FYDevelopment Director San Francisco Bay Area; SFBA

About Reading Partners

Reading Partners is changing the education landscape. We are a leader in working to solve the literacy crisis in our country by leveraging community volunteers in under-resourced schools. Our diverse and expansive volunteer base provides one‑on‑one tutoring to students twice weekly, and our program is proven to help children master the reading fundamentals they need to unlock their potential as successful, happy, and confident readers in school and in life.

Our people are our heartbeat and our greatest resource; we are all passionately rallied around our mission to help children become lifelong learners by empowering communities to provide individualized instruction that truly works.

The Development Director is part of a team of fundraisers and relationship builders working together to support Reading Partners’ strategic growth plan. The Director’s main roles are to create and implement the overarching regional fundraising strategy, lead cultivation and stewardship of many high‑level external relationships, and lead, develop, and mobilize the region to achieve ambitious fundraising goals. The Director directly manages a Development Manager and reports directly to the Executive Director in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The position is a hybrid role that requires in‑person meetings and site visits across the Bay Area, with 1‑2 week in‑office commitments at either the Oakland or San Francisco office.

• Each year, create, lead and drive the overarching fundraising strategy, operational plans and all revenue activities to meet or exceed fundraising goals for the region.
• Maintain high renewal rates and donor relationships; build new ones.
• Maximize upgrade opportunities for individual and institutional gifts.
• Increase revenue in all streams by 10% in FY 26.
• Identify strategies to generate prospects to support impact goals through 2027.
• Own, develop and implement innovative strategies to increase individual and institutional funding streams and identify prospective government funding opportunities.
• Deliver on a comprehensive development plan for FY 26 with a private revenue goal of $2.9 million and support current local government fundraising sources of $1.2 million.
• Personally manage a high‑level portfolio of major individual donors, corporate partners and foundations (existing and prospective), driving cultivation, solicitation and stewardship to secure six‑ and seven‑figure gifts and achieve personal fundraising targets.
• Develop a comprehensive communications and public relations plan to elevate the Reading Partners brand.
• Build external relationships essential for donor cultivation, prospect identification and partnership opportunities in the education and literacy sectors.
• Oversee all external communications, ensuring persuasive and compelling messaging, campaigns and alignment.
• Oversee the strategy and support in cultivating and stewarding individual donors.
• Manage relationships with institutional donors, including corporate and entertainment alignments.
• Staff and provide strategic support to the board through management of Fundraising and Engagement, and Corporate committees.
• Support and project manage the internal development team along with external vendors and consultants in planning and executing the annual fundraising event, Literacy is Liberation, raising $250,000 against a $60,000 budget.
• Manage a development manager to meet ambitious goals by overseeing their portfolio and executing excellent development operations.
• Provide performance‑management reviews, training and ongoing support to direct reports.
• Ensure systems and operations of the development department, optimizing efficiencies and skills.
• Provide strategic advice and direction to the Executive Director to ensure the region’s success against goals and benchmarks.
• Demonstrate a strong track record in driving development efforts in rapidly growing organizations, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• Lead strategy development, including innovative regional strategic fundraising plans, action steps and stakeholder mobilization.
• Manage external relations, corporate alignment, board management…