Vice President, Philanthropic Advising

Amidst this decisive decade in the battle against climate change, Climate Lead seeks an enterprising and seasoned vice president, philanthropic advising (VP) to mobilize and accelerate high-impact climate philanthropy. The VP joins at a critical moment of growth as Climate Lead embarks on an ambitious strategic plan to help facilitate a significant increase in philanthropic contributions to the climate sector over the next five years. In support of these efforts, Climate Lead is significantly investing in the growth of its staff, resulting in the creation of this career defining player-coach leadership opportunity. Leading by example, the VP will oversee, grow, and elevate a high-performing team while also personally engaging with new ultra-high-net-worth philanthropists to make influential contributions to urgently address the climate crisis.

Since its formal inception in 2019, Climate Lead has empowered philanthropic leaders everywhere to take immediate and far-reaching climate action, catalyzing more than $4 billion into high-impact climate solutions and bringing over 100 new donors to climate. By serving as an impartial guide, Climate Lead equips new climate philanthropists with the information and insights they need to drive transformative solutions. Climate Lead cuts through the complexity by curating roadmaps, in partnership with a diverse network of experts, to help philanthropists make a bold impact on climate from day one. For those attracted to a dynamic start-up venture focused on mission-driven work, this is an unparalleled opportunity for a dedicated, ambitious, and skilled development professional to contribute to an important global effort addressing the climate crisis and facilitate meaningful impact on our planet’s most pressing challenge.

Reporting to the executive vice president (EVP), who leads the philanthropy team, the VP will divide their time approximately evenly between advising philanthropists as a trusted guide and people management of a high-performing team. Advising responsibilities include directly engaging ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families, providing strategic guidance to foster transformative and scalable climate philanthropy. Concurrently, the VP will manage and support a team of four senior philanthropy advisors (SPAs) and a manager, helping them to achieve ambitious goals while fostering growth, collaboration, and innovation. Climate Lead supports a sophisticated global ecosystem to move billions into climate in the coming years. To be successful, the VP must understand how donors operate at this level of giving, how to build authentic relationships with them, and how to spur them into action with the speed and scale this issue requires through engagement, learning, listening, and counseling. Experience in principal gifts level development or sophisticated and outcome-oriented donor advising is critical for this role.

The VP must also bring extensive team management experience and sophisticated coaching and mentoring skills for senior-level colleagues. Fostering growth and development within the team is essential, as is providing guidance and support to help each team member achieve success in their roles. With a collaborative disposition and exceptional change management skills, the VP will help ensure the team effectively executes on ambitious goals and objectives. While direct experience in climate philanthropy is not required, the successful candidate must demonstrate a compelling passion for supporting climate action and recognize that Climate Lead’s collective environmental impact on our planet takes precedence over individual goals.

Rachel Ellenport is leading this search with Nicole Poe and Rebecca Lyons. 

Climate Lead values diversity and always treats all employees and job applicants based on merit, qualifications, competence, and talent. Climate Lead does not discriminate on the basis of or traits historically associated with race, color, religion, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran and/or military status, domestic violence victim status, political affiliation, and any other status protected by state or federal law.