Former Obama Foundation senior director will lead JFF’s fundraising strategy to accelerate the organization’s mission to achieve equitable economic advancement for all

BOSTON, May 8, 2023—Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national nonprofit that drives transformation in the U.S. education and workforce systems, today announced the appointment of Amy Seusing as its first Chief Development Officer. In this role, Seusing will lead JFF’s strategy to diversify revenue through public sector grants and contracts, foundation and corporate partnerships, and individual giving, creating high-impact partnerships to support JFF’s mission to promote equitable economic advancement for all.

“This is a powerful moment for JFF to build relationships with new mission-aligned funding sources that can help fuel our efforts to drive change in our education and workforce systems. The nation’s learners and workers continue to face a multitude of inequities, yet there is a growing desire among employers, educators, and the public sector to generate new opportunities and challenge the status quo,” said Maria Flynn, President and CEO of Jobs for the Future. “By partnering with individuals and funders who share our vision for transforming the U.S. education and workforce systems to help millions of people achieve their career and life goals, we believe Amy’s expertise, relationships, and passion for these issues can help expand our impact and accelerate change.”

Seusing will take over JFF’s development efforts during a time of significant growth for the organization. JFF has doubled in size and budget over the past three years, enabling it to invest in new approaches to create opportunities for those facing barriers to quality jobs, particularly learners and workers who are people of color or women, people of all backgrounds without four-year degrees, and people with criminal records. Seusing’s experience developing high-impact partnerships for social good will be critical to support JFF’s commitment over the next 10 years to promote more worker-centered, living wage jobs for millions of people and to better prepare the nation’s workers and learners to fill them.

“I was drawn to Jobs for the Future because throughout my career I’ve had the honor of supporting initiatives that drive economic opportunity for individuals and communities facing systemic barriers, and I appreciate how critical this work is,” said Seusing. “I’m thrilled to join an organization that believes in bold transformation and look forward to forging promising new partnerships and deepening existing ones.”

Prior to joining JFF, Seusing served as Senior Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations at the Obama Foundation, the nonprofit focused on inspiring, empowering, and connecting young people to change their world, and building the future Obama Presidential Center. In that role, she created the corporate and foundation fundraising team, strategy, and structure to grow the foundation’s corporate and foundation revenue to more than $150 million in three years. Before that, Seusing served as Vice President of Development at Rebuilding Together, a national housing and community development nonprofit.

Over the last year, JFF has launched two new centers — the Center for Racial Economic Equity and the Center for Justice and Economic Advancement — and a new Employer Mobilization practice to help employers support the economic mobility of their workers. Additionally, through JFFLabs, the organization has recently announced two new incubated lines of practice focused on Climate Innovation and Lifelong Learning, and the launch of JFF Ventures, an impact investment fund supporting innovative products and services supporting economic advancement for learners and workers.

In 2022, the organization acquired Dave’s Killer Bread Foundation’s second chance hiring program to help increase employment opportunities for the nearly 600,000 people released from prison each year. Also in 2022, JFFLabs acquired Educational Quality Outcomes Standards (EQOS) and recently received a major grant from GitLab Foundation to partner with the Burning Glass Institute to expand the EQOS framework, making it easier for job seekers and employers to assess the rapidly increasing number of education and training programs available today.

Entering its 40th year, JFF continues to work with public, private, and nonprofit sector changemakers to drive new ideas, promising innovations, and equitable ways to help millions more people advance. Select funders include The Walmart Foundation, The U.S. Department of Labor, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, American Student Assistance, and Ares Charitable Foundation, among other philanthropic foundations, government agencies, and corporations. For additional information, please visit: https://archive.jff.org/about/donors/

About JFF
Jobs for the Future (JFF) drives transformation of the U.S. education and workforce systems to achieve equitable economic advancement for all. www.jff.org