Development leadership at a national education nonprofit requires someone who can connect deeply with funders who care about what is possible for students, and translate that connection into sustained investment. Sid brought the academic grounding, the relationship skills, and the strategic discipline that EL Education needed to advance its development function at a national scale. That is what we are built to find.
EL Education was expanding fast nationally. It needed a development leader who could build the fundraising capacity to match, not just steward what already existed.
By 2021, EL Education, a national nonprofit partnering with K-12 educators to transform public schools, was in the midst of a significant expansion. Its curriculum and professional learning work were growing, and its need for sustained philanthropic investment was growing with it. The organization created a new Managing Director of Development role to give its fundraising function dedicated executive leadership.
The risk: hire someone who manages existing relationships, and growth stalls. Hire someone who can build, with mission credibility and strategic depth, and the organization's national reach becomes financially sustainable.
Proactively sourced Sid Klein through active outreach, targeting development leaders who had built fundraising capacity inside national education nonprofits. Sid's career: eight years at New Teacher Center, rising to Director of Strategy & Development, and prior leadership at Portland YouthBuilders, where he founded and led a youth economic opportunity program.
Validated mission alignment alongside technical credentials: Sid holds an EdM from Harvard and has built his career at the intersection of education and development, giving him the credibility with education funders that a purely transactional fundraiser cannot manufacture.
Assessed fit through performance tasks, structured interviews, and scenario-based roleplays, confirming how Sid builds strategy, cultivates funders, and leads in a fast-growing organization.
Stronger Consulting partners with mission-driven organizations to turn complex challenges into clear, practical action, from strategy through implementation.
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