Location: Great Barrington, MA or Washington, D.C.

Summary

American Institute for Economic Research educates Americans on the value of individual liberty, free markets, property rights, sound money, and limited government. AIER’s ongoing scientific research demonstrates the importance of these principles in advancing peace, prosperity, and human progress.

The Director is primarily responsible for leading our development efforts and scaling our partnership engagement consistent with our fundraising goals. This would include sustaining and upgrading major individual donors and forming strategic relationships with foundations. The Director will personally cultivate, solicit, and exercise stewardship of AIER’s relationships with major donors across the country. Through personal contacts, meetings, networking, and promotion of AIER’s research and programs, the Director will help existing donors come into closer relationship with AIER and its mission while also approaching new prospects.

This position requires commitment to developing and executing solicitation strategies, in addition to collaborating with colleagues to execute those strategies successfully. The successful candidate will be an industrious, personable, and resourceful person who enjoys not only supporting development efforts and processes, but also identifying ways to improve ongoing efforts. This position requires a candidate who can take initiative, drive relationships, and thrive independently while meeting goals. This position also entails supervision of other grant officers and helping develop and execute development events.

The Director will be a member of a collaborative and hardworking team and must be willing and able to travel up to 50%. It is strongly preferred that this full-time position be based out of AIER’s Great Barrington, MA office or out of Washington, D.C., but a remote position in another strategically relevant location will be considered for the ideal candidate. Salary is competitive, commensurate with experience, and includes a full benefits package.

Primary Responsibilities

The Director’s primary responsibilities will include but not be limited to the following:

• In conjunction with the President, strategic leadership of our development efforts
• Managing an active portfolio of approximately 100–150 high-capacity donors.
• Fostering and managing strategic relationships with foundations.
• Developing and executing individual strategies for engaging, cultivating, soliciting, upgrading, stewarding, recognizing, and retaining major donors (including developing and executing on successful donor events).
• Traveling throughout the U.S. for face-to-face cultivation and solicitation meetings with existing donors and donor prospects.
• Researching, identifying, and developing approach strategies for new donor prospects.
• Re-engaging and renewing lapsed donors.
• Developing and implementing fundraising strategies and budgets and ensure they comply with stated goals, guidelines, and objectives.
• Working collaboratively with and supervising/mentoring the development team to achieve clearly articulated goals, both individually and as a team.
• Maintaining accurate and thorough activity notes in Salesforce.
• Utilizing donor research tools effectively.
• Providing regular updates and reports to the development team.
• Travelling to attend AIER events, remaining abreast of mission developments, and developing relationships with key AIER scholars and staff.

Key Qualifications

The successful candidate will have 6+ years relevant experience in a nonprofit setting, including experience making at least five-figure asks, and

• Strategic leadership potential
• Possessing outstanding interpersonal skills to form strong relationships with donors.
• Identifying with AIER’s mission and being comfortable discussing AIER’s position on its primary issues in important meetings.
• Having strong communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Being able to work independently, taking initiative, meeting deadlines with little oversight.
• Staying organized, tracking progress, and meeting goals.
• Possessing a strong network.
• Having an achievement-oriented personality.
• Demonstrating familiarity with moves management and donor research tools.
• Being able to travel up to 50%.
• Innate ability to guide, motivate, and lead team members to success in their own roles for their personal growth and for the growth of the institute.
• Familiarity with right-of-center/fusionist/pro-market intellectual ideas, particularly as it pertains to economics.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee must be able to travel domestically and internationally, lift and transport equipment (up to 30 pounds) within the campus environment; remain in a stationary position for extended periods of time; move around airports, planes, cars, the office and between offices; constantly operate a computer and computer printer; frequently adjust focus for close vision work. The employee must be able to communicate both in writing and orally to various audiences, in person, by telephone, and by video.