About National Immigration Law Center
Founded in 1979, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is a leading U.S.-based non-profit organization (501(c)3) exclusively dedicated to defending and advancing the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants and their loved ones. NILC’s mission is grounded in the belief that everyone living in the U.S.--regardless of race, gender/gender identity, immigration status, or economic status — should have equal access to justice, resources, and educational and economic opportunities that enable them to achieve their full human potential. Together, NILC and its affiliated NILC Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF), a 501(c)4 organization, work to advocate more directly for federal immigration reform policies. NILC is deeply committed to advancing its mission through racial, economic, and gender justice equity analysis.
Following a period of intense growth, NILC’s annual budget is now approximately $20 million, approximately 85% of which is from institutions and 15% of which is from individuals (both grassroots and major donors). Additionally, IJF’s budget is approximately $1 million. NILC also serves as a fiscal sponsor for certain initiatives of varying size and complexity, ranging from a few thousand dollars to more than $1 million.
Today, NILC is at an exceptionally exciting moment in its organizational trajectory. In addition to announcing national immigration rights leader, Kica Matos, as NILC’s new President in April 2023, NILC is currently implementing a five-year strategic framework, improving its operational model, and maximizing an already significant impact on advocating for fair and just immigration policies, challenging unjust practices through litigation, empowering immigrant communities with legal support and resources, and protecting the overall rights, dignity, and well-being of immigrants in the United States.
For more information on NILC, please visit https://www.nilc.org/. For more information about the NILC IJF, please visit https://www.immigrantjusticefund.org/.
The Opportunity
Though public awareness and engagement regarding immigrant rights reached an all-time high during the Trump administration, low-income immigrants and other vulnerable immigrant communities still face significant threats to their right to fully integrate into the social, economic, and political fabric of the U.S. As NILC works to build political power for immigrant communities and ensure that immigrants’ rights activists are equipped to combat the aggressive political rhetoric surrounding immigration policies and practices, we now seek a seasoned fundraising professional to lead our development team. Tasked with building and implementing a compelling fundraising vision, our inaugural EVP will partner closely with the President, Executive Leadership, and a talented Development team to align NILC's fundraising efforts across shared goals and impact, implement a robust development strategy, and cultivate an organization-wide culture of philanthropy.
Reporting directly to NILC’s President, the EVP serves on the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and provides overall strategic leadership and guidance on NILC’s and IJF’s fundraising functions. They will lead a mission-driven development department, create, and successfully implement a diversified fundraising plan that meets and exceeds the annual and multi-year revenue needs of both NILC and IJF, and strengthen the long-term sustainability of both organizations by positioning NILC to effectively attract and sustain philanthropic attention and revenue.
Highlighted Position Responsibilities Include:
- As chief development advisor to the President, Executive, Senior Leadership Teams (ELT/SLT), design effective fundraising strategies, execute successful fundraising campaigns, identify, and pursue prospective new funders and major donors, and address the funding priorities necessary to advance NILC’s programmatic goals.
- Lead a comprehensive, diverse fundraising program (institutional giving, a major individual donor program, planned giving, unions and private sector contributions, and a general donor program).
- Directly build and steward a portfolio of 50+ major donors and/or prospects by cultivating meaningful individual donor relationships.
- Develop, monitor, and assess annual fundraising goals and long-term targets for NILC and NILC IJF, in alignment with NILC’s Strategic Framework.
- Closely collaborate with the EVP, Strategic Communications & Narrative to develop and implement compelling marketing and communications strategies tied to programmatic content.
- In partnership with departmental leaders, facilitate collaborative partnerships between Development and Communications teams to co-create unified messaging for funder-facing products and other marketing collateral (i.e., appeals, annual reports, website and social media content, donor cultivation events, donor communications).
- Align short-, medium-, and long-term strategic and operational planning for the development department with overall organizational priorities.
- Build and champion a fundraising culture that empowered NILC and NILC IJF teams to develop and steward high-impact partnerships that provide visibility, build credibility, and grow our list of prospective funders and donors.
- Role-model high standards of excellence for Development team and supervise, mentor, and empower staff, vendors, outside consultants, and third-party administrators by providing constructive and timely feedback, fostering a collaborative environment, identifying individual and collective strengths and opportunities, and encouraging creative problem-solving.
- Provide training, advisory, and resources to principals, partners, and volunteers on best practices for building relationships with donors, including effective communication strategies, cultivation techniques, and stewardship activities.
- Actively engage board members to effectively engage in fundraising activities, serve as a liaison on development and donor cultivation and stewardship.
- Represent NILC and NILC IJF in external networks and alliances.
In recognition of the fluidity of the work and ecosystem that NILC operates in, other duties may be assigned depending on organizational need.
Candidate Profile
NILC firmly believes that everyone has the potential for success and recognizes a range of skills and experiences that complement our mission, goals, and priorities. We strongly believe that diversity in all dimensions of our organization supports and bolsters the innovative thinking essential to our success and are committed to providing equal employment opportunity.
Successful candidates will demonstrate these fundamental qualities, skills, and characteristics:
Mission Alignment
Fundraising Strategy
Leadership and Management
Marketing and Storytelling
Donor Engagement and External Relations
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
In addition, strong candidates will offer:
- Candidates with lived experience are strongly encouraged to apply.
- Experience in progressive movements, advocacy-based organizations, and/or C4 nonprofit organizations preferred.
- Deep understanding of ethical standards and regulatory fundraising guidelines, sound judgment in decision-making, high integrity, utmost respect for confidentiality, and a nuanced understanding of the ethical standards and regulatory guidelines in fundraising practices are non-negotiable.
Please note that all staff are currently working remotely. Post-pandemic, up to 20 - 50% travel may be required; role-specific travel as well as quarterly to the NILC Washington, DC office or another location within the U.S. for 3-5 nights.
Compensation & Benefits
NILC’s compensation philosophy is to pay competitively in the nonprofit sector and ensure equity across the organization. The salary range for this role is $230-250K per year. Compensation for the role will depend on several factors including qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience.
NILC provides a generous benefit package that includes employer-paid healthcare coverage (100% for employees and 75% for dependents), employer-supported dental and vision coverage, a 403(b)-retirement plan including an automatic contribution from NILC, paid parental leave, monthly cell phone and wellness stipends, pre-tax accounts for transit, health, and childcare benefits (FSA), and employer-paid short- and long-term disability and life insurance. NILC also provides a generous paid-time-off policy including15 holidays and 22 days of paid time off annually (increased to 32 after 2 years of employment).
NILC is also a qualifying public service employer, which means all full-time NILC employees qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. To learn more about the program, please visit https://studentaid.gov/pslf/.
Contact
Koya Partners, the executive search firm that specializes in mission-driven search, has been exclusively retained for this engagement. Molly Brennan and Malissa Brennan of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search.
Koya Partners is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email NonprofitSearchOps@divsearch.com. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.
National Immigration Law Center is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ applicants.