Philanthropic Partnerships Associate or Manager

Philanthropic Partnerships Associate or Manager

Location: Washington, D.C. (preferred) or remote with periodic D.C. travel, ability to be available East Coast hours is a must

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer (reporting line may change over time)

Status: Full-time

Compensation: $70,000-120,000, depending on experience and other factors, plus competitive benefits

About the Recoding America Fund

The Recoding America Fund (RAF) is a new, bipartisan $120-million philanthropic fund to strengthen America by building the federal and state governments we need to compete globally and serve citizens effectively. RAF aims to restore the core capabilities of government and move to a new operating model—the right people, doing the right work, with purpose-fit systems and test-and-learn frameworks—so it can reliably deliver on its goals. The Fund seeks to help accelerate the growth and development of an ideologically diverse field of state capacity organizations, connect them to each other, fill in the gaps, and help them set ambitious common goals to drive transformational change across all levels of government in this time of unprecedented disruption. Change is coming to public institutions, and now is the time to shape that change in the public interest. That ambitious task cannot be the work of just one party or faction.

The Opportunity: Philanthropic Partnerships to Fuel a Field

This is a rare opportunity to join a new fund at a very early stage, building the underpinning of a high-impact philanthropic partnership-building function from the ground up to fuel the work of the Fund and the state capacity ecosystem more broadly. You will serve as a trusted execution partner to our CEO and other senior leaders, helping to translate ideas into action by cultivating and growing a strong portfolio of funders. This is a critical role at an important moment and a unique growth opportunity for someone earlier in their career. You do not need to “be a fundraiser” to be a strong candidate for this role. 

Key Responsibilities

You will own the operational and executional infrastructure of our fundraising efforts, working closely with our CEO and other senior leaders and enabling them to engage deeply with funders and close large investments. You’ll be the key engine behind research, materials, fundraising pipeline management, and follow-ups, ensuring that we identify and build strategic, long-term relationships with foundations, family offices, donor-advised funds, and high networth individuals to drive large, sustained philanthropic investments. 

• Partner Strategy and Goal-Setting: Support CEO and other senior leaders in setting and executing on strategy for building and managing partnerships with mission-aligned philanthropies. Collaborate with the CEO and senior leaders to set and track ambitious partnership-building goals.
• Partnership Pipeline Cultivation and Management: Drive fundraising leads through our pipeline, building a coalition of funders passionate about state capacity. Manage full cycle of leads, from identification and early outreach to proposal development and submission. Manage the CEO and other colleagues to ensure their timely input, review, and approvals to keep the lead cultivation process moving quickly. Manage ongoing grants in coordination with CEO and policy and program colleagues. 
• Pipeline Analytics: Have birdseye and detailed understanding at all times of our fundraising pipeline, anticipating the informational needs of the CEO, other senior leaders, and our Board. Track our performance against ambitious philanthropic partnership-building goals. Ensure we have the systems in place that enable you to do this, including by surfacing opportunities for improved analytics. 
• Strategic Research: Conduct strategic research on high-capacity funders (foundations, family offices, donor-advised funds, individuals) aligned with our mission, using AI and other technology tools that you identify and recommend, and build succinct profiles highlighting how high potential various targets are and where/how their priorities overlap with our strategy. 
• Story-telling: Shape our strategic narrative and positioning. Translate policy and programmatic work into high-quality materials and communications that resonate with philanthropic audiences. Collaborate with policy and program colleagues to develop and promote new content that effectively describes RAF’s theory of change and strategy impact and attracts new funding partnerships. 
• Convenings: Spearhead design and execution of small, high-touch events for existing and potential donors (virtual or in-person) that deepen relationships and understanding of RAF’s work and, ultimately, lead to new donor commitments. 

Qualifications

• 2-5 years of experience in partnership-building, program development, operations, or communications; being a “fundraiser” is not a must, but managing cross-functional projects involving senior leaders and external partners or funders is, ideally in philanthropy, non-profits, or related sectors
• Demonstrated ability to execute against strategic priorities set by senior leadership, translating goals into actionable plans, timelines, and deliverables; ability to upward and sideways manage to enable leaders and team members to stay on track toward a shared goal
• Highly entrepreneurial, proactive, “get stuff done” operating model; high ownership and follow-through, with appropriate alignment with leaders to ensure you’re on track
• Exceptional written and verbal communication, able to distill complex ideas into clear  compelling materials that convey the “so what?”
• Strong data-oriented mindset and experience, including using data to inform and drive executive decision-making, preferably with Airtable
• Sound strategic judgment, with an ability to connect organizational goals to funder interests — and to spot and communicate opportunities for alignment
• Creative in how you seek and find information and build and use networks
• Strong relationship management skills, with comfort engaging senior decision makers and facilitating high-level discussions with confidence and poise
• Collaborative working style, with a track record of working effectively across functions and levels to deliver shared outcomes.
• Willingness and ability to engage constructively and with curiosity with people and organizations that have different ideological perspectives and ideas than you, including ones with which you may disagree, even strongly

If you have all those attributes, then the following are bonuses for us: 

• Strong experience and familiarity with how donors think and operate, ranging from large institutional donors (e.g., foundations), high net worth individuals and family offices, and donor-advised funds (DAFs)
• Experience fundraising for a 501(c)(3) - note, this could mean you were part of a programmatic team; does not mean you were a “fundraiser”
• Experience fundraising for a 501(c)(4) - note, this could mean you were part of a programmatic team; does not mean you were a “fundraiser”

We encourage anyone who is interested in this role to apply, regardless of whether you feel you meet 100% of the qualifications. The top candidates will bring their own unique perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds from a variety of industries/sectors along with many but not necessarily all the qualifications listed above. We especially encourage candidates who feel they would bring ideological diversity to the RAF team and state capacity ecosystem to apply. 

Next Steps and Start Date

We’re building and need you fast. Applications submitted by December 28 at 11:59pm ET will receive priority consideration. We are targeting a start date no later than late January / early February. All things equal, we will choose a candidate who can start faster. 

Reasonable Accommodations

We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible work environment. If you require any accommodations during the application or interview process, or to perform the essential functions of the role, please email us at [email protected] with the email subject “Accommodation Needed.” We will work with you to ensure reasonable accommodations are made to support your needs.