Development Director; SFF

The Sobrato Family is committed to building a strong and vibrant Silicon Valley community through business and philanthropic leadership. The Sobrato Family Foundation (Foundation) operates primarily as a place-based grant maker that invests in organizations serving the residents most in need in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Southern Alameda counties. The Foundation utilizes both real estate and cash to achieve a positive local impact, by providing in-kind office and meeting space at its three nonprofit centers in Redwood Shores, San Jose and Milpitas;

awarding multi-year grants for general operating support to a wide-range of Silicon Valley nonprofits; and implementing two place-based strategic grantmaking approaches focused on expanding opportunities for low-income beneficiaries: the 21st Century Education and the Pathways for Success programs.

In addition, the Foundation developed the Sobrato Early Academic Language (SEAL) model, to accelerate the success of English Learner (EL) students in preschool and elementary school. The model was developed in , piloted in three schools in , and has been rapidly replicating since 2013 – with over 100 active sites that are located in Silicon Valley, other parts of the Bay Area, the Sacramento region, the Central Valley, and in Southern California.

Over the next 12 months, SEAL is launching as an independent nonprofit organization with a focus on research, policy/advocacy, and practice. As a complement to SEAL’s growth, the Foundation has begun to pursue opportunities for statewide advocacy around the needs of English Learner students, and for advancing research-based education policy that will better support this critical, rapidly growing population of children in California.

The SEAL model is a comprehensive approach of intensive, enriched language education for the implementation of next generation content standards, with a strong focus on building the capacity of educators and public school systems to fully support the learning needs of their youngest English Learners. SEAL was designed and founded by Dr. Laurie Olsen, a national expert in English Learner education who is now a strategic advisor to SEAL, and Dr.

Anya Hurwitz serves as its Executive Director. Core principles of the model include: viewing bilingualism and EL students as an asset; all students and EL’s in particular learn best through thematic, hands-on, exploratory and inquiry-based curriculum and pedagogy; oral language development is foundational to literacy; students achieve more quickly and at a higher level when they pursue schooling in systems that are aligned, coherent, and which provide consistency in learning strategies across the early education environment and primary grades in K-12.

The SEAL model is a research-based approach, intended to support educators in enacting the best current knowledge about child development and academic learning for English Learners. The model has also been replicated with a desire to demonstrate to policymakers, and others interested in shaping policy, how school systems can be incentivized and supported to make substantial shifts in practice that reflect current or potential policy imperatives.

Reporting to the Executive Director and being a member of the Senior Leadership Team, The Director of Development will be responsible to create and oversee the implementation of a strategic approach to fundraising that includes increasing new investments over the next 5 years to approximately $3 million annually from major gifts, corporate donations, grant solicitation, in-kind resources and ongoing cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of donors throughout the community and region.

As a member of the SEAL leadership team, the Development Director will contribute to the overall planning and management of the SEAL enterprise – holding multiple priorities to deliver in his/her specific domain of responsibility of fund development, while also supporting the organization’s goals for development in other areas such as training, research and evaluation, internal operations, etc. To support the expected growth of the SEAL…