based on the trajectory of People's Action Institute and its partners.

As a Chief Institutional Advancement Officer, your typical day will include (but isn’t limited to):

• Advancing our mission by educating philanthropy on the role of organizing to build an inclusive multi-racial democracy and an economy where everyone thrives: Serve as a partner to the Executive Director, Chief of Strategy and Partnerships, and Chief of Organizing Programs to identify, research, and pitch fundable initiatives, projects, and programs that will increase People's Action Institute's impact.

• Coordinating Strategies & Establishing Donor Cultivation Systems: In coordination with the Executive Director, Chief of Strategy and Partnerships, and their teams, create and implement strategies to grow People’s Action's philanthropic portfolios. Establish strategic donor cultivation systems across the organization and, together with the Development Director and team, create efficient processes across the organization to maximize internal capacities for fundraising. Research, prospect, cultivate, and help coordinate relationships with donors for People’s Action/Institute and our PAC. Provide management and supervision support for the Development Director and their team. 

• Working closely with our Communications and Digital Director to sharpen our external communications strategy and grow our impact in communicating our vision and strategy within the movement, individuals, and across the country: Establish quality measures for external-facing products to ensure we are telling a consistent and compelling story about People’s Action and our work. Identify and establish strategic opportunities for PA’s leaders to engage in, including conferences, media appearances, and social media engagement. Provide management and supervision support for the Communication & Digital Director and the team to create a culture of individual growth and development.

• Building alignment on priority infrastructure and raising philanthropic support with an experimental approach: Research and raise money to scale successful experiments. Invest in using Generative AI and other technology to advance donor research, fundraising, and storytelling. 

The ideal Chief Institutional Advancement Officer should have the following experience and qualifications: 

• Advanced equity analysis and practice with a clear analysis of how racism and other forms of oppression impact relationships, systems, and culture, and a track record of working and collaborating effectively in a multiracial, intergenerational workplace and sector.
• Ability to work with diverse people and organizations
• 20+ years of relevant professional experience, including people management experience, with a strong focus on deep and relational base-building grassroots organizing, democratic participation, co-governance, civic engagement, electoral and legislative campaigns, and issue-based organizing. 
• 20+ years of directly raising funding for other organizations and/or experience and strong relationships in the progressive philanthropy ecosystem. 
• Proven ability to create, expand, and oversee comprehensive long-term strategies; including creating and driving effective strategies and plans to promote transformative stories and innovative ideas
• Highly effective relationship-building skills, including one-to-one interpersonal networking; ability to leverage and communicate effectively with diverse audiences: executive leaders, board members, donors and institutional funders, leaders of progressive organizations, constituents, and PAI team members.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with an emphasis on the ability to persuade and influence others around ideas, decisions, and financial support in individual and group settings; confidence to assert, present perspective, engage others and influence outcomes.
• Forward-thinking, flexible, and adaptable style with the ability to be a collaborative team player.
• Experience in membership and leadership development, running strategic campaigns/base-building, or working in organizations that prioritize building the power of traditionally marginalized constituencies.

Compensation and Benefits:

Status: Full-Time, Exempt,  benefits-eligible

Union Position (Yes/No): No

Salary Range: Level H - Salary starts at $175,840, commensurate with experience

Location: Can be based in our Chicago, IL or Washington, D.C. office, but remote locations may be considered anywhere within the United States except Hawaii and Alaska.   

Reports to: Executive Director

Direct Reports: Development Director, Communications & Digital Director

Travel Requirements (Yes/No):Yes; Every other month, at least six times a year

Benefits Include: Health Insurance, Dental Insurance, Vision Insurance, Medical, on the first day of employment, and Dependent Care Flex Spending Account after 90 days, 401(k) plan after 30 days, Long-Term Disability Insurance, Life Insurance, 4 floating holidays (Presidents Day, May Day, Indigenous People’s Day, Veterans Day, a week off during the summer, 10 paid holidays plus the last two weeks of the year that include Christmas Eve/Christmas Day as well as, New Year’s Eve, and you accrue two weeks of vacation your first year of employment.  

Commitment to Disability, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

People’s Action/Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer; womxn, people of color, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQI people are strongly encouraged to apply.

Our Commitment to Equitable Compensation:

We believe in fair compensation for your work - no matter where you live. Our salary scale is comparable to salaries you would find in Chicago, IL, where our headquarters is based. It is based on your months/years of work experience.  While we do not determine education as a factor in whether we hire someone to work for People’s Action Institute, we do factor in any relevant higher education experience that you have. To further counter pay inequities and inequality on the team, we have a non-negotiable compensation practice and provide opportunities for advancement for full-time employees based on performance evaluation. Your starting pay reflects where you sit within our salary scale and is based on the information that you provide us on your resume. PAI continues to monitor wages through triennial compensation analysis to ensure that we continue to offer our prospective and current employees fair wages. 

Union

People’s Action Institute recognizes our staff bargaining unit affiliated with the Chicago Midwest Regional Join Board, Workers United (CMRJB). Any position that is indicated as included in People’s Action Institute’s bargaining unit will be covered under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.

Close date: April 7, 2024

For any questions about the position, please contact d.mcgee@peoplesaction.org or linda@movementtalent.org.

remote work