Carolina Federation

Individual Donor Manager

Based in North Carolina
(strong preference for the Triangle or the Triad)

 

The Carolina Federation is seeking a values-aligned, full-time Individual Donor Manager to maintain and grow the individual donor base of our organization in service to building working class, multi-racial political power across North Carolina.

About the Carolina Federation
The Carolina Federation is a statewide organization that brings people together across race to build a new political majority in North Carolina, rooted in a culture of belonging and strong enough to win elections and wield governing power in our state. Our work combines the best of Southern freedom traditions: deep base-building, transformative cultural work, power-building issue campaigns, and large-scale voter organizing.

Over the past six years, our chapter-based membership organization has grown to become one of the largest voter engagement operations in North Carolina. In addition to our voter engagement work, we are equally proud to be known for the depth of our leadership development, our democratic endorsement processes, and the governance of the organization by elected member leaders.

Carolina Federation Values

• Commitment to Building Power; through elections, issue campaigns, base-building and organizing, centered around the leadership of working-class people and people of color.
• Commitment to Justice; to racial, economic, gender, and environmental justice and to lifting up the leadership and dignity of the working-class people and people of color; a felt sense of inspiration and alignment with our DNA principles
• Commitment to Interdependence -- bringing your best, relying on the strengths of others, the knowledge that we are responsible for each other’s well-being
• Commitment to Integrity – drawing from deep values and beliefs with a track record of honesty and courage
• Resilient, Ambitious, Relentless – leaning on professional and personal support systems and internal resources to sustain yourself in challenging times; believing that you and others are capable of greatness and that victory is possible for our people; getting creative and experimental when things get difficult

About the Individual Donor Manager Position
The Individual Donor Manager will play a key role in sustaining the work of the Carolina Federation’s growing development program. Our Development Department is in an exciting phase of building systems, diversifying funding streams, and deepening relationships with donors who are aligned with our mission.

This position is ideal for someone who believes in the transformative potential of organizing wealth as part of a broader fundraising strategy. The right candidate will see fundraising as a political practice—one that shifts power, supports leadership from Black, Brown, and working-class communities, and sustains the long-term work of social movements. We are looking for a relational and strategic thinker who is excited to cultivate donor relationships, tell powerful stories, and engage people in resourcing movement-building efforts.

The Individual Donor Manager will thus be instrumental in maintaining and growing the network of individual donors to the Carolina Federation, with the goal of significantly increasing the portion of the organization's budget covered by individual donors in the coming 3-5 years. While the Carolina Federation has been successful in fundraising at an institutional and individual level, as we grow, so does our organization’s need for an expanded donor network of individuals with the collective giving capacity to fund the majority of our work. Sustainable revenue of this scale would strengthen the Federation’s ability to develop the deep organizing and political infrastructure necessary to build a multi-racial, working class base that can contest for power and achieve policy wins for our people.

The skills and commitments that will allow someone to succeed in the role include someone who:

• Shares a deep commitment to building power for communities across North Carolina and understands the importance of building and funding sustainable organizations to create that power.
• Is excited to help grow and sustain the financial resources for a dynamic political organization across the state of North Carolina
• Has a strong desire to grow, learn and be mentored in the role by existing fundraising staff.

Specifically, the Individual Donor Manager will be responsible for:

• Cultivating relationships with current and prospective donors, using storytelling and political education to build alignment with the Federation’s mission.
• Developing tailored engagement strategies that help donors see themselves as part of a collective effort to build power in North Carolina.
• Encouraging current donors to expand the Federation’s support by engaging their networks through peer-to-peer fundraising, including in-person events and gatherings.

Duties of the manager in this role will also include:
Implementing the Carolina Federation’s Individual Donor Strategy

• Collaborating with the fundraising team and other departments to set and refine realistic goals for large and small individual donor fundraising for multi-year periods.
• Integrating the individual donor strategy into broader conversations around the Federation’s overall fundraising strategy.
• Continuing ongoing research of best practices for individual donor programs , including conversations with peer organizations within North Carolina and in other states.

Individual Donor Campaign Development

• Creation of individual donor campaign plans for both large donors and small donors.
• In consultation with the Development Director, setting and refining realistic goals for individual donor growth over multi-year timelines, including creation of budgets, timelines (‘by whens’) and campaign goals aligned with existing organization-wide budgets and multi-year fundraising plans.
• Working with communications and fundraising staff to craft messaging and donor materials that speak to different audiences.
• Building detailed profiles of prospective donors for use in planning donor outreach
• Tracking donor engagement and campaign progress using CRM systems like EveryAction.

Major Donor Organizing

• Identifying and researching potential major donors.
  • Updating donor profiles to account for the who, why, where and when of approaching prospective donors.
  • Using existing donor prospecting best practices as well as experimenting with and innovating new methods
• Leading outreach efforts and opportunities for new prospective donors as well as communications and commitments from current donors.
• Conducting one-on-one donor meetings and crafting compelling narratives and pitch decks to effectively support asks for meaningful investment in the work.
• Stewarding donors through the decision-making process, ensuring they feel connected, informed, and valued as partners in the work, while also managing their giving timelines until they make a commitment or provide a clear timeframe for their support

Donor Stewardship & Engagement

• Ensuring donors receive regular updates through newsletters, impact reports, invitations to events, and direct outreach.
• Following the stewardship best practices to and including but not limited to:
  • Leading donor appreciation efforts, including timely acknowledgments, personal thank-you notes, and follow-up conversations.
  • Personally contacting individual donors for the purposes of maintaining engagement
  • Outreach to in-person events such as fundraisers or donor meet-up engagement events
• Organizing in-person and virtual donor gatherings, strengthening relationships and deepening engagement with the Federation’s work.

Event Planning

• Assisting the Development Director in the conception and execution of in-person and virtual fundraising events
• Outreach to in-person events such as fundraisers or donor meet-up engagement events
• Duties include but are not limited to assisting with development and maintenance of event budgets, development of program content, guest outreach, follow up and confirmation, coordinating with vendors, scheduling presenters and partner organization participants and day-of task management.

Qualifications & Experience
The ideal candidate will have some of the following qualifications and experiences:

• Experience with fundraising and fundraising campaigns
• Experience with nonprofit fundraising best practices
• Experience with political fundraising for candidates and organizations
• Passion for mission-related fundraising
• Experience with CRM systems and donor databases.
• Passion for the Carolina Federation’s mission and a commitment to racial, economic, and social justice.
• Personal or professional experience living in the South, engaging in multi-racial organizing and/or organizing in the South is a plus.

Compensation & Benefits
This is a permanent, full-time, exempt, manager-level position. The beginning salary range is $66,163 to $74,406 annualized, based on experience, with opportunity for an increase up to $79,902 after the first 90 days of employment, depending on performance. Benefits include:

• 100% Employer-paid premium for health insurance (medical, dental, and vision), life insurance, short and long-term disability
• 3% Guaranteed employer contribution to retirement after 6 months of employment
• Generous holidays as well as flexible paid time off
• $700 Technology allowance for new employees
• 3 Months full-pay parental leave after 12 months of employment

Location
This position must be based in North Carolina, with a strong preference for the Triangle or the Triad. The position requires regular in-person meetings at office locations in the Triad and Triangle. The position will require some travel out of the state to conferences and fundraising events and meetings. We may be able to offer a modest stipend to cover in-state or out-of-state relocation expenses.

To Apply
The priority deadline for this position is March 7th. Interviews will take place on a rolling basis beginning on March 10th, with an ideal start in Summer 2025. However, the position will remain open until filled.

Send us:

• A résumé and a brief cover letter explaining what sparks your interest in our organization and the Individual Donor Manager role.
• Three references who can speak to a combination of your values and previous work experience
• 1-2 samples of related work that you have authored or collaborated on

You can email these to development@carolinafederation.org with the subject line “Individual Donor Manager” followed by your first and last name in parentheses or brackets.

The Carolina Federation is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from all and strongly encourage women, people of color, immigrants, working class folks and members of the LGBTQ community to apply. We do not require formal education. We encourage you to submit your application if this job excites you!