Associate Director, Major Giving and Corporate Partnerships

Associate Director, Major Giving & Corporate Partnerships

Do you love good design? Do you believe the world needs more inspiration? Bring your fundraising and relationship cultivation skills to an organization that is growing rapidly because we inspire people every day. 

Reporting to the Revenue Director, this position is critical to our small development team, balancing day-to-day operations while driving member, grant, major gift, and corporate sponsorship pipelines. As a key member of our team, you'll cultivate relationships, support major gift cultivation and stewardship, and drive our sustainability goals by strategizing and leading our contributed revenue and fundraising efforts.

You will be surrounded by beautiful, meaningful materials from the Archive’s collection, as well as a diverse and dynamic community of those who love design. Your colleagues will be a small group of people who are passionate about the organization and eager to share their enthusiasm through their work.

About Letterform Archive

Letterform Archive is a nonprofit center for inspiration, education, and community. We offer hands-on access to a curated collection of over 100,000 items related to lettering, typography, calligraphy, and graphic design. Every year, we serve thousands from across the world, including students, practitioners, and design enthusiasts.

With a budget of $4 million, and a full time staff of 22, plus 15 part-time educators and support staff, our revenue portfolio includes earned income from education, publishing, admissions, and programming, and contributed income from members, donors, sponsorships and grants. We encourage you to learn more about us by browsing through our website: letterformarchive.org.

Responsibilities

• Oversee all aspects of identification, cultivation, solicitation, recognition and stewardship of all individual major donors, including working closely with the Revenue Director on end-to-end planning and management of the annual Major Gifts and Year End Fundraising Campaign. Provide support to other fundraising campaigns throughout the year as needed. 
• Develop and implement an annual plan of personalized moves management for all Circle-level donors.
• Work closely with the Revenue Director, Executive Director and Board members to engage major donors, annual fund donors and prospects throughout the year.
• Create and attend cultivation and stewardship opportunities for donors and prospects individually and through small gatherings to raise visibility and deepen relationships with leadership donors. Events often take place in evenings or on weekends.
• Analyze, evaluate and prepare reports on progress and success of individual major giving against annual goals.
• Manage and grow corporate partnership program.
• Manage and supervise the database support staff to oversee gift entry and acknowledgements, weekly and month reporting, and general communications with donors and members, as tracked in the database.
• Ensure related major donor information and moves management activities are accurately recorded in the organization’s donor database in a timely manner.
• Work with the Revenue director to create an annual budget (fiscal year Jan-Dec) and fund development plan with specific benchmarks for major gifts.
• Support community engagement opportunities and fundraising events as assigned or delegated.
• Cultivate and steward leadership donors who attend the Archive’s events.
• Manage the grants portfolio including collaboration with grant writing consultant and staff to develop reports and proposals in a timely manner as well as communicate with appropriate staff about grant awards, deliverables, and timelines. 
• Work in partnership with marketing, design and social media team to create compelling fundraising messaging and campaigns.
• Foster a culture of philanthropy by educating staff, volunteers, and board members on fundraising importance and impact, enhancing engagement strategies for donor cultivation.

Minimum Qualifications

• At least 3-5 years of fundraising experience with progressively increasing responsibilities. 
• Demonstrated ability to self-start, execute various components of a strategic development plan, and solicit engagement with donors and prospects.
• Experience with soliciting corporate partnerships.
• Experience as a strategic thought partner with the ability to engage in creative, entrepreneurial thinking, and then execute new ideas.
• Proven track record as a team player and relationship builder, demonstrating resourcefulness in setting priorities, proposing efficiencies, and guiding investment in people, systems, and facilities.
• Excellent people skills and a proven ability to engage community members in areas of passion and interest and to craft specific messaging to garner support.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, flexibility and comfort in a rapidly changing environment, and ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines, with a high degree of integrity and dependability.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience desired

Ideal Qualifications

In addition to the minimum qualifications above, an ideal candidate would have some, but not necessarily all, of the following qualifications as well:

• Experience working with archives, museums, or special collections and a knowledge of or interest in the arts, especially graphic design and related printing arts.
• Familiarity with HubSpot or similar CRM system

Physical Demands

The Associate Director of Philanthropy will regularly be required to perform desk-based computer tasks, including using a computer screen for long periods of time, typing, and making phone calls. They may also occasionally be required to move items weighing up to 10 pounds or push and maneuver a fully-loaded book truck weighing up to 60 pounds. They may also frequently be required to move items weighing up to 30 pounds and travel for local and non-local donor meetings and special events. The Archive will provide reasonable accommodations to an employee with a disability who requires accommodations to perform the essential functions of their job.

COVID-19 Vaccination Policy

To ensure the health and safety of the Archive’s community, all newly hired employees of Letterform Archive are required to be fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment, absent qualifying exemptions for medical, religious, or other reasons in accordance with all applicable laws.

Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination

Letterform Archive is an equal opportunity workplace, community, and place of learning. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. The Archive does not discriminate in employment or in offering educational services and programs. Learn more. 

Position Type, Schedule, and Location

This is a full-time, exempt position working 40 hours per week during the Archive's normal office hours in addition to occasional nights and weekends as required. It is hybrid and onsite at Letterform Archive’s offices in San Francisco 3–4 days per week. The position is open to all with current US work authorization and California residency. This role will travel about 10–15% of their time for donor visits and events.

Compensation and Benefits

The pay rate for this role is between $85,000-$105,000 per year depending on candidate experience and qualifications. 

Letterform Archive offers benefits to all full-time employees including:

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage with subsidized dependent coverage
• Three weeks of Paid Time Off each year with incentive accrual up to four weeks per year
• 10 paid holidays per year
• Sick leave
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Pre-tax commuter benefit
• Annual professional development budget
• Complimentary Archive membership, and waived tuition to Archive workshops

How to Apply

Please apply by submitting a résumé and a short cover letter explaining your interest in this position at letterformarchive.org/careers by Wednesday, March 31, 2025.

You may address your cover letter to the Revenue Director, Grace Tsai, and it should be no more than one page. The most effective cover letters explain your interest in the Archive and this position, and make clear how your qualifications match this role’s responsibilities.