Interim Manager of Individual Giving

Khan Academy; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 95,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Khan Academy is seeking an interim Major Gifts professional to join the Philanthropy team from October through February. You will provide portfolio management, craft donor proposals and reports, and lead a research project to identify new major-gift prospects from AI-sector liquidity events.

You will work under the Director of Philanthropy and collaborate with the Chief of External Relations to prepare leadership for donor engagements and manage end-of-year outreach, with a blended 40-hour

Qualifications

• 7+ years demonstrated years in philanthropy, major gifts fundraising and individual giving responsibility.
• Strategic thinker with execution focus and moves management experience.
• Exceptional writing skills for donor communications, briefs, proposals and reports.
• Leadership enablement: ability to prepare and support executives for donor engagements.
• Prospect research using public information and wealth screening to identify major gifts prospects.
• Strong relationship and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Fundraising expertise with six-figure+ gifts and donor pipelines.
• Rapid ramp-up and ability to absorb organization strategy quickly.
• Excellent organization to manage multiple streams and priorities.
• Deep mission alignment with Khan Academy’s goals.

Responsibilities

• Provide behind-the-scenes portfolio management for major gifts and guide strategy to move relationships forward.
• Write donor proposals and reports; tailor communications to align with Khan Academy’s priorities.
• Prepare executives for donor meetings with briefings and strategy recommendations.
• Coordinate end-of-year donor outreach and track engagement status.
• Manage donor activities in Salesforce and maintain clean records.
• Research and identify major-gift prospects, including from AI-sector liquidity events.
• Develop a prioritized prospect list to feed the wealth-wave strategy.

Skills

Major gifts fundraising

Strategic thinking

Exceptional writing

Executive support

Prospect research

Relationship management

Fundraising expertise

Rapid ramp-up

Organization skills

Cross-cultural competence

Tools

Salesforce

Wealth screening tools

Job description

ABOUT KHAN ACADEMY

Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission to deliver a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Our proven learning platform offers free, high-quality supplemental learning content and practice that cover Pre-K - 12th grade and early college core academic subjects, focusing on math and science. We have over 181 million registered learners globally and are committed to improving learning outcomes for students worldwide, focusing on learners in historically under-resourced communities.

OUR COMMUNITY

Our students, teachers, and parents come from all walks of life, and so do we. Our team includes people from academia, traditional/non-traditional education, big tech companies, and tiny startups. We hire great people from diverse backgrounds and experiences because it makes our company stronger. We value diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as necessary to achieve our mission and impact the communities we serve. We know that transforming education starts in-house with learning about ourselves and our colleagues. We strive to be world-class in investing in our people and commit to developing you as a professional.

THE ROLE

Khan Academy is looking for a major gifts professional to join our Philanthropy team in an interim capacity from October through February. This role provides behind-the-scenes portfolio management and solicitation support for major individual giving, serves as a core writer for individual giving proposals and reports, and leads a focused research project to identify new major-gift and mid-level prospects from AI-sector liquidity events. You will be key in supporting the "wealth-wave" plan to expand the individual pipeline and ensuring philanthropic leadership is well prepared for donor engagements through end of year.

This role reports directly to the Director of Philanthropy for overall direction, prioritization, and approvals, and works closely with the Chief of External Relations on individual major donor outreach and end-of-year solicitations. Weekly hours are managed against a blended cap of 40 hours/week, with emphasis shifting across work streams as deadlines and priorities evolve.

Key Responsibilities

• Portfolio & Donor Strategy (~10 hrs/wk, through EOY): Provide behind-the-scenes portfolio management for major individual giving, driving strategy to move relationships forward and secure gifts, including recommending and confirming appropriate next steps.
• Leadership Preparation: Prepare C-suite executives and other philanthropic leadership for individual major donor meetings with briefings, pre-read decks, suggested strategies, and follow-up on next steps.
• End-of-Year Outreach Management: Track and manage Chief of External Relation end-of-year donor outreach, including who has been contacted, follow-up status, and next steps.
• Outreach Coordination: Coordinate donor outreach email by triaging messages, drafting responses for her review, and flagging donor replies that need attention.
• CRM Management: Maintain accurate donor activities and updates in Salesforce (SFDC).
• Philanthropic Writing & Reporting (~10–15 hrs/wk, ongoing): Adapt compelling concept notes, proposals, and donor reports for individual giving opportunities, drawing on existing materials, templates, and stated program priorities. Convey key strategic priorities and narrative consistent with Khan Academy’s voice, mission framing, and prior donor communications, and incorporate feedback from the Philanthropy team and leadership.
• Impact Metrics: Coordinate with key team members to pull, analyze, and present key performance metrics as part of preparing donor reports.
• Review & Approvals: Submit donor reports, proposals, and related materials to Director of Philanthropy for initial review ahead of final approval by Chief of External Relations.
• Prospect Research & Pipeline Expansion (~5–10 hrs/wk, until complete): Use prospecting tools and public information to research and identify likely major-gift and mid-level prospects, including from IPOs and liquidity events at OpenAI, Anthropic, and other AI companies (Google, Meta, etc.).
• Prospect List Development: Work with internal teams to cross-reference generated lists against Khan Academy’s existing donor, prospect, and email records to flag existing connections, and deliver a prioritized prospect list with supporting rationale that feeds directly into the wealth-wave strategy.

WHAT YOU BRING

• 7+ years demonstrated years in philanthropy, major gifts fundraising and individual giving responsibility.
• Strategic Thinker & Execution Focus: Proven ability to manage behind-the-scenes fundraising operations, moves management systems, and donor pipeline development strategies.
• Exceptional Writing Skills: Exceptional written communication skills with experience crafting compelling donor communications, briefings, and philanthropic proposals and reports.
• Leadership Enablement: Demonstrated experience preparing, briefing, and supporting executive leaders and board members for high-level donor engagements.
• Prospect Research: Experience using prospecting and wealth screening tools and public information to identify and prioritize major-gift prospects.
• Relationship & Cross-Functional Ability: Strong interpersonal skills to work seamlessly across functions and leadership dynamics.
• Fundraising Expertise: Demonstrated success raising six figure+ gifts and solid understanding of major gifts, donor pipelines, wealth screening/wealth-wave strategies, and moves management processes.
• Rapid Ramp-Up: Proven ability to quickly absorb an organization's strategy, priorities, and narrative, and to deliver meaningful results from the first weeks of an engagement.
• Organization & Flexibility: Ability to manage multiple concurrent work streams against a blended hour cap and shift emphasis as deadlines and priorities change.
• Mission Alignment: Deep passion for Khan Academy’s mission "to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere".
• Cross-Cultural Competency: Proven ability to adopt inclusive perspectives and demonstrate self-awareness to support inclusion and belonging across the organization.

MORE ABOUT US

• Sal’s TED talk from 2011
• Sal’s TED talk from 2015
• Sal's TED talk from 2023
• Our team: http://www.khanacademy.org/about/the-team

OUR COMPANY VALUES

Live & breathe learners

We deeply understand and empathize with our users. We leverage user insights, research, and experience to build content, products, services, and experiences that our users trust and love. Our success is defined by the success of our learners and educators.

Take a stand

As a company, we have conviction in our aspirational point of view of how education will evolve. The work we do is in service to moving towards that point of view. However, we also listen, learn and flex in the face of new data, and commit to evolving this point of view as the industry and our users evolve.

Embrace diverse perspectives

We are a diverse community. We seek out and embrace a diversity of voices, perspectives and life experiences leading to stronger, more inclusive teams and better outcomes. As individuals, we are committed to bringing up tough topics and leaning into different points of view with curiosity. We actively listen, learn and collaborate to gain a shared understanding. When a decision is made, we commit to moving forward as a united team.

Work responsibly and sustainably

We understand that achieving our audacious mission is a marathon, so we set realistic timelines and we focus on delivery that also links to the bigger picture. As a non-profit, we are supported by the generosity of donors as well as strategic partners, and understand our responsibility to our finite resources. We spend every dollar as though it were our own. We are responsible for the impact we have on the world and to each other. We ensure our team and company stay healthy and financially sustainable.

Bring out the joy

We are committed to making learning a joyful process. This informs what we build for our users and the culture we co-create with our teammates, partners and donors.

Cultivate learning mindset

We believe in the power of growth for learners and for ourselves. We constantly learn and teach to improve our offerings, ourselves, and our organization. We learn from our mistakes and aren’t afraid to fail. We don't let past failures or successes stop us from taking future bold action and achieving our goals.

Deliver wow

We insist on high standards and deliver delightful, effective end-to-end experiences that our users can rely on. We choose to focus on fewer things — each of which aligns to our ambitious vision — so we can deliver high-quality experiences that accelerate positive measurable learning with our strategic partners.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or Veteran status. We value diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we encourage candidates from historically underrepresented groups to apply.

As part of this commitment, Khan Academy will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact [e-mail].