The Winston School of Short Hills Announces their Search for a Director of Advancement and External Relations
The Winston School of Short Hills, NJ
Director of Advancement and External Relations
Mission Statement
The Winston School is a vibrant learning community that unites students’ unique strengths with purpose-driven instruction to empower individuals with learning differences such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, and ADHD. Winston students develop skills as innovative thinkers and imaginative creators, joyfully reaching for their potential by building confidence, optimism, and self-advocacy.
About Us
Set in the bucolic town of Short Hills, NJ, The Winston School is an independent day school serving 95 students in Grades 1 through Grade 8. The Winston School nurtures and celebrates growing students with language-based learning differences. Divided into three separate divisions (Primary, Lower, and Middle) students engage with each other in small classes, multi-sensory and cross-curricular activities. The faculty at The Winston School are exceptionally well-trained in programs like Orton-Gillingham, Lindamood-Bell and The Hockman Method. Moreover, they are caring, tireless educators who know how their students learn best. Their enthusiasm is contagious as they seek to instill confidence and self-advocacy in their students.
Position Summary
The Director of Institutional Advancement and External Relations is responsible for all activities pertaining to fundraising, alumni relations, external communications, marketing, branding special events, and parent association functions. This position works collaboratively with the administrative team, board of trustees, and other constituents to develop and maintain a vision and strategy for the School’s advancement, communications, and marketing goals. The Director of Institutional Advancement and External Relations reports to the Head of School and is a key member of the administrative team.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Work closely with the Head of School to strategize, design, and implement the School’s advancement priorities.
Formulate tailored strategies to cultivate, solicit, and steward a targeted portfolio of leadership and major gift donors and prospects.
Oversee the Annual Fund and the One Day for Winston launch.
Run all major fundraising events, including the annual Gala.
Manage major donor relations.
Administer the advancement database and all technology related to the site, including labeling and updating all constituents with specific tags in order to run reports.
Create the annual donor recognition report.
Maintain and foster alumni relations.
Write, manage and, track grants.
Along with the Digital Communications Manager, curate the School’s website and social media accounts.
Along with the Digital Communications Manager, collate and organize all community-wide broadcast emails and communications.
Develop video content and marketing materials as necessary.
Help to manage special days such as photography day, Moving-On ceremonies, and more on an as needed basis.
Managing the School’s brand and branding, including stationery and other purchased items.
Oversee an effort to grow community relations to establish and strengthen ties with alumni, parents of alumni and friends.
Liaise with the Parents Association to plan and execute donor events and attend other community events as appropriate.
Work with the Head of School and Campaign Committee:
Support and enhance the campaign prospect pipeline strategy.
Assist in the coordination of campaign leadership volunteer activity.
Cultivate a positive and supportive office culture, providing mentorship and guidance.
Collaborate on initiatives and decisions related to overall program direction, strategies, and fundraising goals.
Formulate a system of metrics and strategy for measuring progress toward team and individual goals and evaluating overall performance.
Develop a working knowledge of all aspects of The Winston School, including its mission, history, vision, educational program, community, and funding priorities and strategic initiatives, in order to articulate a compelling case for support to all constituents. And offer significant support whenever necessary.
Qualifications
A minimum of 5 years of experience required in the development or related field.
Bachelor’s degree required from an accredited college or university.
Highly developed organizational skills.
Experience in event planning.
Experience in data management and analysis.
Strong management experience with the ability and interest to work closely with staff members to achieve individual and department goals.
Strong background in Annual Giving, including leadership programs, and constituent relations programs.
Experience overseeing alumni and parent programming designed to support comprehensive needs of a broad constituency.
Demonstrated ability to identify, cultivate, and close gifts from Annual Fund and major gift prospects personally and effectively.
Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
An appreciation for elementary and middle school education, especially education for children with language-based learning differences.
Passionate about The Winston School’s mission and vision.
How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates are invited to contact the consultant in confidence. Candidates will ultimately need to submit the following materials as separate PDF documents:
· A cover letter expressing interest in this particular position
· A current résumé
As the process moves forward, selected candidates may be asked to submit:
· Responses to writing prompts specific to this search
· A list of five professional references with name, relationship, phone number, and email address of each (references will not be contacted without the candidate’s permission)
Candidates are invited to contact the consultant in confidence and to submit a résumé and cover letter as soon as possible to:
Chris Pryor
President and Founder of The Gowan Group
cpryor@thegowangroup.com
203.302.9939
The Winston School acknowledges its obligations to prohibit discrimination, harassment, or retaliation on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, sex, disability/handicap, or religion in admission to its educational programs, activities, and services, and in employment opportunities or processes. Retaliation against an individual for filing a complaint under this policy or participating in the informal or formal resolution is prohibited.
successful Webinar
On April 5th The Gowan Group hosted a webinar with four panelists to share their experience with “newish” heads. This information was so helpful to the attendees we wanted to share it with all of you.
Here is a brief description of the topic:
Late winter/spring presents heads with a set of complicated yearly tasks to complete before students and teachers leave for summer break. Getting these things done makes it possible for the Head and leadership team to maximize time for reflection and strategy during the summer and for the board to largely stand down until the fall. When left to lag over into the summer, these tasks become messy and inefficient; some are even impossible to do and pile up into the next school year. The consequences have a compounding negative effect: institutional ineffectiveness and a loss of political capital for the school’s leaders.
The Head of School Panelists were:
Ann Klotz, Head of School, Laurel School, all girls, ECC-12, day, Cleveland
Will Webb, Head of School, Salisbury School, all boys, 9-PG, boarding, Salisbury, CT
Rose Helm, Head of School, The John Thomas Dye School, coed, K-6, day, Los Angeles
Stuart Gulley, Head of School, Woodward Academy, coed, PK-12, day, Atlanta