POSITION REPORTS TO: VP, Revenue & Operations

PRIORITY APPLICATION DEADLINE: July 25, 2025

LOCATION: Detroit, MI

WHAT YOU’LL DO

All prospect & donor management roles on Field Fundraising teams are responsible for cultivating, stewarding, and managing a portfolio of donors in our local communities who share our commitment to ensuring that all children have access to an equitable and excellent education. As a member of the Field Fundraising team, you will be a part of a team-based effort charged with developing and executing on a long-term vision and strategy to achieve our development goals for both public and private funding. In your role, you will partner with Executive Directors, regional advisory board members, and other front-line fundraisers to maximize giving, playing a key role in new donor strategy and acquisition over the next 3-5 years.

Reporting to the VP, Revenue & Operations, you will be charged with raising $1-5 million from a portfolio of private donors. You will work directly with the Executive Director or other field fundraisers to cultivate, solicit, and steward your portfolio of donors, and ensure the primary solicitor is well-positioned to engage with donors across fundraising streams and at all stages of the donor life cycle. We are looking for a true team player who can make a significant contribution across a local fundraising landscape. In partnership with local Executive Directors, the VP, Field Fundraising and other fundraisers in local markets, you will be a key contributor in developing and executing the strategy to acquire, cultivate, retain, and diversify your portfolio of donors.

WHAT YOU’LL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR

• 45% - Manage, cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of individual donors—primarily gifts at the $5K - $25K level—ensuring that primary solicitors are well equipped to engage at all stages of the donor life cycle. Collaborate with regional staff to build a bench of TFA ambassadors, including corps members and TeachMichigan Fellows, to support high-touch donor experiences.

• 25% - Work in close partnership with the Executive Director, VP, Revenue, and other fundraisers to build the relationships necessary to advance fundraising efforts, which includes regional advisory board members. Drive the efforts to establish a Champion Circle, a giving society for TFA Detroit’s long standing investors.

• 15%- Leverage broader vision set for the local fundraising landscape to build and execute a plan for cultivating a portfolio of donors with the goal of maximizing revenue to the organization as a whole.

• 10% - Consistently maintain donor, prospect, and fundraising activity information in our customer relationship management system (currently SalesForce) and leverage this information to track progress, monitor gaps, and adjust strategy and approach

• 5% - Steward team and organizational initiatives

A WEEK IN THE LIFE:

Over the course of any week, the D, Development will spend time:

• Scheduling and taking meetings with prospective donors to share the mission and impact of TFA Detroit/Michigan.

• Cultivating and stewarding current and prospective donors to keep them engaged with our current work.

• Writing follow up proposals and sharing opportunities to connect a broader network to our mission.

• Closely managing and tracking donor interactions in TFACT, ensuring accurate record keeping.

• Building relationships with the TFA Detroit/Michigan team and educators to deeply understand the nuances and complexities of education.

YOUR EXPERIENCE

Your areas of knowledge and expertise that matter most for this role (minimum qualifications):

• Relationship Building and Management

  • Build strong relationships with prospects and donors and/or support the primary relationship holder/solicitor through a comprehensive relationship management plan

  • Strong written and verbal communication skills with a variety of internal and external constituents

  • Ability to manage up and laterally to influence teammates in service of donor stewardship

• Fundraising and Development

  • Have a solid foundation in best practices of development and fundraising

  • Experience stewarding a portfolio of donors/funders from various funding streams

  • Contribute to complex fundraising and relationship management initiatives

• Portfolio Management

  • Leverage the market vision and overarching strategy to determine the specific approach to steward a portfolio of local donors and execute on that strategy in service of maximizing revenue to Teach For America as an enterprise

  • Monitor progress against the portfolio to ensure continuous donor stewardship

Prior experience

• Required: At least 4+ years of related experience in development and fundraising context

• Required: Track record of meeting and exceeding ambitious goals managing and/or supporting the management of a portfolio of donors

• Required: Bachelor’s Degree

• Preferred: Knowledge and experience working in the Detroit/Michigan education and/or philanthropic landscape

Skills

• Balances the art and science of fundraising with a deep understanding of development best practices.

• Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal, that allows you to represent TFA to a broad scope of external constituents.

• Thinks big, sets ambitious goals, sees the full system and the next move, and is a problem-solver.

• Carries themselves with humility, curiosity and generosity, and embraces the opportunity to learn along the way.

• Is a self-starter with strong project management skills and highly organized with impeccable attention to detail.

• Possess a track record of working across lines of difference to achieve results.

Work Demands

• Occasional weekend or evening work hours required.

• Some travel to engage with local donors may be required

YOUR FUTURE TEAM

The Revenue and Development team at Teach For America inspires donors and champions to contribute to shaping the future of our country by investing in Teach For America’s work with students nationally and regionally. We aim to source investments that fuel our work and impact with a revenue growth trajectory to raise $300 million annually. This role will be an essential part of the Field Fundraising arm of the Revenue and Development team, maximizing the contributions of local donors across multiple regions of the country.

As frontline fundraiser for the TFA Detroit/Michigan region, TFA Det/MI is pursuing a ten year goal that by 2030, twice as many economically disadvantaged children in Michigan will reach key educational milestones indicating they are on a path to economic mobility and co-creating a future filled with possibility. Our goal calls for us to recruit and retain high impact educators across the state; develop them into system level leaders who can deliver for their students, schools and communities; and connect them with one another and broader coalitions to advance state and local policies, practices and innovations that drive toward greater equity and excellence.

In 2022, the State of Michigan invested $30 million to expand our educator recruitment and retention work statewide. Since then, our community has grown to over 500 educators impacting over 90,000 students. As directed by the Legislation, we will evaluate and report results to inform system level educator recruitment, development and retention efforts. Ultimately, we will be successful if we build a community of highly effective educators and leaders who inspire others to teach in Michigan, and who individually and collectively model and contribute to system change.

YOUR COMPENSATION

The applicable salary range for each U.S.-based role is based on where the employee works and is aligned to one of 3 tiers according to a cost of labor index in that geographic area. Starting pay for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of job-related factors, which may include education, training, experience, location, business needs, or market demands. New hires are typically brought into the organization at a salary range between the minimum and the salary range midpoint depending on qualifications, internal equity, and the budgeted amount for the role. The expected salary ranges for this role are set forth below. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Tier A: $78,700 - $101,300

You can view which tier applies to where you plan to work here.