Senior Vice President, Growth & Engagement

Senior Vice President, Growth & Engagement | Zinc Collective
Remote

Zinc Collective Overview
Zinc Collective believes that to win the critical battles our country faces today, we need a transformed, robust Democratic Party with larger majorities. The competitive races that create these majorities are decided by small margins, and it’s best-in-class talent, alongside the critical infrastructure and tools needed to support them, that makes the difference between winning and losing.

Zinc Collective will continue to scale its work by investing in gaps around training and retaining top campaign talent to keep them active and engaged in Democratic campaigns – leveraging and building on best practices from inside and outside of politics.

Mission:
Recruit, develop, support, and retain diverse, high potential talent and address gaps in a technologically enabled Democratic ecosystem.

Vision:
Deliver persistent Democratic majorities.

Great campaign talent drives wins. Zinc Collective trains, develops, and retains top talent to bring a diversity of skills, experience, and perspectives to each race.

Developing critical relationships is key. Zinc Collective fosters deep collaborations with Democratic committees, leaders, and partners to maximize impact and create a sustainable competitive advantage.

Creatively applying the methods proven to work. Zinc Collective utilizes creative problem-solving, innovative approaches, and best practices from inside and outside of politics to tackle the most critical challenges.

Working in real-time, with an eye towards lasting progress. Zinc Collective drives in-cycle wins and invests in the great talent needed to achieve long-term success.

Context for Recruitment & Position Summary
Zinc Collective, propelled by the newly appointed leadership of President Sarah Kleinman, is urgently seeking solutions during one of the most turbulent moments in our nation’s history. Business as usual is not working, and we need to adapt and do things differently if we want the Democratic Party to win. Zinc Collective’s mission of recruiting, developing, and retaining talent in the party is more important than ever. Concurrently, the organization needs to be laser-focused on key activities that will maximize impact in this historic moment. As such, Zinc Collective is more narrowly focusing its work on winning back the U.S. House and Senate, restoring the balance of power at the federal level at a time when it is critically needed. Second, Zinc Collective is augmenting its capability to influence the most competitive federal races by merging with Arena, an industry leader in talent development. Since Arena’s founding in 2016, it has recruited, trained, and deployed more than 8,000 political operatives, hailing from all 50 states, including hundreds of campaign managers, fundraisers, digital strategists, data directors, communications experts, organizers, and movement leaders. Last year, despite 90% of counties shifting toward support for Donald Trump, more than 60% of candidates with Arena-trained staff won their elections, consistently out-performing national trends. Together, Zinc Collective and Arena will be more than the sum of their parts.

In order to leverage the investments made to date in Zinc Collective and fuel long-term impact, the organization is also prioritizing the evolution of its revenue-generating and external engagement functions under the leadership of the Senior Vice President, Growth & Engagement (SVP). Reporting to and partnering with the President, the SVP strategically builds and manages the network of relationships that drive and sustain Zinc Collective’s overall growth and mission impact. They are the central figure in establishing and scaling a fundraising model that is characterized by strategic, long-term, major-gifts-focused relationship development (in contrast to the shorter-term focus and transactional exchanges that often typify political fundraising). The SVP leads and oversees all revenue-generating and external engagement functions, including the following: fundraising via a complex set of platforms spanning 501(c)(4), 527, federal PAC, Super PAC, and 501(c)(3) organizations; marketing; communications; partnerships; and donor experience. They are responsible for designing and executing innovative, metrics-based, high-impact fundraising strategies including donor acquisition, cultivation, and stewardship, while also expanding earned revenue and philanthropic investments across multiple channels (individual, institutional, corporate, and mission aligned donors).

The SVP will build and manage a high-performing development team and vendor partnerships, implement best practices for fundraising, and create compelling campaigns and storytelling that strengthen Zinc Collective’s brand, understanding of its programs by a broad range of audiences, and position in the field. This leader will be accountable for securing and growing the organization’s revenue, and they will work to diversify and stabilize Zinc Collective’s funding model to support its long-term vision of retaining top campaign talent in Democratic politics. They will prioritize refining the case for support and giving priorities as well as optimizing the strategic engagement of the organization’s principals in fundraising initiatives.

This executive will bring a strong blend of business acumen, deep fundraising and development expertise, understanding of how to build philanthropic cultures, persuasive marketing skills, and a creative, entrepreneurial mindset suited to a fast-paced, thriving environment.

Candidate Profile
The successful applicant must demonstrate the following experience and skills:

• Passion for Zinc Collective’s mission to retain top campaign talent in Democratic politics.
• 10+ years of leadership experience in fundraising, development, partnerships, or growth strategy, preferably with 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), startups, or political or politically adjacent organizations.
• Proven success of building philanthropic cultures and raising funds across multiple donor segments and/or funding models.
• Deep understanding of fundraising best practices, donor psychology, and modern engagement strategies as well as the ability to work closely with compliance to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain effective, high-impact relationships with donors, partners, and internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
• Strong business and financial acumen, including forecasting, budgeting, and ROI analysis.
• Exceptional communication, storytelling, and public speaking skills. Comprehensive written, oral and interpersonal communications skills, including highly developed political acumen skills.

Zinc Collective’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
At Zinc Collective, our organizations, and across the entire Democratic ecosystem, we are committed to hiring practices that are equitable, inclusive, and candidate experience centric. Recruiting and retaining diverse, high-performing talent are the first steps in fostering a workplace culture rooted in a sense of inclusion and belonging.

• We provide unconscious bias training for all staff and employ bias reduction efforts in our hiring practices.
• We produce scheduled diversity and EEO reporting for all active job listings to help ensure that we are sourcing from a diverse applicant pool.
• Our volunteer, employee-based DEI working group aims to support the DEI goals of the broader organization.
• Our remote-first workplace allows us to recruit talent from diverse communities nationwide.

Download the full position description via the following link:
https://dsgco.com/search/22536-zinc-collective

Zinc Collective has retained the DSG Fundraising & Advancement Practice of DSG Global to assist in this confidential search process. Inquiries, nominations, and applications (current resumes and cover letters) may be submitted via the following link or directed to the leader of the search team:

https://talent-profile.dsgco.com/search/v2/22536

Gerard F. Cattie, Jr.
Global Managing Partner and Practice Founder – DSG Fundraising & Advancement
DSG Global
The Chrysler Building, 405 Lexington Avenue, 49th Floor, New York, New York 10174
[email protected] | 212.542.2587