Reading Partners is changing the education landscape. We are a leader in working to solve the literacy crisis in our country by leveraging community volunteers in under-resourced schools. Our diverse and expansive volunteer base provides one-on-one tutoring to students twice weekly, and our program is proven to help children master the reading fundamentals they need to unlock their potential as successful, happy and confident readers in school and in life. Our people are our heartbeat and our greatest resource; we are all passionately rallied around our mission to help children become lifelong learners by empowering communities to provide individualized instruction that works. Join our stellar team leading the charge to deepen our impact and expand our service. Watch this video to learn more about Reading Partners.
The high level:
The Development Manager is part of a team of fundraisers and relationship builders working together to support Reading Partners’ mission and strategic growth plan. The Development Manager’s main roles are to: 1) achieve the regional fundraising goals, in close partnership with the Director of Development, by a) writing community and national grants, and b) managing fundraising campaigns/activities, internal development operations and a portfolio of relationships that they cultivate and steward effectively 2) Lead regional communications providing clear, consistent and compelling messages to volunteers and donors 3) drive operations internally for events and donor/tutor communications. They work to ensure excellent data management and operations. Reporting directly to the Development Director, the Development Manager is a self-starting, highly collaborative, goal-oriented, and driven relationship builder, who is excited by both higher-level strategy and on-the-ground operational work.
What you’ll do:
Creatively drive fundraising within each funding stream to effectively implement and manage campaigns and other fundraising activities:
- With consultation from the Development Director, initiate and create the overarching strategy/goal several months in advance of the campaign/activity
- Write grant proposals, letters of intent, and reports for all funding sources demonstrating high-quality writing skills
- Create a project team and provide guidance/support to team members, managing meeting details and ensuring project goals are met
- Develop a detailed timeline of specific activities, identifying the date due and person responsible
- With input from the team, create collateral materials, direct mail letters, and a campaign donation page to support each fundraising activity
- Working with social media focused team members in the Community Engagement department oversee the creation of a social media plan that complements fundraising activities
- In close collaboration with the development team, support all external revenue activities to meet or exceed annual fundraising goals for the region.
- Support the region in raising 30% of upcoming fiscal year revenue in the previous fiscal year
Each year, manage a portfolio of institutional and individual relationships to reach regional fundraising goals.
- In collaboration with the Development Director, create an overarching plan to identify and engage with local businesses and their leaders for sponsorship and foundation support.
- Using DonorSearch as a tool, serve as the primary relationship manager for <$1,000 donors and tutor donors with a focus on strategic prospecting, cultivation, and stewardship activities.
- Identify new $5,000 and below institutional donors and actively renew giving levels of portfolio funders.
- Working with the Development Director, create individualized stewardship plans to effectively manage relationships with portfolio donors.
- Implement stewardship plans by scheduling meetings (to include the Development or Executive Director and/or board members) with existing and new institutional and individual donors.
- Propose and develop creative touchpoints for portfolio donors.
- Oversee development systems and track progress against goals in Salesforce.
- Plan and facilitate donor site visits to local reading centers to represent our program in action.
Ensure regional communications are clear, consistent, and compelling
- Effectively write high-quality volunteer and donor communications that demonstrate deep knowledge of our program and promote our mission. Through exceptional writing, serve as an ambassador of Reading Partners
- Quickly establish credibility when promoting Reading Partners to external audiences, demonstrating a high degree of comfort and poise with tutors, donors, corporations, and prospects
- Regularly deliver convincing messaging and tailored experiences, demonstrate a genuine joy in connecting with volunteers, donors, and all external stakeholders
- Provide support to the Community Engagement team in the implementation of comprehensive, informative, and compelling tutor communications for the recruitment and engagement of prospective volunteers, tutor donors, and community partners
- Provide guidance and support to the team managing our social media accounts and online presence to ensure a positive brand
Drive regional development operations:
- Ensure that the calendars are consistently up-to-date for grants/proposals/reports, communications, and board/committee meetings
- Project manage all event logistics
- Oversee development systems and track progress against goals in Salesforce, auditing data integrity regularly
- Analyze data and produce reports to drive streamlined communication internally and with board/committee members and funding sources
- Send reminders about board/committee meetings and produce high-quality minutes and a board member handbook
Other duties as needed
How you’ll do it:
Strategic Planning:
- Demonstrate an ability to work collaboratively with the Development Director and other team members to develop strategic fundraising plans, create action steps, and mobilize stakeholders to achieve fundraising goals. Support the Development Director to build sustainable plans to maximize market opportunities, meet goals, and significantly grow funding.
New Revenue Generation:
- Demonstrate a proficient ability to conduct research, to prospect, and to drive ongoing external development efforts in the community. Demonstrate excitement to steward and leverage relationships that result in meeting or exceeding target fundraising goals. Boast an entrepreneurial spirit and actively seek to deepen current donor relationships and forge new ones.
Team Collaboration:
- Positively collaborate with the development team to meet and exceed aggressive fundraising goals through effective development operations.
- Work together to deliver on a high volume of operational needs for the development department including grant writing, meeting brief creation, donor cultivation tracking, event planning, prospect research, and data entry.
Communication:
- Externally, demonstrate the ability to genuinely promote Reading Partners and our mission through a variety of strategies. Provide excellent customer service to donors, volunteers, and partners. Have a high level of comfort with public speaking and with crafting mass communications. Be able to differentiate communication depending upon the audience.
- Internally, set up strong systems for communication and messaging, tailor communication to audiences, and contextualize messaging. Demonstrate a strong aptitude for effective communication, remotely and in person, with direct reports, stakeholders, and other Reading Partners staff. Be able to conduct difficult conversations with grace and ease.
Relationship Development:
- Leverage existing relationships and build new transformational relationships in the community. Establish highly collaborative cross-functional relationships, and work effectively with all stakeholders for both organizational fundraising and communications. Celebrate wins with all stakeholders.
- Internally, establish highly collaborative relationships with all team members. Demonstrate a hunger to learn, grow, support, and add great value to Reading Partners, including our REDI work. Regularly seek to understand all aspects of our model and priorities to convey externally.
Project and Operations Management:
- Demonstrate a strong detail orientation, accuracy, and ability to develop compelling reports and communications to be used internally and externally. Execute all work in a highly organized, analytical, and data-driven manner.
- Create innovative solutions in the face of competition for resources, time, etc. with a high degree of adaptability and flexibility. Anticipate challenges and/or questions, and proactively execute solutions. Understand larger strategic priorities and make measurable progress against these larger goals. Be able to make quick, sound, and on-the-fly decisions that consider all stakeholders. See the bigger picture and also drill down to smaller details to connect the dots.
What we offer:
Reading Partners’ compensation and benefits programs are designed to attract, motivate, engage, and retain top talent to propel our mission forward. We aim to set salaries based on objective, external, high-quality market data. Our salaries are adjusted for candidates in different geographic regions. We do our very best to ensure that we’re bringing our best offer - therefore we do not engage in salary negotiations.
- This is a full-time, exempt, and salaried position. The pay range for this position is $60,650 - $71,353 per year.
- We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, flex spending accounts, generous paid time off, commuter benefits, an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and currently a 403(b) match option.
- Professional development reimbursement fund up to $1,000 per year.
- Unlimited or Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) benefits for regular employees scheduled to work 30 hours or more per week.
- We offer an exciting and dynamic culture, and we commit to investing in and supporting our amazing people to grow their careers with us.
The other things you need to know:
- This role is an in-person role reporting to the Reading Partners South Carolina office Monday - Friday each week.
- Travel: This position travels regularly within the local region. This position may also involve occasional travel to Reading Partners’ National Headquarters in Oakland, CA.
What’s Next?
If you’re interested in joining our Reading Partners team, please submit the following application materials to our online job posting:
- A cover letter describing your interest in Reading Partners and how your past experience has prepared you for this role.
- ds.Resume
At Reading Partners, we respect and honor the diversity in our workforce, and we are an Equal Opportunity Employer.
