Development Manager

Local Progress

8d•Remote

About The Position

Local Progress and the Local Progress Impact Lab are seeking a Development Manager who is responsible for maintaining and evolving the organization's fundraising systems and strategy. This includes holding primary responsibility for grant proposals and reports, growing individual giving programs, planning fundraising events, and supporting the broader fundraising strategy. The Development Manager will play a key role in building the systems and coordination that make LP's fundraising work effective, working closely with department leads who hold fundraising responsibilities across the organization. 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. This is a remote, U.S.-based position with no in-office requirement. Candidates based in the West Coast or Midwest are strongly preferred. This position is required to travel to in-person events up to six days a month.

Requirements

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.

Nice To Haves

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.

Responsibilities

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.