Development Manager

Development Manager

Full-time, hybrid position based in Santa Cruz County

$70,000 - $80,000 salary range + benefits

Position open until filled

Our Mission

“Food, What?!” is a youth empowerment and food justice organization. At FoodWhat, youth engage in relationships with land, food and each other in ways that are grounded in love and rooted in justice. We provide meaningful space where youth define and cultivate their empowerment, liberation and well-being.

Who We Serve

FoodWhat serves struggling, yet resilient youth who experience unequal access to critical resources. The youth in our programs suffer disproportionately from poverty, trauma, educational barriers, economic injustice, foster care and/or criminal justice system involvement, housing and food insecurity, and compromised health. The majority of FoodWhat youth are Latine and come from farmworker families. On average, a third identify as LGBTQIA+.

What We Do

Youth from Watsonville to Santa Cruz join the FoodWhat Crew through our Spring Internship, Summer Job Training and Fall Project Management programs. FoodWhat youth use organic farming, nourishing food and loving community as vehicles to grow on their own terms and in lasting ways. As a FoodWhat Crew, we grow, cook, eat and distribute fresh, healthy food while also addressing local food justice issues. As a result of this loving, non-judgemental space, youth express significant growth in the areas of diet change, job preparedness, personal empowerment, mental health, and social needs.

Position Description

The Development Manager is an integral and valued member of the Development Team reporting directly to the Director of Development and Communications. In terms of responsibilities, the role is designed to be filled by an experienced grant writer that also has skills related to general development tasks such as report writing, appeal writing, thank you writing, social media creation, database input and management, event planning, and various administrative and office tasks. In terms of mindset, we are in search of a Development Manager who cares deeply about the well-being, liberation, and empowerment of young people in struggle and is called to contribute to these efforts from a place of ethics, community, and love. We value critical, out-of-the-box, and rigorous thinking over knowledge of traditional fundraising methods. To fill this position, one must stand out in terms of their reliability, accountability, attention to detail, emotional intelligence, and follow through. Our development department values learning, joy, work-life balance, and fun. And, at the same time, we have a high bar of excellence as we fundraise for our $1,400,000 budget – a feat we have successfully achieved year over year. On average, our budget increases by 10%-15% year over year. This means the Development Manager will need to have impeccable organizational and/or task management skills, an emotional ability to navigate stress in constructive ways, and work hard from start to end of any project or task. While this role focuses on specific tasks, there will also be plenty of opportunities to contribute to strategy and decision-making within the development department. Not only will the Development Manager receive thorough training, they will be mentored by the Director of Development and Communication during their entire tenure with the organization.

Grant Writing (50% of time)

+ Prospect new grant funding opportunities.

+ Schedule, prepare, and hold grant funder cultivation meetings that maintain positive relationships with funders.

+ Act as a liaison between FoodWhat and the funders in your portfolio.

+ Draft creative, accurate, ethical, and compelling letters of inquiry, proposals, narratives, and applications.

+ Draft creative, accurate, ethical, and compelling grant reports.

+ Maintain our grant calendar complete with deadlines, status, and notes in order to successfully track grants along all stages of development, submittal, and reporting.

+ Maintain our supplanting budgetary tool for successful grant proposals.

+ In partnership with the Development and Communications Director, increase the grant revenue by 10% each year as a direct result of grant writing efforts.

Donor Cultivation (20% of time)

+ Prospect and research new major donors.

+ Create and implement individual donor fundraising campaigns, including drafting and sending compelling digital and mail appeals to our donor base and managing peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns.

+ Lead our digital fundraising efforts through storytelling via our website content and social media platforms.

+ Manage our gratitude system by ensuring all thank you’s are written to donors.

+ Co-create donor collateral, which may include one pagers, concept papers, and our annual report.

Event Planning (20% of time)

+ Craft and send out “save the dates” for our annual benefit and any other donor cultivation events.

+ Help maintain our invite list, mailing list, and guest list for our annual benefit and any other donor cultivation events.

+ Liaise with event venues and vendors in order to ensure successful completion of contracts.

+ Co-create the event collateral including posters, programs, name tags, etc.

+ Co-create the event schedule or minute-by-minute for all staff of events including the tasks they are responsible for at what time during the day of the event.

+ Enter pledge cards into our event tracking system and CRM database after our annual benefit and any other donor cultivation events.

Data Systems Management (10% of time)

+ Operate our gift intake system which includes entering gifts into our CRM database, online file server, physical filing cabinet, mailing list, and gratitude system tracker.

+ Create and send tax letters for all donations requiring that action.

+ Update and maintain donor records in our CRM database.

+ Run requested quarterly reports from our CRM database.

+ Ensure all organizational documents are stored in our online file server.

+ Input results from programmatic surveys into our evaluation data tracker.

+ Maintain storage of organizational photos in our photo storage system.

+ Maintain our mailing list held in our mass mailing platform.

Qualifications

+ A minimum of 2 years of grant writing experience that includes securing grants as the solo contributor to grant proposals or lead contributor within a team.

+ Outstanding writing skills, including the ability to clearly and concisely construct a compelling narrative of FoodWhat for multiple audiences using multiple mediums (grant applications, one-pagers, social media platforms, etc). Proofreading and editing skills are equally essential to fill this role successfully, as attention to detail is deeply ingrained in our organizational culture.

+ Outstanding emotional intelligence and life skills which result in honest communication, strong relationship building, ability to manage stress constructively, ability to give and receive constructive feedback, and ability to handle challenges well.

+ A proven history of starting and completing tasks and projects reliably, on-time, and with a high standard of quality. A record of working successfully in a deadline-driven work environment.

+ A highly organized way of working. Note: FoodWhat uses Asana to manage individual and collaborative workflows.

+ Experience or genuine interest in becoming highly proficient in the management and use of CRM databases. Note: FoodWhat uses the CRM software, Bloomerang.

+ Proficiency in using Microsoft Word and Excel, and Google Documents and Sheets.

+ Willingness to work evenings and weekends on occasion. Note: We are committed to 40-hour work weeks. There are times when funder events are in the evening or on weekends and this position will join us in working out how we can attend these key events using our flexible scheduling culture.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the person in this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, skills and physical demands required of personnel so classified.

Position Details

This is a 40-hour per week, exempt, hybrid, full-time position. This position comes with the following benefits: 5 weeks paid time off, accrued sick time, floating holidays and retirement benefits. This position comes with the following health-related benefits that are 100% paid for by FoodWhat: medical, dental, and vision. Salary for this position is commensurate with experience within the $70,000-$80,000 range.

Process

Please send the following items to our Director of Development and Communications, Kayla Kumar, at the email listed in this posting:

+ A cover letter. Be sure to include at least one paragraph about your experience in grant writing.

+ A resume.

+ Two examples of grants you have authored yourself in the past.

+ Two professional references. Please select at least one reference from your previous employer.

Those who are selected after reviewing emailed application materials will receive an invitation to have a brief screening phone call with our Director of Development and Communication. Those who are selected after our phone screening will be asked to complete a short assignment designed to understand your proficiency in grant writing. This assignment will be compensated for two hours of work. Those who are selected after this assignment is reviewed will be invited to an interview with a panel of FoodWhat staff, board members, and advisors. Final selection will be made shortly after interviews are completed.

FoodWhat is a pro-equity program. Women, Nonbinary, LGBTQIA+, BIack, Indigenous and People of Color are strongly encouraged to apply. All applicants are considered for employment without discrimination based on race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Applicants only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster.