The Director, Major Gifts Partnerships leads high-value relationships with foundations and major donors, securing substantial commitments for philanthropic initiatives. This role involves strategic engagement, deal execution, and internal collaboration to develop fundable opportunities.
Stand Together is a philanthropic community that helps America’s boldest changemakers tackle the root causes of our country’s biggest problems, from education to the economy, broken communities, and toxic division, among dozens of other pressing issues. We provide our partners with access to resources including funding, thought leadership, a network of peers, and a playbook for applying proven principles to transform lives and society.
The Director, Major Gifts Partnerships (internally known as Partnership Advisor) leads the development of high-value relationships with leading institutional and family foundations and select major individual donors, securing 7-figure+ commitments that advance Stand Together’s most critical priorities.
This role operates at the intersection of philanthropy, strategy, and capital deployment - engaging foundation executives and family principals as a trusted advisor, and translating complex initiatives into clear, investable opportunities. The position requires disciplined pipeline management, sophisticated stakeholder navigation, and the ability to close multi-year commitments within complex decision environments.
How You Will Contribute
- Build and manage a focused portfolio of top-tier institutional and family foundation partners, as well as select major individual donors
- Originate and close 7-figure+ commitments through structured, multi-stakeholder engagement
- Develop tailored strategies that align foundation priorities with scalable, high-impact initiatives
- Cultivate long-term partnerships with foundation executives, program officers, and family decision-makers Strategic Origination & Deal Execution
- Own the full lifecycle from prospect identification through close and renewal
- Navigate complex decision processes, aligning multiple stakeholders and timelines
- Develop clear, compelling investment cases, including proposals, financial frameworks, and impact narratives
- Maintain rigorous pipeline discipline to drive predictable, multi-year revenue outcomes Internal Leadership & Integration
- Partner with program and executive teams to shape institutional-grade opportunities, and complex portfolio level gifts across non-profit, educational curriculum, for-profit, policy advocacy, and media amplification
- Translate strategy into fundable initiatives with defined outcomes and measurement frameworks
- Serve as a connector across the organization to ensure alignment between partner expectations, delivery and stewardship to drive deeper donor relationships
Institutional & Family Foundation Leadership
What You Will Bring
- Enthusiasm to contribute to Stand Together's vision and principled approach to solving problems, and a commitment to stewarding our culture, which champions values including transformation and innovation, entrepreneurialism, humility, and respect.
- 7+ years of success in institutional fundraising, foundation relations, OR enterprise sales with complex, consultative sales cycles
- Proven track record of closing 7-figure+ deals involving multiple stakeholders and extended decision timelines
- Experience engaging senior decision-makers (e.g., foundation executives, family principals, C-suite leaders)
- Demonstrated ability to manage a pipeline, qualify opportunities, and drive deals to close with discipline and precision
- Strategic thinker with the ability to frame large, ambiguous initiatives into clear investment opportunities
- Strong executive presence with exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills
- High degree of business acumen, including comfort with financials, structuring, and impact measurement
- Entrepreneurial mindset with urgency, ownership, and resilience
- High humility, integrity, and respect for others
- Ability to travel up to 50% within the United States
What We Offer
- Competitive benefits: Enjoy a 6% 401(k) match with immediate vesting, flexible time off, comprehensive health and dental plans, plus wellness and mental health support through Peloton and Talkspace.
- A meaningful career: Join a passionate community of over 1,300 employees dedicated to improving lives and driving innovative solutions to complex social challenges.
- Commitment to growth: Thrive in a non-hierarchical environment that empowers employees to discover, develop and apply their unique talents.
- Competitive compensation: Our approach rewards the value you create through competitive salaries and bonus opportunities, allowing you to share in the success you help drive.
Our Values: Working for an organization within the Stand Together philanthropic community is different from many other places. The culture is deeply rooted in Principle Based Management® (PBM®), a framework guided by the principles that drive human progress, such as dignity, openness, and bottom-up empowerment. PBM® empowers employees to be entrepreneurial, to innovate, and to continually drive transformation.
We believe diversity fuels creativity, broadens knowledge, and helps drive success. That is why we’re proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and strive to treat all employees and applicants with honesty, dignity, and respect.
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