Director of Development & Fundraising (Foundation-wide) - San Francisco

Director of Development & Fundraising (Foundation-wide) – San Francisco

EQL Tech is partnering with a technology founder's family foundation to hire its first foundation-wide Director of Development & Fundraising.

The foundation works across four areas: cancer care and research, including a patient-centred cancer care programme in the Caribbean; education, with global partners; climate and clean-energy infrastructure; and civic arts, including the largest urban sculpture trail in the world, with 25 large-scale works already installed across San Francisco and a path to 100 across 34 miles.

Why this role exists

The founders have funded every initiative so far. The next stage is bringing in partners: individuals, families, foundations and companies who want to co-invest in work that is already up and running. Founder commitment is the foundation's strength, not a substitute for outside support. Initiatives scale further and last longer when others own them too.

This role builds that funder base across the whole portfolio. The core of the job is matching: finding funders who are ready to give, understanding what moves them, and connecting them with the initiative where their support will matter most, whether that is cancer care, education, climate or the arts. You will be cause-agnostic by design and fluent in all four.

Reporting to the foundation's CEO, you will be the foundation's senior fundraiser, working alongside the leaders of each initiative.

What you'll own

Prospecting & network

• Identify and qualify high-net-worth individuals, family offices, private and corporate foundations and donor-advised fund holders who are ready to give at scale.
• Build the foundation's network from a standing start across Bay Area and national philanthropy, and open doors that do not yet exist.

Cultivation & closing

• Personally lead cultivation and solicitation through to six- and seven-figure commitments.
• Prepare the founders and foundation leadership for key asks with briefings, prospect research and clear next steps.

Portfolio matchmaking

• Know each initiative well enough to make its case to a sophisticated funder: the outcomes, the plan and what new money unlocks.
• Build a case for support for each initiative and for the foundation as a whole, and route each funder's interest to the right fit.

Institutional & corporate giving

• Lead foundation grants and corporate partnerships across the portfolio: prospecting, proposals, structuring, closing, reporting and renewal.

Stewardship & systems

• Design stewardship that keeps every funder feeling known, with impact reporting that spans several initiatives without confusing anyone.
• Run development operations: CRM, gift agreements, restricted-fund tracking, pledge management and reporting.

Partnering across the foundation

• Work with each initiative's leadership to turn programme results into funder-ready impact stories, proposals and reports.

What success looks like in the first 12–18 months

• A qualified, actively worked pipeline of outside funders across at least three initiatives.
• First significant outside commitments closed, with the share of founder funding starting to fall.
• Funders who came in for one initiative are deepening their involvement or extending it to a second.
• A development function with the systems, records and reporting to scale.

Essential

• Proven closer: 7+ years in development (10+ preferred), having personally closed six-figure gifts and been the lead on at least one seven-figure commitment.
• Multi-cause range: you have raised for more than one cause area, or from an institution-wide seat such as central university development, a community foundation, a health and research system or a philanthropy advisory practice.
• Network builder: a track record of building relationships with high-net-worth individuals, family offices and foundations from scratch, not only managing an inherited portfolio.
• Cross-trained: experience across individual major gifts, foundation/institutional giving and corporate partnerships.
• Fast switcher: you can move from oncology patient outcomes to climate infrastructure to public art in a single day, and write a compelling proposal for each.
• Discreet operator: sound judgement with confidential donor and family information, and comfortable working closely with a high-profile founding family.

We're particularly excited about candidates who also bring some combination of:

• An established network among Bay Area tech wealth, family offices or foundations.
• Fundraising for health, medical research or science.
• International or cross-border giving.
• Experience raising money alongside a founder-funded organisation, private foundation or fiscal sponsor.
• Capital campaign experience.
• CRM fluency (Salesforce, Raiser's Edge or similar) and active use of Claude and other AI tools.

• Compensation: $150,000–$200,000 base, commensurate with experience. Full-time, at-will, W-2.
• Location: San Francisco, in person for donor meetings and events, with occasional travel to programme sites, including the Caribbean.
• The work: a senior seat with direct access to the founders and every initiative, building the foundation's development function from the ground up.
• Process: three conversations with the foundation's leadership, the last of which may include discussing your first 90 days.

How to apply: submit your CV and answer the short questions on the form. The written answers matter more than a cover letter. EQL Tech is retained to lead this search.