Senior Manager of Development (Fundraising & Donor Relations)

Growing Home Inc. is a nonprofit social enterprise that empowers individuals with barriers to employment through paid job training in organic agriculture. Our program combines handson experiential learning on our USDAcertified organic farms with a comprehensive jobreadiness curriculum that supports participants as they reenter and advance in the workforce. We also strengthen food access in Englewood by providing fresh healthy produce and communitycentered food education.

We are a diverse energetic and missiondriven team committed to creating opportunity building community and driving meaningful change. Growing Home offers a collaborative environment where employees can contribute their skills grow professionally and make a real impact every day.

Position Summary

The Senior Manager of Development reports to the Director of Operations and leads Growing Homes institutional fundraising strategy. This role will manage a growing team of development officers including fulltime and parttime staff and oversee the organizations full grants portfolio funder stewardship and revenuegeneration strategy. The Senior Manager ensures the longterm sustainability of Growing Home by driving highquality grant writing cultivating funder relationships and coordinating crossdepartmental collaboration.

Key Responsibilities

Grant Portfolio Management

• Oversees the full lifecycle of Growing Homes grant portfolio including prospecting strategy development proposal writing reporting and compliance.
• Ensures timely submission of a minimum of 812 proposals and 46 reports per month with the understanding that these figures may shift based on organizational needs.
• Maintains a comprehensive grants calendar and ensures all deadlines are met.
• Prepares robust datadriven grant and revenue reports for Finance Committee Executive Committee and Board of Directors meetings.
• Leads the yearly grants snapshot and supports the grant reconciliation process in partnership with Finance.
• Coordinates with program finance and leadership teams to gather data budgets and impact narratives.
  
  

Fundraising Strategy & Revenue Growth

• Develops and executes an annual fundraising plan aligned with organizational goals and multiyear growth priorities.
• Identifies new funding opportunities across corporate foundation government and philanthropic networks.
• Tracks progress toward revenue targets and prepares development dashboards for leadership and board review.
  
  

Grant Writing & Proposal Development

• Writes compelling proposals LOIs concept papers and funder updates that reflect accurate program data and strong storytelling.
• Leads internal review processes and ensures proposals meet compliance formatting and submission requirements.
• Ensures all submissions reflect alignment with funder priorities and organizational impact.
  
  

Funder Stewardship & Relationship Management

• Cultivates and stewards relationships with current and prospective funders through meetings site visits events and consistent communication.
• Prepares stewardship materials including impact updates success stories and annual reports.
• Partners with the Executive Director and Director of Operations to manage highlevel funder relationships.

Team Leadership & Development

• Supervises a growing team of development officers including fulltime and parttime staff.
• Provides coaching performance management and professional development opportunities.
• Ensures team alignment with organizational priorities grant deadlines and fundraising goals.

Major Events Leadership

• Leads planning and execution of Growing Homes major annual events including:
  • The Annual Benefit
  • The Backyard Barbecue
  • The YearEnd Appeal
• Coordinates crossdepartmental logistics sponsorship outreach donor engagement and postevent stewardship.
• Ensures events align with fundraising goals and organizational messaging.
  

Prospect Management & Development Systems

• Maintains and optimizes the prospect database ensuring accurate tracking of funder activity deadlines and stewardship touchpoints.
• Oversees prospect research and pipeline development to support longterm revenue growth.
• Ensures data integrity and consistent use of Salesforce and other development systems.

CrossDepartment Collaboration

• Works closely with program staff to translate program outcomes into fundable narratives.
• Collaborates with finance to ensure accurate budgets forecasts and grant allocations.
• Supports marketing and communications efforts to align messaging with development goals.

Qualifications

• The ideal candidate brings a commitment to operational excellence.
• Bachelors degree in relevant field such as Communications or Marketing
• At least 3 years of experience in nonprofit development with a strong track record in grant writing donor relations and institutional fundraising.
• Demonstrated experience securing gifts from individuals in the 5 and 6-figure range as well as grassroots fundraising
• Experience supervising and developing staff.
• Strong understanding of development operations prospect and project management and fundraising systems.
• Proven record of excellent oral and writing communication editing and storytelling skills.
• Ability to manage multiple deadlines in a fastpaced environment.
• Familiarity with Salesforce or similar CRM systems preferred.
• Commitment to Growing Homes mission and values.
• Demonstrated organizational and time management skills strong attention to detail
• Professional computer skills proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and Google Suite proficiency in WordPress Constant Contact or similar programs a plus
• Must be proficient in data entry (Sales Force a plus) tracking analysis and reporting and database/software systems.
  

Physical Requirements

While performing the duties of this job the employee is frequently required to stand; walk and sit. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 15 pounds. There will be local travel required and some evening and weekend work. Requires ability to climb stairs prolonged sitting some bending stooping and stretching requires eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity sufficient to operate office equipment. Requires normal range of hearing and eyesight to record prepare and communicate appropriate reports. Primary work hours will be between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm at the Growing Homes Administrative office at 6429 S. Honore St. For special events or at particularly busy times per year the Senior Manager of Development will be required to work weekends or evening hours.

Growing Home Inc reserves the right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities of this job at any time based on the needs of the organization.

Required Experience:

Senior Manager