Local Progress and Local Progress Impact Lab are seeking a Development Manager 

About Local Progress and Local Progress Impact Lab:

Local Progress and the Local Progress Impact Lab work collectively to advance a racial, gender,  and economic justice agenda through all levels of government. Local Progress (LP) is a movement with nearly 1,800 local elected officials advancing a racial and economic justice agenda through all levels of local government. The Local Progress Impact Lab (the Impact Lab) brings together local leaders, partners, and experts to build the knowledge, skills, and leadership needed to advance racial and economic justice at the local level. 

About the position:

Local Progress and the Impact Lab are seeking a Development Manager who is responsible for maintaining and evolving the organization's fundraising systems and strategy, including holding primary responsibility for grant proposals and reports, growing our individual giving programs, planning fundraising events, and supporting the broader fundraising strategy. Working closely with department leads who hold fundraising responsibilities across the organization, the Development Manager plays a key role in building the systems and coordination that make LP's fundraising work effective. This position requires strong project management skills, the ability to work independently on complex multi-stakeholder work, and a capacity to envision and align others around development goals. The combined budget of Local Progress and the Impact Lab for 2026 is $12M.

The Development Manager  will report to the Associate Development Director 

Location: This is a remote, U.S.-based position with no in-office requirement. Candidates based in the West Coast or Midwest are strongly preferred.

Travel requirement:  This position is required to travel to in-person events up to six days a month. 

Primary Responsibilities:

Grants Management and Administration (40%)

• Oversee grants management: Ensuring timely submissions, compliance, and accurate record-keeping.
• Maintain tracking systems: Manage a grants calendar and file management system, keep funder records updated in our CRM.
• Manage internal fundraising systems: Monitor funder tracking, revenue reporting, and data management.
• Prospect research: Identify new funding opportunities and maintain up-to-date information on current and potential funders.

Fundraising Strategy (20%)

• Project management: Facilitate collaboration across teams to ensure alignment on fundraising efforts. Track key fundraising metrics and implement processes to improve efficiency and data accuracy.
• Support primary fundraisers: Provide systems, coordination, and administrative support to department leads who hold primary and secondary fundraising responsibilities across the organization.
• New initiatives: Support internal fundraising processes and contribute to the implementation of new fundraising strategies and initiatives as needed.

Individual Giving (20%)

• Manage individual giving program: Lead the organization’s individual giving program, including the Municipal Membership program, with support from the Associate Development Director.
• Donor cultivation and stewardship: Develop and implement systems for donor identification, cultivation, and stewardship. Maintain accurate donor records and support efforts to build and deepen relationships with individual donors.

Fundraising Events (15%)

• Plan and execute events: Lead planning and logistics for in-person fundraising events, the Local Progress National Convening, and funder briefings.
• Funder stewardship: Develop funder engagement materials and manage post-event follow-up to support ongoing funder relationships.

Writing and Drafting (5%)

• Manage proposal and report development: Working closely with our grant writing consultant, review and refine grant proposals and reports, develop budgets, and coordinate submissions.
• Fundraising materials: Develop program-specific one-pagers, concept papers, and other fundraising materials.

Required Qualifications:

• 6+ years of experience in development, fundraising, or grants management, with at least 3 years of non-profit fundraising
• Strong writing and editing skills, including experience reviewing grant proposals, reports, and fundraising materials.
• Experience managing grant processes and fundraising systems, ensuring proposals and reports are submitted on time. Experience maintaining donor databases, reporting workflows, and compliance tracking.
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to work independently on complex, multi-stakeholder projects and keep teams aligned across a remote organization.
• Experience managing or supporting individual giving programs, including donor cultivation, stewardship, and tracking.
• Exceptional attention to detail, ensuring accuracy in grant submissions, financial tracking, and fundraising records.
• Familiarity with budgets and financial documents, including grant budgets and expense tracking.
• Familiarity with donor databases and CRM systems.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work across teams and coordinate with fundraisers, contractors, and program staff.
• Commitment to social, racial, gender, and economic justice, and an interest in local policy, politics, and government.

The Ideal Candidate Will Have:

• Experience developing and driving fundraising strategy with a high level of independence, including identifying gaps and contributing to long-term planning.
• Experience managing up and across an organization to advance shared fundraising goals and align the work of multiple staff members.
• Familiarity with EveryAction and HubSpot, or similar CRM platforms.
• Experience with c3/c4 compliance in a fundraising or development context.

Salary and Benefits:

This position is expected to start at step 22 of our salary scale and other factors such as years of experience and advanced degrees will be taken into account, with an expected range of $90,900-102,900. This is a salaried exempt position. 

This position is included in a union-represented collective bargaining unit, and specific terms and conditions of employment are subject to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. With a collectively bargained salary scale, we are not able to negotiate once a salary offer is calculated based on the factors that determine placement on the scale. 

We operate on a four day workweek with a default schedule of Monday through Thursday. We have a generous benefits package, including health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, five weeks of vacation per year, 20 sick days per year, paid holidays, and contributions to individuals’ 403(b) plans. The Local Progress office is closed between December 24 and January 1 annually. 

Timeline:

We encourage applicants to apply by May 18. Applicants will be screened on a rolling basis. If you have any time constraints, please indicate as much in your application. 

How to apply: 

Please submit an application through the JazzHR portal that includes 1) resume, 2) cover letter and 3) two recent work samples. Work samples can be any of the following: a fundraising tracking or reporting tool you built or maintained: such as a grants calendar, or a donor cultivation or stewardship plan you developed or contributed to pipeline tracker, or fundraising dashboard (anonymized as needed), or anything that you feel represents your work well. Please submit all documents (resume, cover letter, and work samples) through our portal as an attachment in a single PDF using the “Upload resume” function. 

Local Progress Values

• Respect: We value people and treat each other with dignity. We strive to understand each other as full human beings, and give each other grace and room to grow. 
• Honesty: We communicate directly with each other, are honest about our strengths and our shortcomings, and are transparent about who has what level of information and authority and why. 
• Groundedness: We are authentic, and have high humility and low ego. We ground our work in the day-to-day reality and needs of our members. 
• Mutual accountability: We do what we say we're going to do, follow through on our commitments to each other and to our members, and we hold each other to a high bar. We self-reflect and develop each other’s skills as leaders. 
• Nuance: We understand that our work is complex and hold space for multiple viewpoints, contradictions, and tensions. We can hold many things as true while making decisions that advance our mission. 
• Impact: We empower our team to make decisions to drive their work. We are focused on results, persistent in overcoming obstacles, and adapt to changing external conditions. We take pride in our work. 
• Collaboration: We come together across different levels of power to advance shared interests. We center what’s best for the organization and are team players. 
• Joy: We value playfulness, humor, and joy as ways to create community, connection, and goodwill that sustains us through the challenges inherent in our work. 

Local Progress is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and actively recruits people of color, womxn, individuals with disabilities, and members of the LGBTIQAA+ community.