Vice President, Strategic Partnerships

About Lever For Change

Lever for Change (LFC) connects donors with bold solutions to the world’s biggest problems—including issues like racial inequity, gender inequality, lack of access to economic opportunity, and climate change. Using an inclusive, equitable model and due diligence process, Lever for Change creates customized philanthropic open calls and other tailored funding opportunities for donors. Top-ranked open call applicants become members of the Bold Solutions Network—a growing global network that helps secure additional funding for these important projects. Lever for Change, founded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2019, has influenced nearly $2.5 billion in grants to date and provided support to more than 500 organizations. To learn more, visit www.leverforchange.org.

About The Role

As a Vice President, Strategic Partnerships at Lever for Change, you will lead the Strategic Partnerships team and serve as a primary relationship manager for donor and intermediary contacts as well as networks that could lead to new clients or unlock capital for Bold Solutions Network members. Reporting to the President, you will also set strategic priorities for the Strategic Partnerships team, be a thought leader, continue to build best in class services that cultivate strategic partnerships, and manage goal setting and professional development for the team. At the end of twelve months, success in this role would mean developing a team able to bring secure 10M donor dollars annually.

The Objectives You Will Meet

As the Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, you will have three major areas of responsibility: strategic partnerships, strategic leadership, and thought leadership. Success in these areas involves meeting the six growth dimensions for the role listed below.

• Proactivity
  
  
  

○ Collaborates extensively cross-functionally to share insights from donors and guides initiatives and tasks to align with new trends, donor requests, and other external factors.

• Adaptability
  
  
  

○ Enables the team and organization to identify and apply new ways of working to continually improve and shift when internal and external factors require quick change or transition.

• Growth Mindset
  
  
  

○ Amplifies the necessity to learn and develop new skills to live the values and create impact on organizational and industry-wide levels.

• Client Orientation
  
  
  

○ Builds teams that understand the various challenges that clients face and how working with Lever for Change provides innovative solutions and ways to contribute positively in the world.

• Inclusive Leadership
  
  
  

○ Embeds inclusive ways of working in all internal and external processes to showcase the team’s unique skills and the importance of diversity in philanthropy.

• Organizational Impact
  
  
  

○ Establishes communication channels to encourage the team to listen to client stories in order to better align with strategic plans and achieving the mission.

How You Will Meet These Objectives

Strategic Leadership

• Serve as a member of the Senior Leadership focused on supporting and executing the vision of the CEO and President
• Use enterprise-level thinking throughout the decision-making process
• Coach all LFC employees on how to market themselves and the organization
• Develop and improve service options for open call clients and Bold Solution Network partnerships
• Strategically partners with Communication team to elevate Lever for Change among client and donor stakeholder groups
• Lead management within and across functional teams and support ongoing professional development
• Provide guidance to direct reports by evaluating skills, experience, and professional development needs
• Exemplify LFC’s values of equity, openness, inclusivity, and transparency and manage the team in a way that demonstrates these values on a daily basis
• Manage and provide oversight to key contractors and vendors critical to the business unit
• Manage budget for business unit
• Identify points of friction in processes and “ways we work” and implement change management
• Serve as a leader/anchor in team culture, embodying the values of transparency, equity, respect, and collaboration
  
  
  

Strategic Partnerships

• Identify and cultivate strategic partnerships with funders, donor advisors, intermediaries, and relevant networks that lead to Lever for Change clients or unlock capital for Bold Solution Network members or achieve other critical organizational goals
• Develop and execute strategies to develop, maintain, and strengthen relationships between Lever for Change and existing donors, prospects, wealth and philanthropic advisors, relevant donor intermediaries, and Bold Solutions Network members
• Build Lever for Change’s credibility among national and international networks of high net-worth individuals
• Negotiate and manage partnership agreements of mutual value to both parties
• In partnership with key internal stakeholders, produce high-quality presentations, cultivation/sales materials, and communications for donor prospects and clients
• Develop and implement creative approaches to donor partner engagement, donor learning opportunities, and marketing of Bold Solutions Network member, inclusive of in-person and virtual engagements tailored to domestic and international audiences
• Work cross functionally to build new services and identify compelling stories to better market a constellation of services to potential Lever for Change clients
  
  
  

Thought Leadership

• Participate in learning and evaluation processes to improve the strategic direction of the organization
• Share insights on the challenges and strengths of Lever for Change’s collaborations with intermediaries and networks to benefit the work of teams across Lever for Change
• Keep abreast of current events, developments, and issues in the field of philanthropy in order to maintain a balanced and objective perspective and to identify opportunities for cultivating new or strengthening current partnerships
• Write extensively for internal/external purposes
• Represent LFC at panels, conferences, and other engagements that help establish LFC as a major player in the social impact space
• Support broadening our service model by providing input on new products and services LFC can offer clients
  
  
  

Who You Are

At Lever for Change, we welcome and embrace a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and approaches to work. We also understand the importance of being transparent in our expectations.

• Advanced degree or equivalent relevant experience required (MBA or MPA)
• Consistently exceed performance expectations, as evaluated by donor and intermediary partners, CEO, President, peers, and direct reports
• Set and execute strategic goals and priorities for the strategic partnerships team and contribute to overall strategic vision of the organization
• Consistently lead Strategic Partnership team with a mindful presence, clear and open communication, and with a high emotional quotient (EQ); able to listen, be curious, ask questions, and empathize with the tensions and motivations of others
• Demonstrate keen interest in supporting, mentoring, and developing junior talent
• Model strong leadership skills across the organization on a variety of projects
• Able to lead multiple projects at the same time and deliver a superior work product
• Adept at problem solving and offering actionable recommendations in moments of difficulty to members across the team
• Forward thinking and able to identify and lead strategic opportunities to expand LFC brand, services, presence, and donor relationships
• Actively seek additional responsibilities and create new internal/external projects focused on adding strategic value to the organization. Take active leadership of these projects and work collaborative and cross-organizationally to bring to fruition
• Build effective peer relationships within Lever for Change and with key external partners, representing LFC and our values to key players in the philanthropy space and beyond
• Keep abreast of current events in philanthropy; bring learnings into internal processes and thinking
  
  
  

Physical Requirements And Work Environment

The work environment is an office setting. Intermittent physical activities will include bending, reaching, sitting, and moving around the office during working hours. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable a person with physical disabilities to perform the job.

• Must be able to navigate throughout various offices of the building
• Communicating with others to exchange information and perform duties
• Ability to read materials on a computer screen
• Repeating motions that may include the wrists, hands and/or fingers
• Moderate noise level consistent with an office environment
  
  
  

This is a remote position with the organization’s primary office located in Chicago, IL. Applicants must be located in the United States.

Annual salary for this role will start at $159,900. We offer a generous total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and a comprehensive benefits package to support your life, health, and well-being.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.