Senior Director, Client Services

About Us:

Aperio Philanthropy is a fundraising consulting firm that partners with nonprofits to realize their fundraising potential. We provide hands-on support that generates sustainable revenue growth and enables organizations to thrive.

Aperio was created for fundraisers by fundraisers. Every member of our team has successfully raised funds at leading nonprofits nationwide. With on-the-ground experience, we understand that the barrier to growth is rarely knowing what to do but rather how to get it done among competing priorities.

To simplify the path to growth, we’ve distilled proven approaches into a clear roadmap that any nonprofit can follow. Our services accelerate progress along that roadmap—unlocking new revenue at every step. We’re savvy strategists, but more importantly, we go beyond great ideas and work alongside fundraising teams to implement them.

The result is new, sustainable revenue for the missions that are changing our world.

About Our Team:

Every member of our team was drawn to Aperio by a craving to see nonprofits thrive—to escape the toxic ‘survival mode’ that holds back so many important missions and harms clients, staff, volunteers, and donors alike. We believe that nonprofits are vital to our society—that to create thriving communities, we need thriving nonprofits.

We believe that for any community, organization, or company to thrive, every individual in the community must have the space, resources, and support to thrive. For that reason, we work intentionally every day to create an environment with ample space for creativity, exploration, professional growth, and personal expression. We actively invest in anti-racism and anti-discrimination in our own company and our sector.

Our culture is relentlessly professional and rigorous, but simultaneously open and warm. We are collaborative, give each other honest feedback, and don’t micromanage each other. We engage each other, our clients, and our community members as people first, ensuring that we are supporting each other’s whole selves, not just the work at hand.

We value the combined power of:

• Results-orientation
• Creativity
• Simplification
• Authenticity

We believe that with a clear goal, a fresh set of eyes, a little bit of organization, and an infusion of confidence, every organization can be propelled to a new level of impact

About You:

You are inspired by what you’ve just read and driven to contribute what you’ve learned from on-the-ground fundraising to our vision of seeing nonprofits thrive. You believe that fundraising changes the lives of all involved—those served by the mission, the donors who fuel the work, and volunteers and staff.

You are adept at understanding people’s personal needs and motivations and uncovering alignment with your own objectives. You create win-win partnerships that leave people more confident and more capable of impact. You are ambitious on behalf of important causes, with a genuine desire to change the world.

You are authentic in your interactions with others. You build trust easily, communicate clearly, listen actively, ask good questions, and inspire loyalty. You maintain the highest standards of integrity at every step of the way.

About the Role:

The Senior Director, Client Services serves as a leader at Aperio, with responsibility for creating a sustainable pipeline of partnerships and delivering on promises to clients. In collaboration with Aperio’s senior leadership team, the Senior Director optimizes the impact, health, vibrancy, and sustainability of Aperio’s client services through the full development of our team’s talent and potential. Day-to-day, the Senior Director spends the majority of their time on direct client services, leading partnerships, contributing to work products, and guiding account teams. In addition, the Senior Director serves as a leader and mentor to staff through the formal mentorship program and informal interactions. The Senior Director manages a portfolio of relationships with prospective partners, serves as the face of Aperio externally, and proactively cultivates a personal thought-leadership role in our community and industry. The Senior Director advances and operationalizes our core values and models an open, growth-orientation every day.

Client services responsibilities (75%)

The Senior Director contributes to a range of client projects in advisory, project lead, or account team member roles. At any given time, the Senior Director works on a portfolio of 5-10 active clients in one of these roles. When serving as an ‘Advisor’ on the account team, the Senior Director is responsible for leading an account team to success in exceeding client expectations, growing partnerships, and developing Aperio talent; the Senior Director provides strategic direction, day-to-day guidance, and ‘apprenticeship’ opportunities to account team. When serving in other capacities on an account team, the Senior Director brings the highest quality of service in fulfillment of client deliverables, in close collaboration with other staff and partners. Throughout all client work, the Senior Director will:

• Adopt a client-centric approach and provide each client with an exceptional experience
• Continually seek to understand the client’s end goals, business models, and definition of success for the partnership
• Create strategies for the account team to deliver on promises to clients, using all available resources, aligning with Aperio’s model and methodologies, and investing time/energy to highest and best use
• Foster alignment and collaboration among the account team
• Optimize partnership impact and relationship quality, thinking and working beyond the current scope of work to future opportunities
• Optimize project efficiency and profitability
• Leverage each client project to develop Aperio’s talent by providing shadowing, coaching, and other learning opportunities and providing clear, real-time feedback
• Leverage each client project to build the capacity of the company by enhancing, templatizing, and cross-pollinating resources in collaboration with Strategic Services
• Establish clear roles and responsibilities for account team members
• Meet with account teams regularly in accordance with Aperio’s governance model
• Direct staff to samples, tools, templates, training, coaching and other resources available through Strategic Services, peers, and other account teams
• Support staff in removing barriers and resolving conflicts
• Lead or participate in leadership- and board-level meetings
• Lead or participate in strategic and major capacity-building work sessions
• Serve as the strategic partner for the client’s senior leadership
• Contribute strategies for revenue growth and complex initiatives
• Review and contribute to major deliverables to align with client needs and expectations
• Ensure that external subject-matter experts and partners are used to highest and best use

Leadership & mentorship (10%)

The Senior Director serves as a leader and resource to the staff, providing both formal and informal mentorship that enhances the professional development and optimization of each team member. Additionally, the Senior Director leads and implements capacity-building projects to support the growth and efficiency of the organization.

• Lead a cohort of 5-7 mentees as a mentor in Aperio’s formal staff mentorship program
• Facilitate regular gatherings and conversations among cohort members (as outlined in the mentorship program governance model) to contribute to a welcoming, supportive environment where staff can growth and thrive
• Lead implementation of select strategic/capacity-building projects, such as developing a ‘focus area’, developing service delivery methodologies, and/or defining ‘playbooks’
• Proactively identify capacity-building opportunities and collaborate with other members of the Aperio team to advance them
• Leverage project-management best practices to advance special initiatives and projects
• Contribute to Aperio’s efforts to fight racism and discrimination, especially in nonprofits, fundraising, and philanthropy
• Provide feedback openly, constructively, and regularly
• Receive feedback openly, constructively, and regularly

Business development (15%)

The Senior Director proactively and actively contributes to company growth strategies. As the face of Aperio in the community, the Senior Director will:

• Personally build and engage a portfolio of 50-100 strategic relationships, sourced from personal networks and cold outreach
• Manage extension, upgrade, and referral conversations with current clients, optimizing opportunities for partnership growth
• Participate in and/or lead new partnership conversations
• Represent Aperio leadership during proposals presentations, as requested
• Build a personal brand as a thought leader in the nonprofit and fundraising community, proactively seeking opportunities to present and participate in conferences, workshops, and webinars hosted by Aperio and other industry groups
• Create articles and videos that educate, equip, and inspire nonprofit leaders and fundraisers
• Promote and engage with Aperio content across social media channels

Qualifications:

• 10+ years’ experience in relationship-based fundraising (major gifts, foundations, or corporate partnerships), including 5+ years’ experience focusing full-time on generating philanthropic revenue from a portfolio of individuals, foundations, and/or companies
• Demonstrated ability to lead, manage, develop, and grow large and complex teams
• Diverse nonprofit experience—including experience in organizations with $50 million+ in annual revenue—preferred
• Demonstrated ability to efficiently manage a portfolio of relationships and grow revenue from that portfolio year-over-year
• Experience soliciting $100,000+ gifts
• Experience managing complex projects to successful completion
• Outstanding organizational and time-management skills and ability
• Ability to inspire and hold accountable diverse internal and external stakeholders
• Experience partnering with volunteer and staff leadership on donor relationships and/or projects
• Ability to analyze and interpret data and apply insights to strategy
• Demonstrated ability to leverage metrics to improve the donor experience and fundraiser performance
• Superb relationship management, interpersonal, and communication (written and oral) skills
• Strong storytelling and public speaking skills
• Strong understanding of technology systems pertinent to major gifts (Salesforce and Raiser’s Edge a plus)
• Openness to the ever-changing, dynamic environment of a start-up company
• Eagerness to learn new knowledge and skills
• Ability to travel for assignments, as needed, up to 50% of time

Location

Currently, this role combines remote work-from-home and frequent travel to spent time onsite with clients and meet with Aperio team members.

To facilitate work-from-home, Aperio provides essential technology equipment and a monthly mobile phone reimbursement of $75 per month.

Compensation

Aperio is pleased to offer competitive compensation and benefits, as well as accelerated career development opportunities.

Base compensation for this role is $120,000 - $135,000 commensurate with experience in executive leadership, business development, and portfolio-focused, relationship-based fundraising. Bonus and promotion opportunities available.

Benefits include:

• Paid time off (PTO) starting at 4 weeks per year, which includes 10 days of sick time and 10 days of vacation time
• 10-18 holidays per year, including closure over the year-end holidays
• Summer Fridays observed between the Friday before Memorial Day and the Friday before Labor Day
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401K with a nonelective company contribution of 3% of your compensation, regardless of whether you make employee contributions