This is a difficult moment for human rights, one in which facts are challenged, basic protections are under assault, and hard-won norms are being eroded at every turn. But it is also a moment in which we are witnessing great courage from those who refuse to give up their freedoms and to allow others to violate human rights. And we are seeing the remarkable power of evidence to bring human rights abusers to justice.
Justice can best be achieved when people and communities are empowered to bring evidence to light – and health professionals have a special role to play in standing up to lies and tyranny. Across the globe, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is galvanizing the energy of the moment to create a network of medical professionals to do just that. From Bangladesh to the Democratic Republic of Congo, from Iraq to Kenya, PHR partners are using the unassailable facts of forensic medicine and scientific investigation to document human rights crimes and make sure that those who commit them are held accountable. Through PHR trainings around the world, they are passing those skills on to colleagues and seeding an ever-growing global cadre of human rights defenders. The network that PHR is building is achieving extraordinary successes around the globe.
PHR, which shared in the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its work to end the scourge of landmines, works at the intersection of medicine, science, and law to end human suffering, save lives, and secure justice and universal human rights for all. PHR investigates and documents human rights violations, gives voice to survivors and witnesses, and plants seeds of reconciliation by ensuring that perpetrators can be held accountable for their crimes.
Medical ethics are deeply bound to the protection of human rights. PHR uses its core disciplines – science, medicine, forensics, and public health – to inform its research and investigations and to strengthen the skills of frontline human rights defenders.
PHR works closely with hundreds of partners around the world, using facts to wage effective advocacy and campaigning and providing critical scientific evidence so that survivors can seek justice.
PHR seeks candidates for the role of Chief Development Officer (CDO). Reporting to the Executive Director, the CDO is a member of the Executive Management Team and works closely with the Board of Directors and senior staff.
In concert with the Executive Director, the CDO will design, articulate, and implement a comprehensive fundraising strategy for the organization. This individual will optimize PHR fundraising, with the understanding that fundraising will play a vital role in the organization’s ability to increase its impact. The CDO will oversee four direct reports and a total staff of seven across the areas of individual giving (including major gifts, online fundraising, and membership), institutional giving, events, and development operations. S/he will also manage external consultants, including those currently supporting fundraising communications and event production. The CDO will lead new and creative approaches to markedly increase individual giving, a significant growth area for PHR, including building a membership program, while ensuring the continuance of strong existing philanthropic support from institutional sources. The CDO will be responsible for all current and future fundraising campaigns.
Required qualifications and experience:
- Familiarity with and demonstrated commitment to international human rights. Ability to deal with human rights issues directly and passionately.
- Bachelor’s degree; master’s degree in a relevant discipline is preferred.
- Minimum of 10 years of development experience in roles of progressive professional responsibility, with a working knowledge of all areas within development, including major gifts, foundation and corporate relations, annual giving/direct mail, prospect research, operations, and stewardship, as well as campaign planning and implementation, preferably within a nonprofit organization that is national or international in scale. Demonstrated ability to successfully work in a nonprofit setting that prioritizes new donor discovery and engagement.
- Demonstrated ability to provide strategic and operational management, with at least five years of senior-level development management experience, including creating and managing a budget.
- Fundamental and thorough understanding of what constitutes a comprehensive development program and the complementary roles of the various functions therein. Must be steeped in modern philanthropy best practices and able to effectively integrate related functions.
- Demonstrated ability to strategically move individuals and institutions across the spectrum of prospect development. A history of securing six and seven-figure gifts, including cultivation through solicitation and stewardship, as well as experience working with annual giving and social media strategies for engaging and cultivating the next generation of annual leadership and major gift donors.
- Strength in developing the case for support and strategic, complex, and innovative fundraising plans, and executing against those plans to achieve goals and objectives. Demonstrated ability to translate concepts into multi-stakeholder initiatives and the ability to effectively strategize with and engage various groups and constituents. Experience working directly with the most senior levels of an organization.
- Experience identifying, nurturing, and motivating board or other volunteer leaders, and a sophisticated understanding of their role in building an effective philanthropic network.
- Proven ability to develop, balance, and coordinate donor bases on a national or international scale.
- Demonstrated ability in working with marketing and communications in support of achieving philanthropic goals.
- Ability to extract and analyze data to make effective, efficient decisions about development strategies and processes. Knowledge of fundraising information sources and familiarity with research techniques for prospect research.
Physicians for Human Rights has retained Diversified Search to assist in this confidential search process. Inquiries, nominations, and applications (current resumes and cover letters) should be directed electronically to:
Gerard F. Cattie, Jr.
Managing Director
Founder and Practice Leader – Development & Philanthropy
Diversified Search
The Chrysler Building, 405 Lexington Avenue, 49th Floor, New York, NY 10174
gerard.cattie@divsearch.com | 212.542.2587
Physicians for Human Rights is an equal opportunity employer committed to inclusive hiring and dedicated to diversity in its work and staff.
Physicians for Human Rights is an equal opportunity employer. We recruit and hire without regard to race, national origin, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, prior conviction, arrest history, disability, marital status, veteran status, or age.