Campaign Director

Job Title: Director of the Beyond Coal Campaign

Department: Program - Campaigns

Location: Remote

Reports to: Senior Director for Campaign Strategy

Supervises: Up to 6 campaign staff

Context: At the Sierra Club, we believe in the power of interdependence. Together, we remain committed to the fight for a healthy climate built on a foundation of environmental, racial, economic, and gender justice – a future where all people benefit from a healthy, thriving planet and a direct connection to nature. As the climate crisis and deeply entrenched systemic racism all fuel injustice, we will continue to fight for a bold, transformational agenda that recognizes the interconnectedness between our planet, our humanity, and our future. By recognizing that our destinies are tied, we continue to name that all things are fundamentally connected, and the overlap between ecology, race, gender, and representative government will move to either advance our collective humanity or to oppress it. Sierra Club has close to 800 staff across the country and a network of 64 local chapters that are led and fueled by thousands of volunteers. We are also proud to be a unionized employer, with three labor unions representing more than half of our employees.

Scope: The Director of the Beyond Coal Campaign leads the Sierra Club’s work to achieve an equitable transformation of the power sector away from coal and gas to 100 percent clean energy. This is a senior leadership position within the Sierra Club. The Director of the Beyond Coal Campaign serves as the campaign’s lead fundraiser and the primary relationship manager for the foundations and major donors who invest in this work, and is accountable for translating that investment into clear strategy, measurable results, and meaningful outcomes for both communities and donors.

The Director of the Beyond Coal Campaign sets high-level power sector strategy, approves local campaign plans, and raises and deploys resources to achieve the organization’s top goals The Director of the Beyond Coal Campaign will foster collaboration with Beyond Coal staff as well as teams across other Sierra Club Energy Campaigns and will be capable of managing internal and external opportunities and challenges. The Campaign Director will do all of the above in a way that ensures strategies and tactics leverage opportunities to advance justice (centered on racial justice), equity, and inclusion while building long-term power.

Job activities include but are not limited to:

• Lead fundraising for the Beyond Coal Campaign. Serve as the campaign’s principal fundraiser, responsible for securing the revenue that powers the campaign’s annual budget. Build and manage a pipeline of institutional and individual funding prospects; cultivate, solicit, and close six- and seven-figure grants and gifts from foundations and high-net-worth individuals; and partner closely with the Office of Advancement on prospect strategy, proposal development, presentations, and reporting. Set annual revenue goals, own performance against them, and adjust campaign expenses based on quarterly revenue projections and strategic opportunity.

• Steward the campaign’s donor relationships. Serve as the primary programmatic contact for the campaign’s foundation and major-donor partners. Maintain a proactive cadence of updates, briefings, and meetings; lead the drafting of grant deliverables and reports, and ensure they are completed on time and at high quality; communicate campaign impact and return on investment in terms that matter to each funder; and manage funder expectations through moments of change. Ensure knowledge of each relationship is documented so that it belongs to the institution, not only to individuals.

• Manage a large, complex budget. Ensure we are providing donors a meaningful return on investment, achieving our stated goals, and aligning resources with strategy on an ongoing basis. Owns strategy and budgetary decisions, deploying resources in service of Beyond Coal Campaign and power sector goals through a consultative and collaborative approach.

• Lead campaign strategy, planning, design, and evaluation for the Beyond Coal Campaign, centered in equity, justice, and inclusion, that meets the challenge of the current climate crisis. Develop an actionable theory of change, core strategies, and campaign goals and outcomes. Continue to build and elevate the campaign and organization’s work to accelerate the buildout of clean energy, retire existing coal plants, and block new gas plants. Engage across the organization and the movement to ensure the campaign is rooted in equitable outcomes and contributes to building long-term power. Oversee strategic campaign planning at the national level, and support local planning. Approves local plans in partnership with relevant stakeholders.

• Provide strategic leadership to the Sierra Club and those implementing the Beyond Coal Campaign strategy. The Director will need to effectively delegate, follow-up, and project manage in a rapidly changing environment with competing demands. Serve as the strategic lead and provide guidance to all parts of the Sierra Club and with partners and external stakeholders related to the Beyond Coal Campaign. Accountable for building strong relationships across groups of stakeholders to ensure goal alignment, support for staff engaged in the Beyond Coal Campaign work, and compelling narratives to advance outcomes. Lead the Beyond Coal Campaign team’s engagement with the Field Department and Chapters, Environmental Law Program, Communications, and deputize staff and delegates work as appropriate.

• Supervise and mentor up to 6 direct reports by setting performance objectives, providing regular feedback, and supporting staff to excel. Effectively manage, guide, and coach staff; ensure individual professional development; establish performance objectives and expectations; and evaluate accomplishments and effectiveness. Take appropriate disciplinary action when needed, and make hiring and termination recommendations. Ensure campaign staff advance assigned projects by collaborating with other Sierra Club staff and volunteers as well as external partners. Establish strategic priorities and monitor progress toward annual results.

• Serve as a member of the Energy Campaigns Team. Help shape and manage the direction of intersectional energy campaigns, and support a holistic vision for significant greenhouse gas reductions across interrelated sectors of the economy. Support an effective and visionary theory of change for the Energy Campaigns that leverages the power of the campaigns as part of the Sierra Club’s foundational approach to greenhouse gas and harmful pollution reductions while also building power.

• Serve as a spokesperson. Represent the Sierra Club with the media and with partners as a strategic leader and subject-matter expert on issues related to the campaign.

• Perform miscellaneous duties as directed.

The successful candidate must demonstrate the following skills, experience and competencies:

• Successful track record of fundraising and donor stewardship. Demonstrated success personally raising significant revenue—including six- and seven-figure grants and gifts—from foundations and high-net-worth individuals, spanning cultivation, solicitation, closing, reporting, and renewal. Experience partnering with advancement or development staff on proposals, presentations, and donor communications. Experience writing successful grant proposals and grant reports, and a record of retaining and growing funder relationships over time, including through moments of organizational or leadership change.

• Track record of successful organizational leadership or campaign leadership. Demonstrated ability to build, implement, and win strategic campaigns or build successful organizations. Demonstrated ability to set a vision and achieve goals in an operating environment that requires working with and building alignment among a range of stakeholders inside and outside the organization. Includes identifying a theory of change, leveraging resources both internal and external toward strategies designed to win tangible, meaningful outcomes, and building a team culture that supports success.

• Effective executive leadership and project management ability. This is a high profile, fast-paced position with many competing priorities and demands. Successful candidates will have extensive experience managing and leading projects from end-to-end, establishing and implementing relevant coordination processes, delegating effectively, and leading a large team. Strong interpersonal skills to navigate disagreement and lead through uncertainty, ambiguity, or conflict.

• Knowledge related to the power sector and related environmental and social justice issues that arise in that work. Experience in policy and other important regulatory and related frameworks governing the power sector.

• Understanding of environmental, climate, and social justice issues and how they relate to each other. Demonstrated ability to design and implement strategies that operate at the intersections of the environment and race, gender, and class. Experience cultivating and maintaining just, accountable partnerships, especially with organizations led by those most impacted by the crises we seek to remedy.

• Skillful at managing individuals and leading teams with a diversity of identities and skill sets to contribute at their highest level. Proficient at proactively surfacing and navigating conflict in a generative, equitable way, and providing timely feedback. In-depth understanding of privilege and how race, gender, and class intersect with environmental, climate, and movement work. Personal commitment to learning and growth, especially around equity, and experience coaching others on these issues.

• Highly developed communication skills, and the ability to represent the organization in media and in venues