Donor Relations Manager with El Tímpano

El Tímpano is seeking a Donor Relations Manager to join our award-winning journalism and civic engagement organization.

El Tímpano—whose mission is to inform, engage, and amplify the voices of the Bay Area’s Latino and Mayan immigrants—has grown significantly in the past four years, from a staff of one full-time employee to a team of 14. Having won local and national recognition for our innovative model of journalism and civic engagement that centers immigrant communities, El Tímpano is expanding our development team to support our continued growth and impact in 2025 and beyond.

The Donor Relations Manager will be responsible for growing a portfolio of individual and major donors, identifying new prospects, and building long-term relationships that connect donors to our mission and engage community members to help sustain our work. Funded for the first year by the Google News Initiative’s Growth Catalyst Program, the Donor Relations Manager will participate in a coaching and peer learning program to support setting and achieving revenue goals.

The ideal candidate is an excellent communicator who enjoys connecting with people, understands donor stewardship, and is comfortable juggling a range of responsibilities—from leading individual donor outreach strategies to drafting compelling updates, leading digital campaigns, and creating proposals. Successful candidates will be passionate about El Tímpano’s mission, and eager to learn, iterate, and tenaciously pursue revenue goals to support it.

This is a full-time position based in the San Francisco Bay Area. We will not consider long-term remote candidates. Occasional evening and weekend work will be involved. Please note that El Tímpano is a fiscally sponsored project of Independent Arts & Media.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Collaborate in the development and implementation of a major gifts strategy, with the support of the Director of Development, Founding Director, and the Growth Catalyst program.
• Articulate El Tímpano’s compelling mission and urgent funding needs with passion and clarity through email campaigns, personal communications, and in-person meetings and gatherings to secure significant financial contributions.
• Research and identify prospective major donors, and cultivate small and mid-level donors through personalized outreach, using moves management to deepen engagement and increase giving.
• Establish and maintain a prospect pipeline for major gifts, tracking donor interactions, and monitoring progress towards fundraising goals.
• Track donor outreach and engagement in our CRM, maintaining clean and updated records.
• Draft and edit donor communications, including appeals, proposals, updates, thank-you notes, and invitations.
• Strategize, plan, and coordinate donor cultivation events, including donor meetings, briefings, and house parties to engage and steward individual supporters.
• Lead online fundraising campaigns, including month-long donor drives, a year-end campaign, and strategic messaging year-round.
• Meet quarterly and yearly donor outreach and revenue goals, with a first-year goal of generating $100,000 in individual donations.
• Develop and engage an advisory board to support individual giving efforts.
• Collaborate and engage with all El Timpano teams to stay up to date on current and future programming.
• Additional projects as assigned by the Director of Development and/or Founding Director to support a young and growing organization.

You are a great fit if you…

• Have 3–5 years of progressive and successful experience in nonprofit fundraising, preferably with direct responsibility for donor portfolios or major gift strategy
• Have demonstrated success in cultivating major donor relationships, including securing gifts of $5,000 or more.
• Excel at building and managing relationships and expanding a network of support.
• Are skilled in conducting donor research and how to identify mission-aligned prospects.
• Have well developed time management skills, and can juggle multiple projects, tasks, and deadlines simultaneously.
• Have experience using a donor CRM and online fundraising platforms and tools (eg, GiveButter, crowdfunding platforms), and are comfortable keeping up with data entry and donor tracking.
• Have excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication, including the ability to deliver a compelling case of support for different audiences, and to communicate respectfully and inclusively in diverse environments with colleagues, community members, and external peers.
• Are a self-starter who is comfortable building things from scratch, learning and iterating as you go, collaborating with a team, and adapting as the organization grows and evolves.

We prefer but don’t require candidates to have…

• Experience in fundraising for civic engagement, journalism, or immigrant communities.
• Familiarity with the Bay Area’s philanthropic ecosystem.

Some great candidates may not check all the boxes above, and may have valuable skills not included here. If that’s you, please don’t hesitate to apply and tell us why you would thrive in this role. If you have any questions in advance of applying for this position, we encourage you to reach out to El Tímpano’s Director of Development, Lanita Pace-Hinton, at lpacehinton[at]eltimpano[dot]org to address your questions via email or a brief call.

The salary is $75,000-$90,000 depending on skills and experience. El Tímpano, as a fiscally sponsored project of Independent Arts & Media, offers generous benefits, including 13 paid holidays, a one-week paid office closure, and 13 additional days PTO in the first year, 100% paid medical insurance premiums as well as vision and dental care, a 401(k) plan, flexible work hours, and professional development opportunities. We are committed to supporting the personal and professional development of staff and caring for the holistic wellbeing of our team.

El Tímpano is committed to addressing inequities and dismantling the various ways white supremacy shows up in journalism as well as organizational culture. While we’re imperfect, we are actively building a team that reflects the diverse life experiences of the communities we serve and that fosters equity, belonging, trust, and respect. We strongly encourage applications from immigrants, Latinos, and Indigenous candidates, people of color, women, people with disabilities, formerly incarcerated people, and LGBTQIA+ individuals.