Vice President, Institutional Giving & Strategic Partnerships

NFTE is seeking a high-energy, results-driven fundraising leader who is equally comfortable opening doors, asking for significant investments, building a disciplined pipeline, and coaching a developing team to perform at a higher level. This is a player-coach role for someone who sees an ambitious revenue goal and immediately starts building the relationships, strategy, systems, and team accountability required to achieve it.

The Vice President, Institutional Giving & Partnerships is a senior revenue leader responsible for growing NFTE’s national foundation and corporate portfolio by personally opening doors, advancing high-value relationships, securing six- and seven-figure commitments, and building the systems and team habits required for sustained fundraising performance.

The successful candidate will bring urgency, initiative, strong judgment, and a demonstrated record of converting relationships and ideas into significant philanthropic revenue.

This role is not primarily about maintaining a portfolio. It is about growing one—and building a team that knows how to do the same. Candidates should be prepared to discuss specific examples of major gifts, grants, or partnerships they personally advanced or closed, including the strategy used, stakeholders involved, obstacles navigated, and results achieved.

WHAT YOU WILL OWN

• Own and deliver against ambitious annual and multi-year revenue and pipeline goals for the national foundation and corporate portfolio.
• Personally cultivate, solicit, negotiate, close, and steward significant gifts and partnerships, including six- and seven-figure opportunities and multi-year commitments.
• Build a qualified pipeline with sufficient depth and velocity to meet near-term goals while creating a strong foundation for future growth.
• Proactively identify and pursue new funders, sectors, networks, and partnership opportunities rather than relying primarily on inbound or existing relationships.
• Develop clear strategies for top prospects, including relationship maps, next moves, solicitation targets, decision timelines, and executive or board engagement.
• Protect and grow existing revenue through disciplined renewal, stewardship, and expansion strategies.

• Lead and develop a team that is still building its fundraising experience, creating clarity, confidence, accountability, and strong execution habits.
• Set measurable individual and team goals for pipeline creation, donor movement, solicitations, renewals, stewardship, and revenue—and manage consistently to those expectations.
• Coach staff in real time on prospect strategy, donor meetings, proposals, follow-up, negotiation, and closing; model excellent fundraising rather than managing only from a distance.
• Create a culture of ownership, urgency, learning, and follow-through in which team members understand what success looks like and are supported and held accountable for achieving it.
• Assess team capacity and workflows, identify gaps quickly, and recommend changes in responsibilities, systems, or resources that will improve performance.

• Translate organizational priorities into a focused fundraising strategy with clear targets, owners, timelines, and next actions.
• Run an active portfolio-management cadence that surfaces opportunities, risks, stalled prospects, and decisions needed to move revenue forward.
• Maintain accurate forecasts and use pipeline data to distinguish committed, likely, at-risk, and aspirational revenue.
• Strengthen the practical systems that enable performance—including prospect plans, moves management, grant calendars, dashboards, templates, and CRM discipline.
• Partner with the Chief Advancement Officer to identify revenue gaps early and develop concrete strategies to close them.

• Develop trusted relationships with foundation leaders, corporate social impact and CSR executives, and other philanthropic decision-makers.
• Lead compelling funder meetings, presentations, site visits, solicitations, and stewardship conversations that connect NFTE’s impact to partner priorities.
• Represent NFTE externally with credibility, energy, and a strong command of the organization’s mission, outcomes, reach, and value proposition.
• Activate executives, board members, program leaders, alumni, and other champions strategically to open doors and advance priority relationships.

• Oversee the development of persuasive proposals, concept papers, sponsorship opportunities, budgets, reports, and cases for support that are tailored to funder interests and designed to win.
• Partner closely with Programs, Impact, Finance, Marketing and Communications, and other teams to turn organizational priorities and results into compelling investment opportunities.
• Ensure grants and partnerships have clear commitments, internal owners, reporting requirements, and stewardship plans.
• Maintain high standards for timeliness, accuracy, responsiveness, donor experience, and data quality in Raiser’s Edge or the organization’s CRM.

What You Will Be Expected to Deliver, including:

• Build a clear 12–18 month pipeline strategy for national foundation and corporate revenue.
• Identify and advance a defined number of high-value prospects.
• Strengthen forecasting and portfolio review discipline, maintain highly accurate and updated CRM data, and provide leadership with decision-ready visibility into pipeline health, risk, and opportunity.
• Personally lead top solicitations and renewals.
• Improve team confidence, accountability, and execution.

• Revenue goals are met or exceeded, with clear line of sight to future-year growth.
• A healthy, diversified pipeline contains enough qualified opportunities at each stage to support ambitious revenue targets.
• Priority funders are retained, renewed, and meaningfully grown; new significant partners are added.
• Top prospects move forward because there is a clear strategy, owner, next step, and sense of urgency.
• Forecasts are reliable, CRM data is current, and leadership has decision-ready visibility into pipeline health, risk, and opportunity.
• The team becomes more confident, proactive, skilled, and accountable—and demonstrates stronger fundraising judgment and execution over time.
• Executives and board members are effectively deployed in cultivation and solicitation, with strong preparation and follow-through.

We are looking for a builder and closer—not simply an administrator of an existing fundraising program. The strongest candidates will combine sophisticated relationship skills with commercial instincts, operational discipline, and a genuine desire to coach others.

Working Environment:

• Passionate team committed to an exciting, dynamic mission
• This position will work remotely, from a home office
• The position will travel as necessary, both regionally and nationally
• Relocation assistance is not available for this role
• NFTE provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application, interview, and employment process, in accordance with applicable law. If an applicant requires accommodation to participate in the hiring process, please contact NFTE's Human Resources Team at [email protected].

• 8–10+ years of progressively responsible fundraising experience, with substantial experience in institutional giving, corporate philanthropy, major partnerships, or related development work.
• A demonstrated record of meeting or exceeding fundraising goals and personally securing significant six- and seven-figure gifts, grants, or partnerships.
• Evidence of building new pipeline and opening new relationships—not only stewarding an inherited portfolio.
• Strong closing instincts: able to move from relationship building to a clear ask, navigate objections, negotiate terms, and secure commitments.
• Proven success leading, coaching, and holding fundraising staff accountable, including team members who are still developing their skills.
• Ability to establish performance expectations, diagnose what is slowing a team down, and create practical systems and rhythms that improve results.
• Excellent executive presence and the ability to build credibility with senior corporate leaders, foundation executives, high-level volunteers, board members, and internal leaders.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication, including the ability to shape compelling cases for support, proposals, presentations, and donor narratives.
• Strong financial and analytical skills, including pipeline analysis, forecasting, revenue planning, and risk assessment.
• Comfort operating in a fast-moving environment with evolving structures, competing priorities, and ambitious goals; demonstrates initiative without waiting for perfect information.

Preferred Experience

• Experience with Raiser’s Edge or a comparable donor CRM and a commitment to disciplined data and moves management.
• Knowledge of education, entrepreneurship, youth development, workforce development, or economic mobility is preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Commitment to NFTE’s mission and to expanding access to entrepreneurship education and opportunity.

About NFTE:

The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)’s mission is to activate the entrepreneurial mindset and build start-up skills in youth from under-resourced communities to ensure their success and to create a more vibrant society. 

NFTE was founded in 1987 on the belief that entrepreneurship education ignites passion and opens doors for students in under-resourced communities. This belief is as relevant today as it has ever been, as is the need to break down barriers to opportunity, promote inclusive economic growth, and build a more equitable world. NFTE is equipping youth to become the future-ready workforce and nurturing the next generation of diverse entrepreneurs. 

NFTE offers a diverse and inclusive workplace where learning from each other is an integral part of our culture. NFTE actively welcomes people of diverse backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. We are an equal opportunity employer and a great place to work.