Manager, Partner Services

LISTEN4GOOD

Listen4Good (L4G) is a fast-growing nonprofit dedicated to helping the social sector build the capacity to listen and respond to their clients, leading to positive changes in the way they make decisions, deliver services, and partner with the people they serve. L4G was created in 2016 by a national funder collaborative, Fund for Shared Insight. Since then, L4G has experienced consistent growth, working with more than 1,000 organizations nationwide. In 2023, L4G spun out as an independent project, fiscally sponsored by Tides Center, a 501(c)3 nonprofit. Grounding our work is a fundamental belief that high-quality feedback, when fully embraced by organizations, can catalyze consistently inclusive and equitable relationships with clients (to learn more about our approach to equity, see the Listen4Good Equity Statement).

POSITION OVERVIEW

This is a new, full-time role that will reside within Listen4Good’s Partner Services team, which is responsible for business development and supports adjacent efforts in development and marketing. The primary role of our Partner Services team is to scale our earned revenue business model by partnering with foundations to underwrite/sponsor L4G’s program fees for their grantees. L4G’s development efforts seek general operating support from institutional philanthropy for general operations and select projects, and our marketing efforts focus primarily on raising brand awareness and supporting broader stewardship goals with partners.

Our ideal candidate is energized by the power of listening and feedback. You bring excitement for L4G’s model to support organizations to use feedback to create positive change. You are committed to social justice, racial equity, and inclusion, with a genuine interest in amplifying the voices of the people least heard in society.

You have experience bringing in business and hitting revenue goals, in a mission-driven setting. As a mission-driven nonprofit, L4G is only fulfilling our vision when we’re working in alignment with funders and nonprofits to enhance their impact. Successful business development will include identifying like-minded funders, communicating how our offerings align with their strategic priorities, and closing partnerships with them.

Many of your interactions will be with institutional philanthropy, exploring whether and how L4G aligns with their strategy. As such, it’ll be helpful if you have experience working with US based institutional philanthropy and an understanding of what funders think about day to day.

This position works with staff across the organization and reports to the Director, Partner Services.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Partner Services:

• Identify and prospect new potential funder partners:
  • Identify foundations whose missions and strategies align with Listen4Good’s approach.
  • Profile strategic partner prospects, identifying key individuals within foundations.
  • Support the Director, Partner Services and Executive Director by teeing up initial outreach to potential partners.
  • Draft informative communications and proactively reach out to funders to initiate contact.
• Build and qualify a pipeline of prospective funder partners, leveraging existing connections and researching and initiating new relationships.
• Cultivate lasting 1:1 relationships with a range of philanthropic partners, connecting L4G to their strategic goals and creating opportunities for them to sponsor grantees’ participation in L4G programs as a capacity building opportunity.
• Develop grant proposals, MOUs, and Scopes of Work for funder sponsors in partnership with the Operations team.
• Act as main contact for funder partners, answering their questions, giving them the information they need to implement our programs, and nudging them when needed.
• Coordinate with Partner Services team and Programs team to support successful program implementation:
  • Use Asana and Salesforce to communicate the status of projects to other teammates.
  • Document the information from sales conversations that other teammates need in order to implement the project.
  • Translate and document in our systems any custom needs unique to a specific funder.
• Support the Senior Coordinator, Partner Services by leading informational sessions with nonprofit leaders and leading select calls with prospective nonprofit participants.
• Support the Senior Coordinator, Partner Services by processing registration forms, including administrative activities like creating opportunities in Salesforce, correcting inaccurate information, and updating data in Salesforce.

Marketing:

• Work collaboratively with L4G’s marketing consultant to develop marketing materials like one-pagers and case studies, including drafting, outlining, and editing.
• Work collaboratively with L4G’s marketing consultant to craft powerful electronic mailings that not only increase RSVPs and turnout to our presentations, but also sustain engagement afterward.
• Develop and manage partnerships with philanthropy-serving organizations (PSOs) to bring our content to their members, including creating co-promotion activities, launching and co-promoting blog pieces, and collaborating on presentations.
• Draft and submit conference proposal sessions to amplify L4G’s best practices and showcase our funder champions.

Development:

• Support the Executive Director to develop concept papers and proposals to support fundraising efforts.
• Complete grant reports with accuracy and attention to detail, showcasing how L4G utilized the grant dollars and added unique value.
• Coordinate with Operations Manager on timelines and grant requirements.
• Support the Director, Partner Services and Executive Director to provide proactive updates and stewardship for funders.

KEY SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS

• 5 years of experience in sales, business development, partnerships or similar roles.
• Strong motivation to bring in business and hit revenue goals.
• Experience utilizing best practices in business-to-business marketing and sales with the goal of acquiring new customers. Understanding of how to build strategic alliances, reach new audiences, and expand a client base.
• Experience seeding and growing mission-driven client relationships. Experience building trusting and authentic relationships with clients in a mission-driven setting.
• Ability to navigate within complex organizations and across stakeholders to get to alignment. Experience growing accounts to deliver more value over time to each client.
• Knowledgeable about philanthropy and nonprofit capacity building. First-hand experience working with organizations and programs that build the capacity of nonprofit organizations, ideally in a foundation, grantmaking, or other philanthropic setting.
• Ability to set and implement strategy for assigned workstreams. Experience setting goals, executing toward them, analyzing data to assess performance, and pivoting as needed.
• Advanced project management ability including experience planning, executing and monitoring many complex projects with multiple stakeholders.
• Highly organized, with excellent prioritization skills and the ability to self-direct in a multifaceted role.
• Proactive communicator with an understanding of the need to keep the Director, Partner Services up to date on progress toward goals and alert them about challenges that come up.
• Empathic writing skills, including the ability to synthesize one’s own and others’ complex concepts, needs, and reflections in writing.
• Ability to thrive in a highly dynamic work environment that is highly collaborative.
• Ability to adapt to an evolving environment, responsibilities, and role.
• Learning mindset, including an openness to sharing and receiving feedback, willingness to ask questions and learn new approaches, and preparedness to pivot in response to data.
• Commitment to social justice, equity, and inclusion, and an interest in lifting up the voices we seek to amplify. Excited to contribute to an inclusive team culture.
• Familiarity with various software platforms including Asana, Salesforce, Excel, and PowerPoint, or willingness to learn.

Must be comfortable working in a virtual team environment across multiple time zones. As we function largely as a remote team, this position will work in the home or space of the incumbent's choosing.

Must be able to move around a meeting space, and attend quarterly in-person team meetings at a central location, typically the San Francisco, CA area. Must be able to travel domestically on an airplane four times per year to and from the in-person team meetings.