Vice President, Development & External Relations

The Atlantic Council (www.acus.org) promotes constructive US and European leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the central role of the Atlantic Community in meeting global challenges. Since its founding in 1961-1962, the Atlantic Council has become a preeminent, nonpartisan institution devoted to advancing transatlantic cooperation, international security, and global financial stability. From violent extremism to financial instability and from NATO’s future to energy security, the Council provides an essential forum for navigating and responding to these dramatic shifts in economic and political influence.

Over the past five years, the Council has enjoyed remarkable growth in public impact, policy influence, and income transforming into a dynamic organization generating ideas and shaping policy.

The Council’s mission has three components: fostering US-European cooperation, tackling global challenges together, and building communities of influence. At the same time, the Council has placed the concept of relevance at the heart of its programming and research. The Council’s model remains to recruit intellectual entrepreneurs to lead our work, build communities of influence around ideas, aggregate best knowledge, and serve as a home base in Washington for Europeans and global partners.

The Atlantic Council is governed by an active 150 member board of directors. These individuals represent a wide and balanced portfolio of professional experiences and areas of expertise. Importantly, they provide the Council with their unbiased advice and counsel along with generous funding. The Council is chaired by Chuck Hagel, former U.S. Senator from Nebraska, and is led by CEO and President Frederick Kempe.

With a current staff of 55 full time employees, the Council currently operates on an approximate $15 million annual administrative budget and a programmatic sponsored budget of approximately $15 million annually. These funds come from a number of sources to include corporate, individual, and foundation support.

The Vice President of Development & External Relations supports the President and CEO in sustaining and expanding the organization’s crucial work and mission of fostering improved U.S.-European relations and understanding through studies, conferences and building high caliber networks.

The Vice President leads the overall Development & External Relations of the Council in the areas of: development/fundraising, membership initiatives (corporate, board, and individual) and events.

The position reports directly the Atlantic Council’s President and Chief Executive Officer and is a member of the Council’s Senior Management team. Most importantly, the Vice President will have oversight of all revenue producing components of the Atlantic Council. She/he is also responsible for the steward of its relationships with its major donors and supporters.

The Vice President will be specifically responsible for:

• Providing strategic direction and leadership for Development and External Relations of the Atlantic Council.

• Managing major gift functions: donor identification, prospecting, cultivation and soliciting for multi-year, annual and planned gifts.

• Planning and executing corporate outreach and membership programs.

• Planning and overseeing the currently scheduled major events and the creation of additional mission supporting events.

• Cultivating relationships with the Board of Directors to promote sustained involvement in fundraising efforts.

• Leading an expansion of outreach to foundations and government entities.

· The overall management of the department, its budget and staff initially to include 10 full time permanent staff and a number of full time interns.

The successful candidate should have the following qualifications and experience:

• Demonstrated experience in institutional fund raising to include corporate, individual, government and foundation solicitation.

• A thorough knowledge of Washington, DC and its institutions.

• A strong network of traditional NGO funding sources.

• A strong background in international affairs. Foreign language capability and considerable familiarity with Europe, in particular, and other parts of the world is desireable.

• Extensive experience in special event management and development, preferably in a nonprofit or entrepreneurial environment.
• Superior writing and communication skills and the ability to manage the external communications components of the Atlantic Council to include press strategies and releases, publications and the web site.

• Demonstrated track record in budget-management and fundraising, including from corporate donors.
• Solid experience in initiating and developing effective partnerships with business, foundations, governments, and other nonprofit organizations.
• Working knowledge of fundraising information management technology.

Application Information

Those interested in the position should submit a cover letter and a resume to:

Wendy Pangburn

Pangburn Partners LLC

wendys@pangburnpartners.com

+1 (202) 237-0281