KaBOOM!
Vice President for Development

KaBOOM!, a national 501(c) (3), nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC has retained Sterling Martin Associates to conduct a search for their Vice President of Development. Established in 1996, by co-founder and CEO Darell Hammond, KaBOOM! has grown rapidly in its 12 year history to a $24 million budget, 90 staff organization. Each year KaBOOM! and its partners build over 200 playgrounds throughout the U.S.

KaBOOM! rallies communities to achieve better public policy, funding and public awareness for increased play opportunities nationwide. The organization provides resources, including trainings, challenge grants, and publications for communities that wish to plan a new play space on their own. They bring together children, business and community interests for a select number of communities play space builds each year. KaBOOM!'s mission is "a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America".

Since its inception, KaBOOM! has been creating safe places for kids to play. But more than just building playgrounds, KaBOOM! is helping to build communities throughout the U.S. by organizing local teams that include corporations and their employees, parents, kids and community leaders in playground "builds". Extensive research has demonstrated that unfettered play is critical in developing a child's mental and physical health and in building their socialization skills. Thus, KaBOOM! is in effect a "leadership development" organization for kids.

KaBOOM! recently partnered with New York Architect David Rockwell to help create truly great playgrounds across America. By distributing Rockwell's innovative Imagination Playground systems to communities who need them, KaBOOM! is taking a giant leap toward their vision of a great place to play within walking distance of every child. KaBOOM! has received major press in publications such as Fortune Magazine, and in major media including CNN. Home Depot, Ben & Jerry's, Sprint and Fannie Mae can be counted among a diverse group of corporate partners.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Office, the VP of Development is part of the Senior Management Team working closely with the CEO and other Vice Presidents. He/she will manage a staff of 13 through three direct reports including the Senior Director, Development, Director, Corporate Development and the Senior Manager of Cause Marketing. He/she will be responsible for developing and implementing an integrated and comprehensive approach to development that supports the KaBOOM! Program Management, Online and Community Program activities, Mass Action initiative, growth capital and organization overhead. He/she is responsible for providing strategies for current and new funding streams that include Corporate Sponsorships, Foundations, Strategic Partnerships, Cause Marketing, Major Gifts, Individual Donors and the Government.

The VP of Development will develop and manage budgets that provide oversight of finances and overlay all activities of the Development organization. The Vice President of Development will also work closely with the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Operating Officer to establish consistency in the KaBOOM! external approach with its corporate partners and other funders. This Vice President will put an external face on the KaBOOM! brand and will own, manage and cultivate development and major account relationships.

For more information please visit The KaBOOM! Web site.

Position Responsibilities

Corporate Development and Account Management

• Hone, articulate and proactively reinforce the KaBOOM! value proposition to corporate funding partners, building multi-year, multi-build and multi-program relationships.
• Develop new relationships with potential funding partners, understand their needs and convert them to corporate funding partners.
• Develop and when appropriate, implement customized sales management strategies and techniques to sell KaBOOM! program sponsorship opportunities to funding partners.
• Establish a system for seamless coordination and communication with and between the CEO, the Vice President of Mass Action and Development, the Vice President of LEAD initiative to ensure maximum effectiveness and efficiency in managing major account relationships and corporate partnerships.
• Develop and communicate the internal systems and processes that will allow KaBOOM! to manage, grow and cultivate deep and multi-faceted relationships with funding partners.
• Communicate with the Senior Management Team ensuring that expectations are articulated accurately and clearly to funding partners and reflect the true organizational capacity of KaBOOM!
• Working with the Senior Management Team, refine the metrics and measurements in the "KaBOOM! formula" for organizational performance that will quantify its value to funding partners and develop and improve a process for obtaining those metrics and measurements.
• Develop a model for reporting to corporate sponsors the project status, benefits and outcomes as a result of investments.
• Expand the existing development program by further diversifying revenue source into areas such as individual giving, employee giving program, government grants, direct mail and foundations.
• Continually stay abreast of best practices in cause-related marketing, foundation partnership management and relationship building.
• Cultivate existing corporate sponsors by communicating the evolving value proposition of KaBOOM! and leveraging opportunities for co-branding and licensing agreements.

Team Leadership and Management

• Attract, develop and retain high-performance team members, empowering them to elevate their level of responsibility, span of control and performance.
• Analyze existing development and account management functions and work with the team and senior managers to define strategic imperatives and develop appropriate business models for SEED & RALLY that will support the Going to Scale (GTS) plan and achieve sustainability for each strategy.
• Develop and operationalize policy for how KaBOOM! will interface with funding partners that will result in seamless and elegant communications from initial meetings to day-to-day interactions during program implementations.
• Review current budget processes, then develop and implement improvements, providing a model for budget management and financial oversight, instilling a sense of financial accountability.

• B.A. degree required with MBA a plus. At least 8-10 years of demonstrated success establishing, building and managing the development function of an organization with particular emphasis on corporate sponsorships. Previous direct development and budget oversight experience required.
• Experience in both non-profit and corporate environments a plus.
• Experience in an entrepreneurial environment working with multiple constituents, beneficiaries and/or clients.
• Proven experience developing new relationships with corporate sponsors/clients or customers, resulting in multiple deal closures and deep, long-term relationships.
• An entrepreneurial and fast moving style; capable of fitting into the fast paced environment offered by this high energy organization.
• The ability to set strategy, then sell it internally, as well as externally.
• Effective and strong communicator, as well as problem-solver; able to balance tension between sponsor/client expectations and organizational capabilities and results.
• Relationship-builder with the flexibility and finesse to "manage by influence" and to liaise with a wide range of internal and external constituents.
• High energy, maturity and leadership with the ability to serve as a unifying force and to position communications discussions at both the strategic and tactical levels.
• Highly collaborative style; offering expertise in constantly evolving development and account management.
• Excellent writing/editing and verbal communication skills, with experience writing complex proposals for partnership agreements.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing a successful fund development program.
• Commitment to the KaBOOM! mission.
• Essential Functions:

  The candidate must have the ability to maintain acceptable standards of office conduct; the ability to handle stress, get along with others and work in a cooperative and team oriented manner.

  The candidate must have computer skills and the ability to type on a computer.

  Frequent travel is required.

  For more information please contact: David Martin, Managing Partner e:dmartin@smartinsearch.com, or Beth Cessna, Senior Consultant e: bcessna@smartinsearch.com

  Sterling Martin Associates is a retained, executive search firm with locations in Washington, DC, New York, NY, Atlanta, GA and Irvine, CA.