Development leadership in education philanthropy is a specialized role. You need someone who understands the mission deeply enough to tell the story compellingly, and who has the relationship skills and strategic discipline to convert that story into sustained donor investment. Tiffany brought exactly that combination to the Alliance Foundation, and the scholars Alliance serves are better resourced because of it.
The Alliance Foundation needed a VP of Development to bridge the gap between public funding and the needs of 13,000 scholars. Tiffany Markarian was built for exactly that.
The Alliance College-Ready Public Schools Foundation is the philanthropic engine behind a network serving 13,000 scholars across Los Angeles, with 97% college acceptance, 84% admitted to four-year institutions, and a college graduation rate 3.5x that of peers. None of that happens on public funding alone.
In 2023, the Foundation remodeled its VP of Development role as part of a broader fundraising expansion strategy. The risk: hire someone who manages existing relationships, and growth stalls. Hire someone with the range to grow across individual, institutional, and corporate channels simultaneously, and the Foundation raises the ceiling on what it can provide for scholars.
Actively recruited Tiffany Markarian through targeted outreach; she wasn't looking. Her background covered the full development stack: cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding individual, foundation, and corporate gifts, with additional expertise in board and volunteer engagement, exactly what the Foundation needed to grow across all channels at once.
Assessed fundraising depth and organizational fit through a rigorous process: a performance task, structured interviews, and scenario-based role-plays that surfaced how Tiffany builds donor confidence, manages complex development strategies, and leads under real-world conditions.
Evaluated strategic range beyond the ask: the VP of Development at the Alliance Foundation leads the Scholar Success Board, engages volunteer networks, and represents the Foundation externally. Tiffany's profile confirmed that she could lead it all.
Stronger Consulting partners with mission-driven organizations to turn complex challenges into clear, practical action, from strategy through implementation.
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