Director, Philanthropy (Corporate & Foundation)

About Us 
At the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), we are a vibrant, nonprofit organization committed to transforming education. We believe that every student deserves access to high-quality math and science education. Since our founding in 2007, we’ve empowered over 2.9 million students and 72,000 teachers across 1,800 high schools in 43 states. Our staff are the heartbeat of our mission, driving impactful programs that foster success in the 21st-century global economy. 

NMSI is a remote-first organization, allowing staff members to work primarily from their home office. Staff must have a dedicated, distraction-free workspace with reliable high-speed internet. We value autonomy, flexibility, and effective communication across time zones, and support a culture of collaboration through virtual tools and regular check-ins. 

What You’ll Do All Day 
The Director, Philanthropy (Corporate & Foundation) will contribute to NMSI’s mission by helping execute and advance fundraising strategies that support strategic programmatic growth, aligned with priorities set by the Senior Director, Business Development (Philanthropy) and connected to broader Business Development team and organizational goals. This role will steward existing corporate and foundation donors, cultivate new philanthropic opportunities, and help translate NMSI’s work into compelling funder-facing narratives, proposals, reports, and communications. 

Through a mix of portfolio management, donor stewardship, proposal and report development, prospecting, and cross-functional collaboration, the Director will serve as a key relationship builder and project manager across NMSI’s philanthropic partnerships. This individual will be expected to understand NMSI’s programs deeply, identify the right story for the right donor audience, and work across teams to gather the data, examples, collateral, and insights needed to advance funding relationships. 

Your day-to-day activities will include: 

Portfolio Management, Cultivation, and Stewardship 

• Create a vision and strategy for a growing portfolio of corporate and foundation funders. 

• Manage and execute comprehensive portfolio plans, including cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, reporting, strategic communications, site visits, and donor engagement activities to support the Philanthropy team to meet or exceed annual revenue goals.  

• Build and maintain the portfolio by serving as a thoughtful and responsive partner who can cultivate trust, advance opportunities, and steward long-term engagement. 

• Prepare for and support donor meetings by developing agendas, briefing materials, talking points, follow-up notes, collateral, and next-step plans. 

• Leverage Salesforce and other systems consistently to track donor activity, reporting requirements, next steps, relationship history, deadlines, expected revenue, and progress across the portfolio. 

Proposals, Reporting, and Donor-Facing Communications 

• Oversee all or much of the external grant reporting process, including tracking deadlines, coordinating cross-functional inputs, gathering data and impact examples, drafting narrative content, and ensuring final submissions are accurate, compelling, and on time. 

• Develop high-quality proposals, concept notes, reports, letters of inquiry, donor updates, and other funder-facing materials that clearly communicate NMSI’s impact, priorities, and funding opportunities. When necessary, work closely with the Marketing and Communications team to translate programmatic data, outcomes, and evaluation findings into clear and compelling donor-facing language that connects NMSI’s work to funder priorities and demonstrates impact. 

• Identify the right story for each donor audience and pull together relevant examples, assets, collateral, and data to support cultivation, solicitation, reporting, and stewardship. 

Prospecting and Revenue Growth 

• Identify and prioritize new philanthropic prospects in alignment with NMSI’s mission, strategic plan, program priorities, and development objectives. 

• Drive ongoing research and analysis (in collaboration with the Business Development Operations team) to identify new funding opportunities, understand donor priorities, and stay current on trends in education, STEM, workforce development, philanthropy, and corporate social impact. 

• Represent NMSI at conferences, meetings, site visits, and other external events to build relationships, showcase NMSI’s work, and generate interest from potential partners. 

Cross-Functional Collaboration and Internal Coordination 

• Collaborate closely with internal teams, including Program, Finance, Program Research & Evaluation, Marketing and Communications, and Business Development, to gather the information, data, stories, budgets, and collateral needed to support donor strategy and deliverables. 

• Manage internal requests and timelines with strong attention to detail, clear communication, and disciplined follow-through to ensure donor-facing work moves forward efficiently and accurately. 

• Contribute to broader Business Development Philanthropy efforts as a key member of a highly collaborative, mission-driven team. 

• Other duties as assigned. 

The Director, Philanthropy (Corporate & Foundation), will report to the Senior Director, Business Development (Philanthropy), and is a full-time, regular position offering the flexibility to work from anywhere within the contiguous United States. Occasional travel may be required for in-person meetings, conferences, donor visits, site visits and events.