Development Manager

Job Overview:

The Development Manager is responsible for the resource development activities at the IRC’s San Diego office based in City Heights and El Cajon, guiding initiatives across various sectors to enhance the organization’s reach and efficacy. This crucial role includes:

• Strategic grant management and grant prospecting: Leading the pre- and post-award support of IRC in San Diego grants, while proactively seeking new private funding avenues.
• Donor Relations: Building and maintaining relationships with donors, ensuring sustained engagement and support through attentive stewardship.
• Community Involvement: Coordinating special events that encourage community participation and increase the organization’s presence and engagement.
• Material Donations: Administering the in-kind donation program, ensuring efficient collection and allocation of goods to meet community needs and contractual match commitments.
• Volunteer Engagement: Managing volunteer and intern programs, optimizing their contributions to the organization’s objectives, program needs, and contractual match commitments.
• Communications Strategy: Developing and implementing a comprehensive communications and advocacy plan to strengthen the organization’s message and impact.
• Data-Driven Insights: Supervising reporting and analytics, utilizing strategic planning and forecasting to enhance development operations.

The Development Manager directly supervises the Grants Coordinator and the Development and Community Relations Coordinator. Additionally, this role provides oversight of the entire team of four full-time staff and collaborates with up to four seasonal interns or volunteers. 

As a member of IRC in San Diego’s senior management team, the Development Manager works in concert with four other senior leaders to establish and enforce broad strategies and protocols. This joint effort ensures thorough oversight of all organizational operations and prudent resource management.

Major Responsibilities:

Resource Development:

• With the input of Executive Director and Finance Director, set the office’s annual private fundraising goals (including funds and in-kind donations of ~ $2.3 million/year) with the expectation that each year’s goals will increase over the previous year;
• Create an annual Development Action Plan that provides a roadmap for reaching all private fundraising goals to include special events, online giving campaigns, grant proposals to be generated by Development, targeted project fundraising appeals to support crucial overhead support or program needs, and strategic donor asks made in tandem with IRC Headquarters fundraising staff;
• Lead strategy and goal setting for annual special events, supervise & support planning & execution of events, and lead the solicitation of event sponsorships;
• Set annual private fundraising goals, including restricted and unrestricted funds, in collaboration with the Executive Director and Finance Director and aligned with IRC San Diego’s strategic action plan.
• Serve as the lead focal point to the IRC Headquarters fundraising teams to elevate local needs and coordinate cultivation and stewardship of local individual donors, foundations, and corporations.
• Conduct prospect research and cultivate relationships with local foundations and institutions.
• Manage grant proposals, in-kind donations, and compliance with policies.
• Ensure the timely and accurate input of donor activity in Salesforce, as well as the generation of time-sensitive donor acknowledgements;
• Coordinate with the Deputy Director and Program Managers in grant proposal development and donation solicitation to eliminate cross-solicitation and best reflecting the office’s overreaching funding needs;
• Lead the development and submission of specific grant proposals or applications for private funding as identified in the IRC SD’s development plan or requested by the Executive Director;
• Oversee the solicitation, in-processing, and distribution of in-kind goods to support program and office needs, ensuring proper tracking and recognition of in-kind donations in accordance with all established protocols;
• Establish or ensure tracking mechanisms exist and are accurately maintained in Development for monitoring the spend down, reporting, and donor acknowledgment requirement for of any private, restricted funds (I.e., Fund Tracker Reporting).

Communications:

• Oversee and ensure a professional and timely response to all donor and external queries coming through the Development/Communications unit;
• In collaboration with Development and Community Relations Coordinator, establish an annual communications/marketing plan that includes email, social media, and traditional media to support organizational and fundraising goals and priorities; Ensure office complies with media and social media policies and in alignment with IRC brand guidelines and writing styles in all public-facing materials and communications;
• Coordinate with Headquarters Communications and IRC San Diego’s Executive Director in responding to media requests;  Prepare and support staff and/or clients for interviews, speaking events, and advocacy opportunities;
• Ensure that all external written communications are accurate, professionally written, donor-centric, and in keeping with IRC’s brand standards;
• Responsible for the production of IRC San Diego’s annual Impact Report;
• Responsible for ensuring a response to general speaking engagement requests from the external community, including personally presenting at such convenings; prepare any other vetted/assigned speakers with talking points in advance of speaking engagements;
• Support the Executive Director in representing the office at meetings and forums and engaging with local elected officials;
• Conduct outreach, networking, and public presentations to recruit and educate potential donors, volunteers and constituents;
• Maintain a strong, up-to-date knowledge of IRC’s mission, and IRC San Diego’s strategic priorities, programmatic offerings, and client base.

Volunteer Management Oversite:

• Oversee IRC San Diego’s volunteer and intern operations to ensure annual volunteer placement and goals are set/met and operating with all established protocols;
• Assure organizational policies and procedures are followed in the recruitment, onboarding, and supervision of volunteers and interns;
• Provide leadership and mentorship on issues related to volunteer management or policies;

Staff and Unit Supervision:

• Position Reports to Executive Director.
• Position Directly Supervises:  Grants Coordinator and Development and Community Relations Coordinator
• Indirectly Supervises: Grants Specialist, Senior Volunteer Specialist, up to 4 seasonal interns
• Other Internal Contacts: IRC San Diego Director of Finance, Deputy Director of Programs, Program Managers, IRC HQ Resource Acquisition and Management, and External Relations department
• People Manager Duties:
• Provide leadership to and development of the Development Team consisting of four (4) full-time staff members
• Meet weekly with direct reports to review priorities, progress towards goals, recognize achievements, and elevate/respond to any performance issues;
• Provide professional development opportunities and mentoring to all direct reports;
• Work with all direct reports to establish and monitor written annual or semi-annual goals;
• Manage all Development requests for overtime, assuring that all Development staff are operating within California Labor Laws.

General Management Duties:

• Maintain a strong working and collaborative relationship with program staff for awareness of current programs & activities and resource needs;
• Participate in weekly leadership team meetings and keep Executive Director and leadership team colleagues advised of progress on development initiatives;
• Ensure accurate donation and relationship records are entered in Salesforce CRM and provide reports & analysis to support strategy planning and goal tracking;
• Assure all Development/Comms expenses (including staff reimbursements for mileage and other expenses) are submitted to Finance on a timely basis;
• Other tasks as needed and assigned by the Executive Director.

Job Requirements:

Work Experience

• Minimum five (5) years prior professional management experience in Development/Fundraising/Grant leadership roles in a nonprofit or social services environment;
• Minimum of two plus (2+) years prior supervisory experience of full time employees required;
• Proven experience with all facets of the role with a special emphasis on fundraising. This includes grant management, direct donation solicitation, special events, high value donor relations,  multi-channel campaigns and appeals and volunteer management;

Education

• Undergraduate degree required preferably in Nonprofit Management, Communications, Business Administration or a related-field;
• Graduate Degree or comparable work experience required;

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies

• Donor Relationship Management: Proven track record in fostering robust donor relations, aligning the organization’s mission with donor interests to achieve philanthropic objectives.
• Grant Expertise: Solid experience in grant writing, crafting fundraising applications, and conducting comprehensive donor research.
• Budget Development Proficiency: Demonstrated expertise in formulating and managing budgets, with a keen ability to forecast financial needs, allocate resources effectively, and optimize expenditures to advance organizational objectives.
• Local Foundation Engagement: Preferable experience with private foundations within the San Diego/Southern California/California regions.
• Dynamic Prioritization: Capable of adeptly managing priorities in a dynamic, fast-paced setting with frequent, competing deadlines.
• Self-Direction: Highly self-motivated, with a goal-oriented and collaborative approach to team success.
• People Skills: Exceptional communication skills, capable of engaging effectively and diplomatically across diverse groups including grantors, volunteers, partners, officials, and multi-cultural clientele.
• Technical Proficiency: Advanced skills in Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, Outlook), CRM platforms, and experience with fundraising data analysis and communication tracking. Familiarity with publication tools (e.g., Publisher, Canva) is advantageous.
• Database Analysis: Competence in utilizing and interpreting donor database information, with a preference for experience with Salesforce CRM.
• Leadership Excellence: Outstanding organizational and leadership abilities, with a knack for fostering team collaboration and operational efficiency.
• Cultural Agility: Demonstrated success in navigating multi-cultural settings and building inclusive environments.
• Mobility Requirement: Access to a reliable vehicle, a valid driver’s license, and auto insurance; comfort with operating agency vehicles is necessary.
• Flexible Schedule: Willingness to work non-traditional hours, including evenings and weekends, as required.
• Local Residency: Residency in San Diego County is essential for effective performance in this role.

Working Environment:

• Standard, professional office environment combined with travel in and around the service delivery area;
• Occasional evening and weekend hours required;
• Hybrid working schedule specific to the needs of this role and the Development/Comms department; requires three or more days/week in the office, with some flexibility to work from home or in the field other days.

Compensation: Posted pay ranges apply to US-based candidates. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget.  Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.

Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances.

Equal Opportunity Employer: We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

US Benefits: The IRC offers a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. All US employees are eligible for sick time, a 403b retirement savings plans: up to 4.5% immediately vested matching contribution, plus an 3-7% additional IRC contribution, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support in times of crisis and mental health struggles.

In addition, full-time employees are eligible for 10 US paid holidays, 20-25 paid time off days, disability & life insurance, medical, dental, and vision insurance (employee contribution starting at $135, $7, and $5 per month respectively) and FSA for healthcare, childcare, and commuter costs. Part-time employees are eligible for a proportionate amount of paid time off. These additional benefits apply to employees who work at least 6 months within a 12 month time period.