Senior Development Officer - Federal Partnerships

About The Role: 

VentureWell’s Development Team works closely with organizational leadership, program staff, and other supporting departments to enable VentureWell’s growth. VentureWell is primarily funded through grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts from private foundations and government agencies, along with a small number of corporate sponsorships and partnerships. As a result, our development work involves research, cultivation, proposal development, program design, and grant reporting across multiple program areas.

The Senior Development Officers will play a robust role in securing funding for new and existing programs at VentureWell. Senior Development Officers manage a portfolio of funder relationships, cultivating and stewarding these relationships in partnership with colleagues. This role involves close collaboration with VentureWell leadership, staff from the programs team and other supporting departments, funding partners, and external experts in addition to colleagues on the development team.

This Senior Development Officer role is focused on federal funding relationships, specifically on the renewal and expansion of our work with several agencies including the National Institutes of Health. It will involve understanding this agency's programming and funding priorities, developing strategies and program ideas in collaboration with colleagues and partner organizations, and writing briefs, concept notes, proposals, and reports as needed. Exceptional candidates will have experience securing federal funding for nonprofit organizations.

Responsibilities: 

• Manage a portfolio of funding relationships, including both new prospects and long-term partners, supporting the development of strong, trusting relationships
• Co-develop a cultivation and/or stewardship plan for each funder, and ensure that it is implemented
• Stay abreast of relevant information about each funder and the relevant VentureWell programs, as well as trends in the field
• Initiate, prepare for, and document meetings, and ensure follow-through on the next steps
• Collaborate with colleagues to develop ideas and prepare materials, including slide decks, concept notes, proposals, budgets, and reports
• Communicate and coordinate internally to ensure that relevant stakeholders have the information they need about funding opportunities
• Contribute to development strategy, team goals, and organizational initiatives

This role may include managing a Development Officer and/or a Development Associate. Experience successfully building and maintaining relationships with funders is required. 

Other areas of expertise that we value include nonprofit program implementation, project management, writing and editing, equity, and sustainability. Experience in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship is helpful but not essential. Experience with NIH is preferred. Because of the importance of written communication in this role, we are asking all applicants to provide a writing sample with their resume and cover letter. The writing sample should be solely authored and related to a funding opportunity or a multi-stakeholder initiative. 

What You Bring:

• Expertise in funder cultivation and management, with a track record of success in securing significant funding, with a track record of success in establishing partnerships and generating support
• Ability to absorb and grasp new information quickly, including programming landscape, funding landscape, and relevant research, and to distill this information in compelling prose for a variety of audiences
• Ability to form and sustain productive relationships with funding partners and external
• experts, as well as colleagues
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills are necessary
• Excellent organizational skills and follow-through, and ability to juggle many vying deadlines and priorities
• Ability to design and manage projects of varying types and scopes, collaborating throughout and delivering outstanding results
• Ability to work autonomously as well as consultatively
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment
• A highly collaborative, team-focused approach
• Fluency with current technology, including Google and MS products, CRM software, and Zoom; ability and willingness to learn new tools and systems quickly
• Flexibility, unflappability, and humor

Across the Board, VentureWell Staff:

• Are able to succeed and thrive in an environment with competing and changing priorities and tight deadlines
• Have track records of and ability to build solid collaborative working relationships, and are proven team players who enjoy a “customer service” orientation to collaboration
• Are committed to embedding equity in our internal practices and culture and in our programs in order to live and achieve our mission
• Bring openness and engagement to personal, professional, and organization-wide learning on race, class, gender, justice, and equity
• Are curious and committed to issues of environmental sustainability
• Are self-starters with excellent attention to detail and a commitment to delivering high-quality work 
• Are active learners who independently learn new tools and work processes quickly
• Have excellent written and oral communication skills

Our Benefits:

• An attractive and equitable compensation package, including: 
  • a competitive salary commensurate with experience and internal equity
  • 403(b) with 200% match up to a maximum contribution from VentureWell of 10% when the employee puts it 5% (eligible after one year of service for the match)
  • Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance
  • $1,000 home office stipend upon hire

What We Offer:

• A culture where people work intentionally and collaboratively in pursuit of our mission  
• Values we believe in
• A commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 

About VentureWell:

For 25 years, it has been the mission of VentureWell to cultivate an ecosystem of diverse entrepreneurs and innovators who are developing science-and technology-based solutions to the world’s most intractable challenges in areas like biotechnology, healthcare, and sustainable energy and materials. We aim to create a space that increases access to education, employment, and entrepreneurial pathways for historically marginalized communities.

We foster collaboration among the best minds from research labs, classrooms, and beyond to advance innovation and entrepreneurship education and to provide unique opportunities for STEM students and researchers to fully realize their potential. The innovations developed by the 3,000+ early-stage innovator teams that have benefitted from our funding and training have reached millions of people across the globe and the resulting  850+ ventures have raised over $2.6 billion in investment funding.

We aspire to create an inclusive organization where each unique member of our community can learn, develop, and flourish. We know that diverse views and ideas lead to better work, which is why we celebrate our differences, value intentional inclusion, and center equity. We are committed to hiring talented, unique team members with diverse perspectives and experiences who can be their authentic selves at work. We want and encourage people across a multitude of backgrounds to apply and join us on this journey. 

Our teams are open to new ideas, embrace change, and are eager to make an impact on the world. Meet the VentureWell team.