Senior Manager, Foundation Relations

External Posting•New York, NY

11h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Manager, Foundation Relations, is a senior fundraising role responsible for growing a portfolio of philanthropic foundation funders in the climate, development, agriculture, sustainability, and systems change sectors. This role is responsible for developing engagement and funding strategies, securing new donors and growing revenue from existing accounts. You will identify new foundation prospects, represent the Rainforest Alliance externally to strengthen our visibility across the foundation landscape, and develop compelling value propositions that inspire programmatic investments in the Rainforest Alliance. Reporting to the Director, Institutional Relations, the Senior Manager, Foundation Relations works across the organization to analyse market intelligence, prioritize high-potential foundation segments, and build a pipeline of strategic funding opportunities to meet financial targets. This is a global role managing foundation accounts of all sizes, ensuring strategic agreement, value delivery, and long-term partnership growth across all engagements.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent in business administration, international development, sustainability, or a related field.
10+ years of progressively responsible experience in fundraising, business development, sales, consultancy, or sustainable development.
Experience securing foundation philanthropic funding, including multi-year commitments.
Experience with sustainability, systems change, and global development market trends.
Experience moving donors through a cultivation pipeline and meeting annual revenue targets.
Ability to travel domestically and internationally on occasion.

Responsibilities

Create a revenue-generating portfolio of foundation accounts through prospect identification, relationship-building, and securing new funding commitments.
Exceed annual revenue targets.
Expand and diversify the existing foundation portfolio, with a focus on 6-figure or higher, multi-year commitments.
Report on budgetary projections, cultivation activities, and progress against goals for the foundation pipeline in Salesforce.
Partner with Research and Revenue Operations to stay informed about new funding trends, identify aligned affinity networks and entry points, and create new funding leads for impactful restricted funding opportunities.
Motivated to move prospects through a sales pipeline and with clear revenue targets defined.
Prioritize strategic external engagement for yourself and senior leadership, identify prospects, secure meetings, prepare briefing documents, and lead meeting follow-ups.
Contribute to the development and management of the Institutional Relations pipeline, ensuring accurate prioritization and updates in Salesforce of your portfolio.
Contribute to the Rainforest Alliance's foundation fundraising strategy.
Develop compelling cases for support, donor collateral and philanthropic offerings tailored to foundation audiences.
Innovate and test new models of revenue generation, including blended finance or pooled funds, and varied methods of engagement, such as hosting donor roundtables, attending networking events or securing panel representation.
Lead the proposal development process for prioritized opportunities.
Work across revenue lines and with the programs, products, and commercial portfolios to identify co-funding opportunities and develop public–private–philanthropic partnerships.