Senior Manager of Major Gifts

YIMBY Action and Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) are seeking a Senior Manager of Major Gifts to grow and upgrade our major gifts donor base by providing strategic and tactical support to our executive leadership and frontline fundraisers.

YIMBY Action and Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) are affiliated 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that work together to advance policy change that will increase the supply of housing in high-opportunity cities and towns. We advocate for abundant housing of all types, including market-rate, subsidized affordable, and public housing. Our organizations envision an integrated and environmentally sustainable society where every person has access to a safe, affordable home near jobs, services, and opportunity.

What we're looking for

The Senior Manager of Major Gifts will collaborate with the Director of Development and fundraising team to raise YIMBY Action and YIMBY’s combined annual budget of $4.0 million+, and prepare for increased revenue growth in future years. The Senior Manager will be the key strategist and “air traffic controller” for YIMBY Action and YIMBY’s portfolio of 60+ major givers (donors giving over $5,000). Their primary role will be teeing up and supporting our Executive Directors and Regional Directors to cultivate donors, although over time they may own some frontline relationships directly. The Senior Manager will report to the Director of Development and be part of a 5-person fundraising team that also includes a Senior Manager of Industry Partnerships, an Event Coordinator, and Development Associate.

Responsibilities

Strategize and Tee Up Major Gifts Cultivation and Closes (60%)

• Oversee portfolio of individual major gifts donors, each with different giving histories, capacity levels, and staff relationship managers. Identify opportunities to engage donors, connect donors to others in the YIMBY network, thank donors, and make asks. Continually reprioritize pipeline based on capacity and inclination. Ensure consistent and impactful donor touchpoints.
• Support and coach executive leadership and frontline fundraisers to execute on touchpoints. Co-strategize or ghostwrite emails, phone calls, and handwritten notes. Support executive leadership in preparing for donor meetings by managing research, briefing documents, follow-up tasks, and strategic recommendations.
• Collaborate with the fundraising team to maximize events for donor cultivation and upgrades, including calling on major donors to give at the annual gala and other smaller YIMBY events.
• Strategize and execute annual Board and Top Donor Retreat in the fall to engage YIMBY and YIMBY Action top donors in organizational strategy and opportunities.
• Monitor progress toward major gifts goals and provide regular reporting, insights, and strategic adjustments to fundraising and leadership teams.
• Manage systems, processes, and tools that enable efficient and effective major gifts fundraising, including optimization of our Salesforce CRM and moves management Airtable.
• Activate program staff and volunteers across the organization to provide information and content for donor communications, including wins, challenges, and future goals. Monitor internal conversations and Slack to identify content opportunities.

Lead Major Gifts Prospecting Activities (30%)

• Oversee major gifts prospecting processes including mining smaller donors for major gifts potential, identifying connectors and asking for connections from Board members and connectors, regularly refining a “dream list” and researching connections, and identifying potential prospects at events our staff attend. Leverage Development Associate and broader fundraising team to execute on prospecting work. Coach Development Associate and team to maximize effectiveness of these strategies and better identify high-capacity prospects.
• Develop and manage a structured process for asking donors, Board members, and partners for introductions to high-value prospects at meetings and events.
• Board prospecting: Help identify new national Board members for the organization. Collaborate with Executive Directors and fundraising team to identify national and regional Board prospects who will support major gifts goals. Assist with the process of bringing them on to the Board, in collaboration with the Operations Manager.
• In collaboration with the Director of Development, manage the organizations’ house party program, including calling on local connectors to host house parties, refining our house party toolkit, and supporting hosts to bring in high-value prospects.
• Collaborate with the Director of Development and Event Coordinator to maximize YIMBY And YIMBY Action’s thought leadership activities for donor prospecting; including helping to identify high-profile speaking opportunities for Executive Directors and preparing them to meet donor prospects in high-value rooms.
• Partner with the Director of Development to identify major gifts prospects in YIMBY Action’s “Infill Circle” of mid-level donors, and help upgrade these donors.
• Partner with Senior Manager of Industry Partnerships to identify and connect to major gifts prospects in YIMBY Action’s business member network.
• Track and report on prospecting metrics, including new leads sourced, introductions secured, qualification rates, and pipeline growth.

Special Projects and Team Support (10%)

• Support foundation relationships, including potentially owning and stewarding 1-2 foundation relationships.
• Collaborate with the fundraising team to execute high-impact fundraising events.
• Other special projects as needed.

Metrics

Measurables of success for this position may include:

• Total $ in giving from major gifts portfolio and average $ gift
• % donors retained, % donors upgraded
• # of meetings with major gifts donors
• # new major gifts donors added through prospecting

Qualifications

You are our ideal Senior Manager of Major Gifts if you have 3-5 years of fundraising experience with an emphasis on individual major gifts and you:

• Are passionate about housing; you fundamentally believe that the housing shortage is one of the biggest challenges of our time, and you see increasing housing as fundamental to advancing equity and advancing sustainability.
• Get excited about finding the overlap between donors’ interests and organizational needs.
• Have experience and demonstrated success positioning frontline fundraisers for success, including strategizing and teeing up cultivation touchpoints, prepping meeting notes, and producing decks and 1-pagers as needed.
• Have a knack for databases. You're the type of person who loves keeping clean records. You're good at coming up with efficient ways to sort and organize data. Ideally, you have some familiarity with Salesforce, Excel, and Airtable.
• Are a compelling and persuasive writer. You excel at moving your readers to action.
• Are resourceful. You can use thoughtful research and creative problem solving to identify new prospective donors and “hidden gems” of fundraising opportunities.
• Thrive with a fast pace. You can work swiftly and efficiently to ensure responses are prompt and deadlines are met.

Benefits

• Up to 100% employer funded comprehensive medical coverage
• 401k enrollment opportunities
• 3 weeks of paid vacation plus another 20 paid holidays
• Paid sick time
• Paid family & disability leave
• Significant professional development opportunities, including paid professional development stipend
• Flexible work hours within a 40 hour work week
• Membership in YIMBY Action nationwide activist network and vibrant 3,700+ member Slack community
• Access to YIMBY Action network of elected officials, journalists, and business leaders