[Hiring] Development Manager @Worth Rises

Role Description

Worth Rises seeks a driven and relationship-centered Development Manager (exempt) to strengthen and grow the organization's fundraising program. This individual should have experience cultivating donor relationships, managing a grants portfolio, and building the funding infrastructure that sustains mission-driven work. They should be a strategic thinker and skilled executor who can move seamlessly between stewarding direct individual donors and managing complex institutional funders. The Development Manager will report to the Director of Finance & Operations and collaborate extensively with the Executive Director, who is the organization’s primary fundraiser.

Key Results (Year One)

• Identify and land initial meetings with at least five new major donors.
• Maintain 100% compliance with all grant reporting deadlines.
• Build a comprehensive donor cultivation and stewardship strategy that ensures contact with every major donor on a quarterly basis.
• Establish small donor program and increase participation to 100 monthly donors.

Major Responsibilities

• Prospecting
  • Conduct research on donors in the criminal justice, economic justice, racial justice, and gender justice fields to identify potential donors who are aligned with the organization’s mission and programmatic priorities.
  • Identify and profile new potential mid-size and major donors, conduct initial outreach, and secure meetings for the Executive Director.
  • Prepare the Executive Director for new donor meetings, briefing them on the donor and drafting talking points.
  • Coordinate all meeting logistics, notetaking, and follow-up, making sure to track all touchpoints and movement in the organization’s CRM.
  • Collaborate with communications to build a small donor program and recruit and manage monthly donors.
• Grant Writing and Reporting
  • Maintain a comprehensive grants calendar to ensure all deadlines, reporting requirements, and renewal timelines are tracked and met with accuracy and care.
  • Draft and maintain suite of general development materials, including a two-page brief, presentation deck, and question and answer bank.
  • Draft all grant proposals and reports as required by grant agreements or requested by prospective and existing donors, with responses tailored to every donor.
  • Collaborate with program staff to gather accurate and compelling content for proposals and reports that authentically reflect the organization's work.
• Donor Stewardship
  • Support the Executive Director in managing donor relationships, tracking key touchpoints and opportunities for donor engagement based on their interests.
  • Maintain accurate and up-to-date donor records in the organization's CRM to support data-informed decision-making and relationship management.
  • Track renewals, initiate renewal conversations, and prepare the Executive Director for renewal conversations.
  • Develop a comprehensive donor cultivation and stewardship strategy that includes regular touchpoints for mid-size and major donors.
  • Draft gift acknowledgment letters, quarterly donor updates, and other ad hoc donor communications.
  • Collaborate with the communications team to develop and execute a donor communications strategy, including a year-end campaign for giving season.
  • Research our small donor list and identify candidates for conversion to mid-size or major donors.
• Operations and Infrastructure
  • Support the development and continuous improvement of systems, processes, and tools that strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of the development function.
  • Work with the Director of Finance & Operations to prepare monthly and ad hoc development reports, tracking progress toward revenue goals.
  • Contribute to the organization's annual development planning process, including goal-setting, revenue forecasting, and calendar development.

Critical Factors for Success

• This role requires a motivated self-starter who takes initiative, consistently delivers high-quality work, is an excellent project manager, is a proactive and innovative problem-solver, appreciates direct feedback, and has the following:
• At least five years of professional experience in non-profit development, with demonstrated success in both individual and institutional donor fundraising and grants management.
• Demonstrated ability to manage a grants calendar and multiple donor relationships simultaneously, meeting deadlines with accuracy and care.
• Demonstrated experience identifying and qualifying new funding prospects, including individual donors and institutional funders, and moving them through the cultivation pipeline.
• Exceptionally strong written and oral communication skills, including the demonstrated ability to craft compelling, mission-aligned proposals and reports and interpersonal communications.
• Experience with donor databases and CRM systems; familiarity with Instrumentl, Bloomerang, and similar platforms is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to build trusted working relationships with donors, partners, and colleagues, which includes exhibiting reliability, following through on commitments, and practicing empathy.
• Regular and disciplined practice of active listening, seeking clarification, and note taking.
• Direct impact by the prison industry or experience working in or alongside directly impacted communities, strongly preferred.
• Working understanding of the prison industry, the criminal legal system, or strong interest in learning.
• A genuine commitment to Worth Rises' organizational values: act with integrity, focus on impact, deliver excellence, get it done, and operate with intellectual curiosity.

Compensation and Benefits

• The annual salary for the Policy Campaigns Associate is $92,000.
• Worth Rises offers a generous compensation package, including:
• Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage.
• 20 days of vacation time.
• Ten days of personal/sick leave.
• Three days of bereavement leave in addition to 11 holidays and winter break.
• Generous 401k contribution match.
• $75 monthly technology stipend.
• Monthly wellness reimbursement.
• Dedicated budget for professional development.
• Retention benefits every five years.
• Remote-first environment with office options and an on-video culture.

Worth Rises is an equal opportunity employer, and strongly encourages formerly incarcerated individuals, directly impacted individuals, people of color, members of the disabled community, gender-variant and non-binary individuals, and other members of the LGBTQIA+ community to apply.