Senior Fund Development Manager

Young Women's Freedom Center; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Young Women’s Freedom Center is seeking a Senior Fund Development Manager to lead institutional fundraising and manage the grant-seeking process, developing compelling proposals aligned with our mission.

You will handle prospect research, build foundation relationships, and maintain grant calendars while collaborating with program and finance teams to sustain a strong funding pipeline.

Qualifications

• At least seven years of professional experience in nonprofit development, institutional giving, grant writing, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success securing significant grant funding from private foundations, corporations, or government agencies.
• Exceptional grant writing, editing, research, and verbal communication skills.
• Experience independently managing a substantial pipeline of grant opportunities and proposals.
• Strong knowledge of the philanthropic landscape in California and nationally, particularly funders supporting youth, gender, racial, economic, and social justice.
• Experience conducting prospect research and evaluating funder alignment, giving history, relationships, and funding potential.
• Experience developing and maintaining grant calendars, prospect records, funder profiles, and institutional knowledge.
• Ability to develop funder relationships and prepare organizational leaders for successful cultivation meetings.
• Strong project-management skills and ability to manage multiple proposals, relationships, and deadlines simultaneously.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with program, finance, evaluation, communications, and executive teams.

Responsibilities

• Grant Strategy & Proposal Development: Manage grant opportunities from identification through submission and renewal.
• Prospect Research & Funder Relationships: Build a pipeline of prospective funders aligned with the mission.
• Grant Systems & Institutional Knowledge: Maintain grants calendar, files, and proposal language.
• Funding Pipeline & Planning: Contribute to annual and long-term fundraising goals and opportunities.
• Organizational Participation: Engage in events, meetings, and communications to advance fundraising.

Skills

Grant writing

Fundraising

Prospect research

Grant management

Nonprofit development

Job description

Position Title:

Senior Fund Development Manager

Program / Department:

Administrative

Work location:

Hybrid (2 days at YWFC Los Angeles weekly), with some travel

Classification:

Full-time (1 FTE), Permanent

Reports to:

Chief Communications & Fund Development Officer

Salary:

$90,000 - $100,000

The Senior Fund Development Manager reports to the Chief Communications & Fund Development Officer and leads institutional fundraising across Young Women’s Freedom Center (YWFC) and its projects, Sister Warriors and Beloved Village.

This role independently manages the organization’s grant-seeking process, including prospect research, proposal development, submissions, and renewals. The Senior Fund Development Manager writes compelling proposals, maintains strong knowledge of the philanthropic landscape, and helps the organization build meaningful relationships with institutional funders whose priorities align with its work.

The Senior Fund Development Manager also maintains the systems and institutional knowledge needed to support effective fundraising and contributes to annual and long-term revenue planning, helping the organization maintain a strong funding pipeline and make informed decisions about fundraising opportunities.

Key duties and responsibilities:

Grant Strategy & Proposal Development

• Manage grant opportunities from prospect identification through cultivation (collaborating with senior leaderships), proposal development, submission, and renewal.
• Write compelling letters of inquiry, grant proposals, concept papers, and other funder-facing materials.
• Develop grant strategies that support organizational priorities and fundraising goals.
• Work with program, finance, evaluation, and leadership teams to gather the information, data, budgets, and stories needed for strong proposals.
• Ensure that submissions are accurate, persuasive, responsive to funder requirements, and completed on time.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the organization’s programs, impact, funding needs, and strategic priorities.

Prospect Research & Funder Relationships

• Research and evaluate foundation, corporate, and government funding opportunities in California and nationally.
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline of prospective funders aligned with YWFC’s mission, programs, and funding needs.
• Maintain current knowledge of philanthropic trends and opportunities related to youth justice, gender justice, economic justice, housing, health and wellness, systems change, and other areas connected to the organization’s work.
• Develop funder profiles and brief leadership on institutional history, priorities, relationships, and recommended engagement strategies.
• Support funder cultivation by preparing outreach, meeting materials, talking points, and follow-up communications.
• Develop and maintain relationships with foundation staff and other institutional funding partners, as appropriate.
• Identify opportunities to deepen existing funder relationships and pursue increased, renewed, or multiyear support.

Grant Systems & Institutional Knowledge

• Maintain the organization’s grants calendar and prospect pipeline, including application deadlines, request amounts, opportunity status, relationship history, and next steps.
• Maintain organized and accessible grant files, including proposals, budgets, agreements, funder research, correspondence, and supporting materials.
• Document institutional knowledge about current and prospective funders, including funding interests, prior requests, feedback, relationships, and future opportunities.
• Develop and maintain reusable proposal language, organizational information, program descriptions, impact data, and other grant resources.
• Strengthen systems and processes for prospecting, proposal development, internal review, and grant submission.
• Document grant requirements and ensure that reporting or compliance responsibilities are clearly communicated to the appropriate organizational teams.

Funding Pipeline & Planning

• Contribute to annual and long-term fundraising plans and institutional funding goals.
• Maintain a clear pipeline of prospective, planned, pending, and renewal opportunities for development planning purposes.
• Provide regular updates to the Chief Communications & Fund Development Officer on upcoming opportunities, submissions, funder relationships, and potential funding gaps.
• Analyze the strength and diversity of the institutional funding pipeline and recommend opportunities for growth.
• Help identify the grant opportunities most closely aligned with organizational priorities, capacity, and long-term sustainability.

Organizational Participation

• Participate in organizational events, staff meetings, trainings, and professional development opportunities.
• Respond to emails, messages, and other correspondence in a timely and professional manner.
• Support additional communications and fundraising initiatives as directed by the Chief Communications & Fund Development Officer.
• Ensure that the organization’s mission, vision, and guiding principles inform all aspects of the work.

Please note this is not the complete list of your responsibilities, and you are required to fulfill tasks as assigned by your supervisor and other members of the leadership team.

Qualifications:

• At least seven years of professional experience in nonprofit development, institutional giving, grant writing, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success securing significant grant funding from private foundations, corporations, or government agencies.
• Exceptional grant writing, editing, research, and verbal communication skills.
• Experience independently managing a substantial pipeline of grant opportunities and proposals.
• Strong knowledge of the philanthropic landscape in California and nationally, particularly funders supporting youth, gender, racial, economic, and social justice.
• Experience conducting prospect research and evaluating funder alignment, giving history, relationships, and funding potential.
• Experience developing and maintaining grant calendars, prospect records, funder profiles, and institutional knowledge.
• Ability to develop funder relationships and prepare organizational leaders for successful cultivation meetings.
• Strong project-management skills and ability to manage multiple proposals, relationships, and deadlines simultaneously.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with program, finance, evaluation, communications, and executive teams.
• Strong judgment, attention to detail, initiative, and ability to work independently.
• Demonstrated commitment to racial, gender, economic, and social justice and to the leadership and self-determination of systems-impacted young people.
• Experience fundraising for nonprofit, advocacy, organizing, movement-building, or youth-development organizations is strongly preferred.

Requirements:

Qualifications:

• At least seven years of professional experience in nonprofit development, institutional giving, grant writing, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success securing significant grant funding from private foundations, corporations, or government agencies.
• Exceptional grant writing, editing, research, and verbal communication skills.
• Experience independently managing a substantial pipeline of grant opportunities and proposals.
• Strong knowledge of the philanthropic landscape in California and nationally, particularly funders supporting youth, gender, racial, economic, and social justice.
• Experience conducting prospect research and evaluating funder alignment, giving history, relationships, and funding potential.
• Experience developing and maintaining grant calendars, prospect records, funder profiles, and institutional knowledge.
• Ability to develop funder relationships and prepare organizational leaders for successful cultivation meetings.
• Strong project-management skills and ability to manage multiple proposals, relationships, and deadlines simultaneously.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with program, finance, evaluation, communications, and executive teams.
• Strong judgment, attention to detail, initiative, and ability to work independently.
• Demonstrated commitment to racial, gender, economic, and social justice and to the leadership and self-determination of systems-impacted young people.
• Experience fundraising for nonprofit, advocacy, organizing, movement-building, or youth-development organizations is strongly preferred.