We are searching for an experienced, energetic, and capable Director of Development to lead, grow, and manage Pogo Park’s capacity to secure gifts and grants from individual and business donors, foundations, and government. Over the next three years, a core focus of the Director of Development’s work will be to help Pogo Park’s Executive Director and Board of Directors drive “The Campaign for Pogo Park” to raise $25 million, over the next five years, to scale our impact.   

ABOUT POGO PARK 

Who We Are:  Founded in 2007 and based in Richmond, California,  Pogo Park is a community development nonprofit organization that is registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity.   

Our Mission:  To transform lives by transforming public spaces.   

What We Do: For the past 16 years, Pogo Park has organized and led a holistic, “Built From the Inside/Out” community development project in the Iron Triangle that is centered around empowering a team of local residents to bring broken, blighted, and little used city parks and streets in their neighborhood to life.   See video for inspiration.

Once we design and build our neighborhood “Pogo Parks”, we staff, care for, and clean them – and provide free enrichment programs and services for thousands of local children. Additionally, we work to transform the city streets that connect our two Iron Triangle parks into safe, green, passageways for residents to walk and bike.   

We believe that creating world-class public spaces (i.e. two parks and the street that connects them) in the heart of a tough inner-city neighborhood is a powerful engine for economic and community transformation – and a way to foster the healthy development and well-being of Richmond’s most vulnerable children.   

Why We Are Different:  Pogo Park approaches the process to rethink, redesign, and rebuild city parks in  Richmond in a radically new way. We rebuild parks “from the inside/out.” Instead of hiring professional experts from outside the community to design and build a park “for” the people, Pogo Park hires, trains,   and empowers community residents – experts in their own neighborhood – to design, build, and manage these new Pogo Parks themselves.   

Our Goals:  To change the environmental conditions of the Iron Triangle neighborhood to benefit the health and well-being of thousands of vulnerable children. To transform neglected city parks into high-quality,  enriched children’s playspaces that are specifically designed to spark and foster a child’s healthy development. To use the transformation of parks in Richmond as a vehicle to transform the surrounding community. To make parks and playgrounds “for the people, by the people.”  

Current Status of Our Development Department:  During 16 years of operation, Pogo Park set up the bones  for a superb development department. We have relationships and a proven track record with virtually every  local community foundation. We have a growing base of individual and business donors. Our donor database is accurate and completely set up in Salesforce.  Our core programs qualify for grant support in multiple program areas (healthy children, workforce development, equitable community development, economic development, urban greening, social justice, art, placemaking etc.). Now we are ready to hire a Director of Development to build upon what is already in place – and drive our organization to the next level in fundraising.  

The ideal candidate will have a full understanding of the trends impacting the fundraising industry. They will be a strategic thinker and able to leverage internal and external resources to maximize fiscal and  relationship-building outcomes. The Director of Development will, in essence, drive the fundraising strategy for Pogo Park.   This includes, but is not limited to, expanding the base of Pogo Park supporters, developing a donor  stewardship plan, supporting the Executive Director on donor strategy, solicitation, and Board management,  and overseeing development services.  

DUTIES  

• Serve as the staff lead on The Campaign For Pogo Park, a multi-million dollar effort to scale the organization’s impact.  
• Create and implement a donor strategy that moves existing and prospective individual, corporate,  and foundation donors from identification to solicitation.  
• Oversee Pogo Park’s individual giving program to ensure annual fundraising goals are met and exceeded.  (Note: A disproportionate amount of time and effort will be dedicated to building Pogo Park’s base of individual and family supporters at the $10,000+ level.)  
• Proactively identify, cultivate, and solicit individuals for annual and multi-year support, volunteer programs, special projects, and event sponsorship.  
• Grow and scale Pogo Park’s corporate partnership and sponsorship programs.  
• Building, managing, and mentoring a development team over time. (Note: hiring a grant-writer to support  government and foundation grant opportunities will be an initial critical hire.)  
• Engage with current and prospective donors by email, phone, and in-person.  
• Research and identify prospects.  
• Oversee the efforts to create, write, and submit grant proposals and grant reports.  
• Oversee Pogo Park’s master grants calendar.   
• Maintain accurate electronic records of donors, donor solicitations, grant applications, and reports in  Pogo Park’s Salesforce database.  
• Ensure that the language used in Pogo Park’s grant applications represents the community respectfully,   and accurately reflects Pogo Park’s work on-the-ground.  
• Support Pogo Park’s fundraising efforts at special events and tours. 
• Participate in on-going training to continuously improve your skills and ability to build and operate an exemplary development department at Pogo Park.  
• Other duties as necessary.

QUALIFICATIONS | DESIRED ATTRIBUTES  

• Passion for Pogo Park’s work and mission.   
• Proven track record in planning, developing, and actualizing a successful fundraising program including large capital campaigns.
• The desire and ability to take the reins and lead, manage, and grow Pogo Park’s development team.   
• Experience cultivating and closing four, five and six figure major gifts, developing donor strategies, and effectively cultivating and stewarding major donors.   
• Ability to work with and communicate with a wide range of internal constituents including Board Members, senior management, program staff, finance, and volunteers.  
• Outstanding written and verbal skills to persuasively convey the mission of Pogo  Park to  diverse constituencies. 
• Ability to function in a fast-paced, high volume, multifaceted, results-oriented work environment.  
• Organized, on-time, and willing to “do whatever it takes to get it done.”  
• Ability to analyze issues, identify priorities, manage projects, and make decisions expeditiously.  
• BA degree (or equivalent experience).  
• Ability to use and work in Google Suite, Microsoft 365, and Salesforce.  
• Ability to work with the population that Pogo Park serves.  
• A willingness to engage in conversations about equity, inclusion, diversity, power, and privilege.  

REPORTS TO  

Executive Director 

HOURS | SCHEDULE  

Full-Time Exempt- 35-40 hours per week. Flexible, family-friendly schedule.  

Remote- *be able to come to meetings on-site occasionally – applicants must be SF Bay Area residents.

Salary- $120,000 – $130,000

Flexible 35-40 hours per week

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS 

The salary range is $120,000 to $130,000, dependent upon experience.  Pogo Park offers exceptional benefits including medical, vision, life insurance, 401k, and PTO as well as a flexible work schedule. Easy parking at all sites.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION 

Pogo Park has won numerous awards for their work in the Iron Triangle in Richmond, CA including:  

• Community Leadership Award – San Francisco Foundation  
• 14th and 15th Assembly District “Woman of the Year” 
• Sui Generis Award (Tonie Lee & Carmen Lee | Pogo Park) – Sui Generis Foundation
• Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition – U.S. Congress
• Google Impact Challenge Grant Winner – Google Impact 
• Nonprofit of the Year- Richmond Chamber of Commerce,
• “Success Story,” Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) – California Parks

TO APPLY  

Please send your resume and *cover letter (*include why you’re interested in this particular job and all relevant nonprofit experience) to Stacy Nelson & Associates at [email protected] with the subject line “Pogo Park – Director of Development.”   

Pogo Park is an equal-opportunity employer.