Strategic Advisor (nonprofit & Foundation Clients)

LOS ANGELES | FULL-TIME

The ideal candidate will have led culture change work for nonprofits and/or foundations either through an internal role and/or as a consultant/advisor. In your culture change work, you’ve developed and implemented strategies that leverage the power of storytelling, media, and strategic advocacy to influence how people think, feel, and act on key social issues. You excel at leading, creating, and implementing multi-faceted impact strategies.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Strategic Advisor creates meaningful impact for the agency’s Nonprofit and Foundation clients by leading the work internally and externally through providing strategic advisement for current and potential clients, leading the development of strategy in collaboration with the client team, and managing the account management function to ensure seamless execution of the work. This role has three areas of focus: 1. Client Delivery, 2. Team Development, and 3. Business Development.

Specific responsibilities will include:

Client Delivery 

• Serve as the primary point of contact and most trusted advisor with Nonprofit/Foundation clients by providing: 1) proactive advisement to them on how to best meet their social impact goals with a focus on culture change by leveraging the power of storytelling, media, and strategic advocacy to influence how people think, feel, and act on key social issues; 2) providing updates on work; 3) identifying and sharing new opportunities for innovation; and 4) reactively responding to client requests, issues, and new opportunities.

• Direct all communications with clients by leveraging the expertise of the internal client team when most appropriate to make progress on the client's work. Create meaningful opportunities for the internal client team to engage directly with the client.

• Lead the development and execution of strategies that achieve client goals by leveraging research, findings, and recommendations from the internal client team, while ensuring alignment with PD’s approach, project scope, and strategic vision.

• Ensure continuous and constant alignment and clear communication on goals, strategic priorities, and needs with and between client and internal team.

• Leverage the full capabilities and expertise of the client team in a proactive and entrepreneurial manner, proactively mining for inputs and expertise, identifying and addressing gaps, and collaboratively problem-solving to drive successful outcomes by making informed decisions that utilize each team member’s expertise.

Team Development 

• Regularly report and manage up to the Principal and actively identify needs for engagement from them.

• Grow and develop account management direct reports and provide mentorship across client team.

• Grow the client team’s understanding of and expertise in culture change impact work.

• Lead the client team to most effectively deliver for the client towards results through direct mentorship, identifying productive support, and sharing clear and actionable feedback.

• Actively participate in the strategic advisement community of practice to drive innovation, develop best practices, collaboratively problem solve, continue to develop own expertise, and mentor others.

Business Development 

• Engage in new business development with prospects identified by the Principal by actively participating in pitch meetings to get to know the client and build the foundation for a long-term trusted relationship.

• Provide strategic inputs to pitches, proposals, and scopes, as needed and requested.

• Lead the handoff from the Business Development process to kicking off a new client or project with the internal client team.

• Proactively prepare for and secure continued and expanded contracts with active clients.

This position reports to: Senior Strategic Advisor or Principal/Interim-Principal

This position directly manages: Account Manager

QUALIFICATIONS

• At least 12 years experience in issue advocacy, campaign management, or demonstrated equivalent at a firm/agency, foundation/association, or in an electoral campaign.

• Proven expertise in driving impact through culture change, demonstrated by successfully developing and leading campaigns that utilize storytelling, media, and strategic advocacy to shape perspectives on critical social issues.

• Experience serving as the primary manager of a head of a nonprofit and/or foundation with a proven track record of exceeding expectations to meet vision and goals.

• Understanding of the trusted advisor core principles.

• Experience independently developing new and innovative strategies to solve problems and meet goals.

• An ability to balance creativity and outside-the-box ideas with pragmatic execution.

• Strong understanding and experience overseeing and managing multi-faceted campaigns that include various levels of change including marketing, digital, messaging, direct service, and convenings to achieve campaign objectives.

• Strong persuasive writing and presentation abilities.

• Proven ability to achieve social impact goals in various social issue areas.

• Skilled people manager with experience managing small, growing teams of all levels, and managing up, down, and sideways.

• Experience leading nonprofit and/or foundation teams through a strategy development process with an understanding of how to leverage internal and external resources to deliver upon those strategies in a collaborative manner and make strategic shifts in real-time.

• Able to identify new opportunities and solutions to further client impact and expand upon/renew scopes of work.

BENEFITS

Our team gives so much to the clients and communities they serve, which is why we invest in their financial, mental, and emotional well-being through our benefits. Propper Daley provides competitive compensation that includes eligibility for performance-based and new business bonuses. We also support the team to take care of themselves with the following benefits:

• Compensation package: Starting at $120,000

• Employer contributions to 401K

• Unlimited time off policy

• Twelve Federal holidays

• Summer Fridays between Memorial Day and Labor Day (off at 2pm)

• Two weeks of paid time off between Christmas and New Year’s Day

• Paid parental and maternity leave benefits

ABOUT PROPPER DALEY

Based in Los Angeles, Propper Daley helps our clients leverage their unique assets to create positive change in the world.  We work with influencers, brands and causes, providing both strategic and creative solutions to move the needle on the issues they care most about.  Our approach, rooted in behavioral science, moves beyond foundational "awareness raising" to those strategies and ideas that shift the attitudes and perceptions that lead to behavior change.

We believe deeply in working as teams. More often than not, social change requires collaborative creativity, disruption and complex problem solving. We serve our clients as thought-partners, strategists, advisers, and tacticians as they move their important work forward. 

We expect everyone at Propper Daley to practice the following core values and look for candidates that can and already do live into them:

1. We lead with kindness. We always orient from a place of kindness, with a focus on how we can help others thrive and do their best.
2. We practice pragmatic optimism. As changemakers, we are always faced with new challenges and obstacles, yet we remain optimistic by coming up with both creative solutions and practical ways to achieve them.
3. We believe diligence is the bridge between optimism and impact. Our best ideas come to life when, individually and collectively, we consistently put our best effort forward. We push past the status quo because we have a responsibility to be as tenacious and results-oriented as possible.
4. We build shared expertise through our individuality. We value and leverage each person’s unique and diverse lived and professional experience in order to develop the most inclusive and effective solutions possible.
5. We remain grounded in humility. Social impact and the challenges we work to address are too big to solve on our own. We remain confident and curious enough to ask questions, gain perspectives, and collaborate with others as often as possible.

Some of our clients include:

• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• John Legend and #FREEAMERICA
• Kerry Washington
• The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
• The Call of Duty Endowment
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation
• US Chamber of Commerce Foundation
• The Jed Foundation