Strategy Director, Fundraising (Evergreen)

Interested in joining Blue State's Strategy Team? Submit your application here to ensure you're first in line for future opportunities. Please note: this is an "evergreen" job post (i.e. not an active job post), but your expression of interest matters to us. While interviews aren't ongoing, we're excited to connect with talented individuals who share our commitment to Blue State's mission.

If you came across this job via LinkedIn, please note that it is an evergreen role; Linked In does not differentiate, but we prefer to.

What to know

Help progressive causes achieve lasting change through high-performing programs and sustainable growth. We’re looking for a Strategy Director with a record of success in developing the strategy that underpins supporter engagement, and supporting execution teams to drive results and adapt to learnings. This includes generating and synthesizing audience insights, fundraising and mobilization program and user journey development, KPI setting, informing testing plans and priorities, data and tech consulting, creating budget and staffing recommendations, and more. 

In this role, you might find yourself devising a supporter-first strategy to help a charity efficiently scale and grow sustainably. Or, you may be challenged with uncovering rich audience insights that lead to new opportunities for an organization’s expansion plan. You’ll be a part of a team of multi-disciplinary colleagues including creative directors, communications strategists, analysts, tech directors, and account directors.

We’re looking for an analytical individual who can inspire and mentor people across disciplines.

The company

Blue State is a purpose-driven agency. We partner with leading causes, brands, and campaigns and create real change. From Google and UNICEF to Amnesty International and Oxfam, we transform how brands and causes raise money, influence policy, build platforms, and grow communities of supporters. Led by the most creative and analytical minds from the political, nonprofit, and brand worlds, Blue State is a part of WPP Digital and has 150+ employees in the US and London.

A day in the life

• Surface the audience insights and business intelligence that drive breakthrough campaigns and experiences; ensuring creative execution maps back to the strategy & recommending pivots and enhancements as needed. 
• Establish strategic direction for campaigns, organizations, branding projects, or products by defining objectives, audiences, budgets and KPIs. We’re looking for a person able to create order from chaos, alignment where there are many different expectations, and buy-in even with the most senior C-suite clients.
• Translate research and performance data findings into actionable tools and formats like audience and budget prioritizations, user journeys, and strategic plans. Primary research (interviews, surveys, focus groups, creative testing) as well as secondary (desk research, landscape and trend analysis, using audience intelligence tools, social listening) skills desirable.
• Lead client and internal brainstorms, planning meetings and presentations, and program development workshops. 
• Use frameworks like SWOTs, gap analyses, positioning matrix, cost/benefit analysis, audience persona mapping, landscape research, creative briefs, strategy maps, theories of change, cases for support, etc. to guide our strategies, clients and teams, creating clear and compelling end-to-end deliverables. 
• Experience of direct response fundraising performance and/or e-commerce experience working to drive digital results is essential. You will be expected to articulate email, social media, paid media, content strategy, and UX recommendations and best practices, as well as have an understanding of how propositions and creative lives on a range of integrated channels, supporting online and offline performance. 
• Grow and manage client portfolios through regular account planning activities, and create client roadmaps over months and years where appropriate.
• Craft and pitch new business as well as represent Blue State via event participation and other thought leadership 
• Strengthen and evolve our fundraising and mobilization capabilities
• Mentor and upskill team members

The team

Good strategy is about taking the best possible journey to your ultimate destination and our Strategy Team is focused on plotting that course for our clients. Our team spans across many offices, but works closely with local cross-disciplinary teams to tackle big problems for a variety of clients.

For us, this isn’t just work. Everything we do is connected to something we care about and we’re seeking an individual willing to work tirelessly to create positive change in the world.

What we offer

• Unlimited time-off (inclusive of sick, personal, and vacation days)
• $1,000 annually in professional development funds
• Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance
• Inclusive family planning coverage, including fertility, surrogacy, and adoption benefits
• Flexible and health savings accounts
• 401K & employer match
• Generous paid holiday schedule
• 12-week fully-paid parental leave for all parents-to-be
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Pre-tax commuter benefits
• Remote work flexibility

We approach in-office working with a hybrid model. On-site presence is welcome for US staff who are within commuting distance of the NY or DC office. Managers retain discretion to require in-person attendance for folks on their discipline or client teams as necessary, including for those whose roles require them to be in person. To enter our US offices or attend Blue State events, staff and visitors must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, including with a booster shot when eligible. Exceptions for protected grounds will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

The salary range for this position is $112,500-$140,000; compensation will be commensurate with experience.

Some things we're looking for

• You have at least 8+ years of relevant experience in a relevant role, with a proven track record of driving income through digital campaigns and channels.
• You’re a thinker and a doer; this role asks you to both provide oversight and be willing to roll up your sleeves and dig into the work.
• You are not a lone wolf. You genuinely enjoy bringing others along in the process of the work. The words “that’s not my job” aren’t part of your vocabulary–particularly when it’s clear that those around you may be still learning and in need of support.
• You have command of a room and superb presentation skills. You have the ability to build trust and confidence in early interactions, and understand the art of how to sell great ideas and great work.
• You’re resilient and able to adapt to new situations, solve problems on the fly, and communicate with those around you. Teamwork and scrappiness required, with an agile approach to projects which may change course regularly based on results and the external environment requiring a pivot.
• You’re a people leader, experienced and dedicated to growing and mentoring teams, while being open to feedback and what you can learn from others.
• You have a shared passion and curiosity for making change. This includes comfort with ambiguity, a restlessness that resists the status quo, and a commitment to quality that ensures we’re always making progress.
• You are steeped in the art of empathy, practice mutual respect, and will act as a role model at Blue State. A commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is vital.

At Blue State, diversity is a necessity, not a nice-to-have. We encourage those from underrepresented communities — women, people of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, those with disabilities and people at all the intersections in between — to apply. Even if you don’t think your current skill set checks every box, but this role seems to align with your strengths, we want to hear from you.

Blue State is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible application and interview process. If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation for a disability, including the use of AI tools throughout the hiring process, please contact us at [email protected] with the subject line: Accommodation Request to get started.