At the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, we believe that coalescing leaders for coordinated action from all community sectors, including private, public, elected, civic, citizen, and non/not for profit, is our Chamber’s principal mission in advancing our region and providing a globally competitive business environment. Our Chamber is celebrating its 250^th anniversary, this year, and is the oldest continuing operating Chamber in America.

The new Vice President of Strategic Partnerships will play a central role in helping us prepare leaders, stakeholder partners, volunteers, and 1,600 business members to make a difference for the future of Greater Charleston and their respective constituencies by:

1.     Leveraging their expertise and bringing tremendous creativity in introducing our Chamber to new investor partners and deepening existing partner relationships.

2.     Directly working with peer senior team leaders and organization officers in defining and executing an appealing, relevant, and comprehensive annual advancement plan enabling delivery of the Chamber’s strategic initiatives.

3.     Using the foundation of our existing Accelerate Greater Charleston delivery platforms, and the new initiatives which emerge from the August 2023 Accelerate Greater Charleston 2040 workshops, to successfully develop and execute five-year capital campaigns geared to produce immediate and long-term strategic outcomes that accentuate the Charleston Metro Chamber’s distinctive mission and strengths and advance our metro marketplace’s competitiveness.

4.     Exercising an inquisitive and industry-leading mindset in assessing, adopting, exercising, and evaluating (quantitative and qualitative) “cutting edge” fund development and stewardship strategies and practices that support and grow the impact of The Chamber’s work in meeting our members’ needs and advancing our region. 

Responsibilities:

• Provides strategic leadership, design, goals, execution, and management for both long-term and short-term fund-raising plans and targeted efforts.
• Fundraising Strategy: develop and implement a multi-year comprehensive Chamber fund-raising strategy engaging multiple investor audiences to fuel the Chamber’s regional advancement mission and annual strategic deliverables. This responsibility entails identifying perspective funding sources, creating targeted fund-raising campaigns, and achieving ambitious multi-year targeted funding goals.
• Foundation Leadership: lead and development our Chamber Foundation Board and position it to secure corporate, philanthropic, and government grant funding for our lead delivery platforms, featuring targeted goals and expanded annual investor portfolios.
• Investor Stewardship: build and maintain strong relationships with major investors, corporate partners, foundations, supporting government entities, and new businesses and emerging allied stakeholders in our metro, state, and national markets.
• Accelerate Greater Charleston Campaign: design and lead our Accelerate Greater Charleston 2040 capital campaign intentionally growing and substantially adding to the top 20 lead investor commitments and the overall base of investors. Also, form and leverage an Accelerate Greater Charleston 2040 Leaders Cabinet, before the end of 2023, to achieve the two campaign growth goals. The fourth AGC campaign will be launched in March 2024 and completed by December 2024.
• Grant Writing and Proposal Development: be a collaborative leader in working with initiative Senior Vice Presidents and their respective teams and our finance\grant compliance team to write winning grant proposals and secure funding from foundations and government agencies. Also be involved, at the appropriate level, in assuring that reporting metrics meet grant compliance expectations.
• High-End Membership Investment: work in collaboration with the President/CEO and Senior Vice President of Membership to increase the number of annual platinum members to a total of 40 organizations by the end of 2025.
• Brand Elevation: drive ongoing creation of new and elevated partnerships and deepening of relationships with metro stakeholders, including, member and prospective member companies, economic development organizations, regional partners, non/not for profit organizations, etc. Structure and use President/CEO’s time in a targeted manner maximizing these relationships and assuring that their power and visibility is used to grow significant Chamber investors/investments.
• Sophisticated Investor Strategist: assess top national fund development leaders in Chamber, business association, activist, and non/not-for-profit organizations to evaluate best practices and build and execute an elite Chamber fundraising five-year strategic plan by mid-2025 that can be incorporated into the Chamber’s 2026 budget, as well as the preceding next four operating budget’s development cycles.
• Development Team Builder: design and responsibly staff a high-performing development team commensurate in size and capability to achieve the responsibilities and associated efforts identified above.
• Investor and Fund-Raising Events: oversee the planning and execution of stewardship thank you/updates and fundraising events to keep current investors apprised of Chamber results, along with thanking them, and to raise new funds from allied investor group.
• Data Analysis: utilize data and analytics to assess the effectiveness of Chamber fundraising efforts and identify areas for annual improvement. Make data driven decisions to optimize fundraising strategies.
• Public Relations and Communications: collaborate with the Senior Vice President of the Marketing and team to create compelling fundraising materials, press releases, and public relations strategies that promote the Chamber’s mission and associated fundraising initiatives.
• Budget and Financial Management: work in collaboration with the Senior Vice President of Finance to develop and manage the department’s budget, assuring resources are allocated efficiently and effectively to achieve annual Chamber fundraising goals.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree is required, with an emphasis in public relations, marketing, political science, and/or business. A master’s degree is preferred. Experience in associations, Chambers of Commerce, higher education, or nonprofit fund development is strongly preferred.
• 10+ years of successful and progressively responsible experience leading fund development and investor relations functions and teams in complex organizations is sought.
• Proven history of high-level, high-return fundraising development results based on building solid and lasting relationships through strategies that uniquely reach and continue to motivate each type of investor or stakeholder.
• Demonstrated capacity to work with an executive team of six or more leaders in understanding and presenting investor worthy narratives that describe what they are doing programmatically, why it matters, and the tangible meaningful results of their respective efforts.

Required Skills:

• This team member will be a creative, collaborative, and results oriented leader whose passion for the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce is matched with strong leadership, outstanding interpersonal skills, resolute decision-making in the face of complex challenges, and a proven track record of Chamber, association, university, or nonprofit fundraising.
• Comfortable building relationships with corporate and foundation leaders, high net worth individuals, community leaders, and individuals capable of making significant contributions to the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce.
• Displays great energy and a very high degree of self-awareness.  Exercises a special curiosity on what motivates investors to give. Knows how to readily tie the organization they represent to the interests of those from whom they are working to gain support. Is constantly aware of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce’s financial needs, goals, and progress toward achieving them from all viable sources.
• Excellent active listening, persuasion, negotiation, presentation, and public skills are required. Excellent interpersonal, oral, verbal, and written communication.
• Is a leader who consistently demonstrates leadership and management skills, including the ability to work effectively with leaders of other teams and across the breadth and scope of the organization. An added plus in this area would be a strong working history with volunteer leaders and member-based organizations.
• A proven ability to handle confidential matters with discretion. Maintains the confidentialities of the Chamber’s President/CEO and senior leadership team and all Chamber investor, partner, and constituent information.
• Familiarity with advanced databases, fund-raising technology tools, and best fund-raising industry practices; as well as practical experiences with fund-raising software to track and manage investor relationships/commitments and comprehensive campaign performance.

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