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,

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