Foundation Officer
About Trout Unlimited
Trout Unlimited (TU) was founded in 1959 on the banks of the Au Sable River in Grayling, Michigan, by a group of conservation-minded anglers. Today, TU is the nation’s leading coldwater conservation organization with a mission to bring together diverse interests to care for and recover rivers and streams so that our children can experience the joy of wild and native trout and salmon. TU works to achieve this mission on a local, state and national level through an extensive volunteer network and dedicated staff.
Headquartered outside of Washington, D.C., with an annual operating budget of $122M in FY25, TU has a 32-member Board of Trustees and ~365 staff working from Alaska to Maine. Most of TU’s employees are conservationists working on the ground to restore watersheds, conserve working landscapes, improve state water policy to benefit rivers and fish, or deliver youth education programs.
TU’s main constituency is its 167,000 grassroots members, who are organized into 420 local chapters and 36 state councils across the country. TU’s on-the-ground efforts contribute to the greater community at-large by protecting, reconnecting, and restoring watersheds and investing in the next generation to become good stewards of the incredible coldwater resources across the U.S.
About the Role
The Foundation Officer serves on the Institutional Giving (IG) team in the Development Department and reports to the Director of IG. Two positions at this level are available.
As a Foundation Officer, you will play a crucial role in securing transformative grants from foundation partners to fuel TU's mission. The Foundation Officer position is responsible for achieving and growing a ~$3- to $5-million annual fundraising goal that contributes toward meeting and exceeding a collective IG teamwide annual revenue goal (at ~$12 million for FY25). The Foundation Officer is a strategic thinker and tactical doer who is committed to a relational rather than transactional approach to philanthropic partnerships.
Key Responsibilities
You will work closely with the development team, senior staff, field staff, and cross-functional teams to establish and manage relationships with foundation partners and achieve fundraising goals.
- Portfolio Management (65%):
- In concert with program staff, manage relationships with key foundation contacts to build and maintain long-term partnerships, facilitating and keeping track of all important communications.
- Serve as a primary liaison to program staff for facilitating grant applications and reporting and to guide and coach program staff across the grant life cycle.
- In concert with program and finance staff, develop, edit, and submit grant proposals, proposal budgets, and reports.
- Execute creative cultivation and stewardship touchpoints for existing and prospective funders.
- Draft impactful, smart, engaging correspondence, including for program staff, to engage with current and prospective funders and ensure program staff receive timely reminders to engage prospects.
- Ensure that written materials that are shared with foundations are high quality, compelling, polished, and consistent with TU’s brand and message.
- Solicit feedback from funders to improve grant applications, reporting, and relationship-building strategies.
- Understand and leverage TU’s CRM to drive accurate reporting and decision-making, including maintaining comprehensive and accurate records.
- Work closely with the Director of IG to develop individual portfolio and revenue goals that support the Development team’s overall fundraising goal, including forecasting revenue from foundation sources.
- Monitor and maintain alignment of your fundraising and relationship-building success relative to performance goals.
- Ensure appropriate documentation of relationship history, grant requirements and agreements, and deliverables in TU’s database (NetForum).
- Develop and maintain a grant calendar to ensure timely submission of proposals, reports, and other requirements.
- Develop collateral materials for foundations in collaboration with the Donor Communications and Marketing teams.
- Work collaboratively with program and finance staff to ensure effective grants management and spending consistent with proposal budgets.
- Successfully position the organization for renewed and increased investment from funding partners at the end of their grant cycle.
- Pipeline Development (35%):
- Conduct prospect research in collaboration with the Development Operations team.
- Regularly track and analyze foundation giving trends, philanthropic priorities, and funding opportunities to inform pipeline development strategies.
- Identify key decision-makers and influencers at target foundations and map relationships to leverage connections and warm introductions.
- Continuously scan the foundation landscape to identify new and emerging funders, as well as changes in existing funders' priorities and strategies.
- Analyze the current foundation portfolio to identify gaps and opportunities for growth and develop strategies to address these gaps.
- Plan and coordinate strategic foundation cultivation activities in collaboration with program staff to add new foundations to the portfolio.
Qualifications
What Makes a Successful Candidate:
Overall, you’re the right fit for this role if you have excellent internal and external relationship management skills, analytical and persuasive writing and oral communication skills, team collaboration and leadership skills, and project management skills; a proven track record of grant-seeking success; and a demonstrated capacity to manage multiple concurrent challenging and competing deadlines.
The ideal candidate will be one with significant experience working successfully in a high-volume foundation fundraising capacity, a track record of establishing long-term philanthropic partnerships, an ability to craft fundraising strategies and communications in clear and compelling language, and a personal commitment to environmental protection.
Must Have:
- Passion for TU’s mission
- Bachelor's degree
- Minimum of 3 years of relevant experience with fundraising from foundation sources
- Proven experience securing 6- and 7-figure foundation grants
- Proven experience managing an institutional giving portfolio having more than 20 funders
- Demonstrated ability to concurrently lead multiple collaborative teams to meet fundraising targets
- Exceptional relationship-management and communication skills, including the ability to collaborate and partner effectively with a wide variety of donor prospects, internal stakeholders, and senior leadership
- Phenomenal writing skills and ability to draft written communications on behalf of program staff, including the ability to compellingly articulate complex scientific and policy information to diverse constituencies
- Comfort with impact data and leveraging it to shape external narratives
- Strong strategic decision-making, organizational, and time management skills with keen attention to detail
- Thoughtful and strategic approach to budget development and ability to manage highly sensitive organizational information
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint) and Adobe Acrobat
- Experience with environmental conservation and/or science and policy issues
- Ability to function effectively in a largely remote team environment, with colleagues spread across the U.S.
- Willingness to travel as needed to build funder relationships
Nice to Have:
- Experience with NetSuite, NetForum, FoundationSearch, GrantStation, and wealth prospecting tools
- Familiarity with ChatGPT or similar AI tools
Personal Characteristics:
- Optimistic and friendly disposition
- Proactive orientation, including being adept at planning ahead
- Intellectually curious and flexible, with high emotional intelligence
- Highly organized, self-motivated, and adaptable
- Comfortable working in a highly transparent fashion and open to input and feedback
Compensation
TU offers a competitive compensation package, with salary commensurate with experience. Compensation decisions are dependent on several factors, including but not limited to an individual’s qualifications, location where the role is to be performed, internal equity, and alignment with market data.
How to Apply
Please provide a resume, cover letter, writing sample that represents your strategic approach to cultivating, soliciting, or stewarding a foundation, and the names and contact information for three references to Trout Unlimited via our online job application system at https://recruiting.paylocity.com/Recruiting/Jobs/Details/2451333.
The positions are open until filled.
Our Commitment to Diversity
At TU, we value a diverse representation of staff, and we actively seek candidates for this position who come from communities that have been historically under-represented in conservation and those who have been most impacted by degraded rivers and streams. We are committed to building space for all people to participate in our work to care for trout and salmon and clean our shared waters. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and welcome you to read more about TU’s equity practice and values at https://www.tu.org/equity/.
About Trout Unlimited
Trout Unlimited (TU) was founded in 1959 on the banks of the Au Sable River in Grayling, Michigan, by a group of conservation-minded anglers. Today, TU is the nation’s leading coldwater conservation organization with a mission to bring together diverse interests to care for and recover rivers and streams so that our children can experience the joy of wild and native trout and salmon. TU works to achieve this mission on a local, state and national level through an extensive volunteer network and dedicated staff.
Headquartered outside of Washington, D.C., with an annual operating budget of $122M in FY25, TU has a 32-member Board of Trustees and ~365 staff working from Alaska to Maine. Most of TU’s employees are conservationists working on the ground to restore watersheds, conserve working landscapes, improve state water policy to benefit rivers and fish, or deliver youth education programs.
TU’s main constituency is its 167,000 grassroots members, who are organized into 420 local chapters and 36 state councils across the country. TU’s on-the-ground efforts contribute to the greater community at-large by protecting, reconnecting, and restoring watersheds and investing in the next generation to become good stewards of the incredible coldwater resources across the U.S.
About the Role
The Foundation Officer serves on the Institutional Giving (IG) team in the Development Department and reports to the Director of IG. Two positions at this level are available.
As a Foundation Officer, you will play a crucial role in securing transformative grants from foundation partners to fuel TU's mission. The Foundation Officer position is responsible for achieving and growing a ~$3- to $5-million annual fundraising goal that contributes toward meeting and exceeding a collective IG teamwide annual revenue goal (at ~$12 million for FY25). The Foundation Officer is a strategic thinker and tactical doer who is committed to a relational rather than transactional approach to philanthropic partnerships.
Key Responsibilities
You will work closely with the development team, senior staff, field staff, and cross-functional teams to establish and manage relationships with foundation partners and achieve fundraising goals.
- Portfolio Management (65%):
- In concert with program staff, manage relationships with key foundation contacts to build and maintain long-term partnerships, facilitating and keeping track of all important communications.
- Serve as a primary liaison to program staff for facilitating grant applications and reporting and to guide and coach program staff across the grant life cycle.
- In concert with program and finance staff, develop, edit, and submit grant proposals, proposal budgets, and reports.
- Execute creative cultivation and stewardship touchpoints for existing and prospective funders.
- Draft impactful, smart, engaging correspondence, including for program staff, to engage with current and prospective funders and ensure program staff receive timely reminders to engage prospects.
- Ensure that written materials that are shared with foundations are high quality, compelling, polished, and consistent with TU’s brand and message.
- Solicit feedback from funders to improve grant applications, reporting, and relationship-building strategies.
- Understand and leverage TU’s CRM to drive accurate reporting and decision-making, including maintaining comprehensive and accurate records.
- Work closely with the Director of IG to develop individual portfolio and revenue goals that support the Development team’s overall fundraising goal, including forecasting revenue from foundation sources.
- Monitor and maintain alignment of your fundraising and relationship-building success relative to performance goals.
- Ensure appropriate documentation of relationship history, grant requirements and agreements, and deliverables in TU’s database (NetForum).
- Develop and maintain a grant calendar to ensure timely submission of proposals, reports, and other requirements.
- Develop collateral materials for foundations in collaboration with the Donor Communications and Marketing teams.
- Work collaboratively with program and finance staff to ensure effective grants management and spending consistent with proposal budgets.
- Successfully position the organization for renewed and increased investment from funding partners at the end of their grant cycle.
- Pipeline Development (35%):
- Conduct prospect research in collaboration with the Development Operations team.
- Regularly track and analyze foundation giving trends, philanthropic priorities, and funding opportunities to inform pipeline development strategies.
- Identify key decision-makers and influencers at target foundations and map relationships to leverage connections and warm introductions.
- Continuously scan the foundation landscape to identify new and emerging funders, as well as changes in existing funders' priorities and strategies.
- Analyze the current foundation portfolio to identify gaps and opportunities for growth and develop strategies to address these gaps.
- Plan and coordinate strategic foundation cultivation activities in collaboration with program staff to add new foundations to the portfolio.
Qualifications
What Makes a Successful Candidate:
Overall, you’re the right fit for this role if you have excellent internal and external relationship management skills, analytical and persuasive writing and oral communication skills, team collaboration and leadership skills, and project management skills; a proven track record of grant-seeking success; and a demonstrated capacity to manage multiple concurrent challenging and competing deadlines.
The ideal candidate will be one with significant experience working successfully in a high-volume foundation fundraising capacity, a track record of establishing long-term philanthropic partnerships, an ability to craft fundraising strategies and communications in clear and compelling language, and a personal commitment to environmental protection.
Must Have:
- Passion for TU’s mission
- Bachelor's degree
- Minimum of 3 years of relevant experience with fundraising from foundation sources
- Proven experience securing 6- and 7-figure foundation grants
- Proven experience managing an institutional giving portfolio having more than 20 funders
- Demonstrated ability to concurrently lead multiple collaborative teams to meet fundraising targets
- Exceptional relationship-management and communication skills, including the ability to collaborate and partner effectively with a wide variety of donor prospects, internal stakeholders, and senior leadership
- Phenomenal writing skills and ability to draft written communications on behalf of program staff, including the ability to compellingly articulate complex scientific and policy information to diverse constituencies
- Comfort with impact data and leveraging it to shape external narratives
- Strong strategic decision-making, organizational, and time management skills with keen attention to detail
- Thoughtful and strategic approach to budget development and ability to manage highly sensitive organizational information
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint) and Adobe Acrobat
- Experience with environmental conservation and/or science and policy issues
- Ability to function effectively in a largely remote team environment, with colleagues spread across the U.S.
- Willingness to travel as needed to build funder relationships
Nice to Have:
- Experience with NetSuite, NetForum, FoundationSearch, GrantStation, and wealth prospecting tools
- Familiarity with ChatGPT or similar AI tools
Personal Characteristics:
- Optimistic and friendly disposition
- Proactive orientation, including being adept at planning ahead
- Intellectually curious and flexible, with high emotional intelligence
- Highly organized, self-motivated, and adaptable
- Comfortable working in a highly transparent fashion and open to input and feedback
Compensation
TU offers a competitive compensation package, with salary commensurate with experience. Compensation decisions are dependent on several factors, including but not limited to an individual’s qualifications, location where the role is to be performed, internal equity, and alignment with market data.
How to Apply
Please provide a resume, cover letter, writing sample that represents your strategic approach to cultivating, soliciting, or stewarding a foundation, and the names and contact information for three references to Trout Unlimited via our online job application system at https://recruiting.paylocity.com/Recruiting/Jobs/Details/2451333.
The positions are open until filled.
Our Commitment to Diversity
At TU, we value a diverse representation of staff, and we actively seek candidates for this position who come from communities that have been historically under-represented in conservation and those who have been most impacted by degraded rivers and streams. We are committed to building space for all people to participate in our work to care for trout and salmon and clean our shared waters. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and welcome you to read more about TU’s equity practice and values at https://www.tu.org/equity/.
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