Senior Manager of Events

SENIOR MANAGER OF EVENTS

POSITION DESCRIPTION

June 2025

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

Edible Schoolyard NYC (ESYNYC) is on a mission to make edible education accessible for every child in New York City. We believe edible education—where kids experience hands-on

cooking and gardening—helps kids gain the skills to contribute to a healthy and sustainable

food system for us all. We believe in a future where all children are empowered to make healthy choices for themselves, their communities, and their environments. Together with public school communities across the city, we’re building spaces for kids to flourish.

During the 2023-24 school year, we reached nearly 4,000 students and taught 2,145 classes across 23 schools. We also trained over 580 educators to incorporate edible education into their own classrooms.

Established in 2010, Edible Schoolyard NYC is a nonprofit organization committed to bringing Alice Waters’ vision to New York City public schools. As the first official “Founding Edible Schoolyard” in the Northeast, Edible Schoolyard NYC has created a curriculum and a vision to fit the unique needs of New York City public school children and communities. Now in our 15th year, Edible Schoolyard NYC is excited to continue deepening our impact at our Core School Sites as well as supporting schools and communities across New York City through our Mobile Education and Educator Professional Development Programs.

As an organization, the Values we live by include:

Community: We believe the greatest impact can only be realized by centering the community in our work.

Equity: We commit to cultivating and advancing a culture of diversity, inclusion, and belonging as we strive for equitable opportunities for all.

Stewardship: We know it is our duty to respect and care for all around us: our environment, our community, and ourselves.

Adaptability: We listen, learn, and act in response to the ever-changing needs of those around us.

ABOUT THE POSITION

The Senior Manager of Events works to create a sense of community among our donors and supporters by planning and executing fundraising, volunteer, and cultivation events. The Senior Manager of Events is responsible for developing and implementing engaging events that raise funds for and awareness of ESYNYC’s work, and for planning impactful volunteer events. They are also responsible for managing relationships with culinary leaders.

The ideal candidate will have outstanding event planning, relationship-building, communications, and organizational and project management skills. This position reports to the Vice President of Development & External Affairs (VP) and collaborates closely with the Executive Director (ED) and Development & External Affairs (Dev EA) team.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

Event Strategy & Planning

• Create and execute an events strategy that raises awareness of ESYNYC’s work and, in collaboration with the ED, VP, and Board, raises $810,000+ in FY26 with continued annual growth.
• Responsible for the strategy and execution of the full scope of events including:
  • Grow our successful Spring Benefit model to engage at least 250 guests and meet fundraising goals;
  • Create and manage new cultivation events leveraging culinary leaders and the hospitality sector;
  • Develop and implement intimate cultivation dinners for donors, in collaboration with the Dev EA team;
  • Collaborate with the Senior Manager of Individual Giving to plan and execute an annual Associate Board event;
  • Collaborate with the Senior Manager of Institutional and Corporate Giving and the Program Team to ideate and deliver corporate volunteer events.
• Manage progress toward financial and engagement goals, including identification and cultivation of event donors, preparation of regular fundraising reports, tracking, etc.
• Manage development and implementation of event marketing and recognition materials, including invitation, programs, etc.

Event Logistics

• Develop strategies to support a high quality and unique guest experience, including clear connections to our work and calls to action.
• Create and implement compelling event themes, as appropriate.
• Manage all aspects of event production, including contracts, venue, menus, photography, seating, etc.
• Draft all event-related correspondence, including solicitation letters, thank you letters, invitations, and program copy.
• Create and track event outreach lists, guest lists, timeline, and budget.
• Oversee work produced by vendors.
• Collaborate with the Senior Manager of Development Operations to manage event platforms and ensure accurate donor data management in Salesforce.

Culinary Partnerships

• Work with the VP, ED, and our Culinary Chair to build out the Culinary Council, including identifying engagement strategies and planning annual touchpoints with council members.
• Identify and cultivate new culinary and hospitality partnerships, including chefs, restaurants, and food and beverage companies.
• Secure funding, in-kind, and proceeds partnerships.

Other Responsibilities

• Assist the VP and Dev EA team with special projects as needed.
• Work with the Dev EA team to support strong gift management and operations, including donor engagement and revenue tracking in Salesforce.
• Support internal and external communications, including preparation of quarterly reports to the Board, monthly newsletters, and social media content.
• Participate in cross-organizational committees, meetings, and initiatives.

QUALIFICATIONS

The ideal candidate has:

• A deep commitment to ESYNYC’s mission and social impact.
• Experience with and committed allyship to students and communities of color.
• 7-9 years of relevant experience in the nonprofit sector leading and managing fundraising and volunteer events.
• Ability to build strong relationships, internally and externally.
• Superb organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple deadlines, projects, and tasks and be extremely well-organized and reliable.
• Excellent writing, communication and interpersonal skills, resulting in compelling storytelling of ESYNYC’s work and impact.
• A positive, can-do attitude and willingness to try new strategies.
• Strong computer skills, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• Experience with social media and websites preferred.
• Experience with donor databases and CRMs (Salesforce or preferred) preferred.
• Experience with giving and communications platforms (like Give Lively, Campaign Monitor) preferred.
• Knowledge of the NYC culinary and hospitality community is a plus.
• Experience with Canva and Adobe Creative Suite experience preferred.
• A creative, collegial, and collaborative work style with the ability to work individually and as part of a team with diverse groups of people.
• Ability to problem-solve and be flexible in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial work environment.
• Ability to exercise complete discretion and professionalism when engaging with high-profile or celebrity supporters.

You don’t need to meet every qualification to be considered! If you’re excited about this role and believe you could succeed in it, we encourage you to apply.

Work Environment

• This is a hybrid position with regular in-person events and meetings in New York City. Qualified candidates should be based in the NYC metropolitan area.
• Many of our events require standing and walking around venues for long periods as well as lifting/moving of boxes and equipment.
• Some evening and weekend work is required, and extended hours may be necessary leading up to events. Note: ESYNYC has a comp time policy.

Salary Range: 80,000 - $85,000 with generous benefits. This is a full-time exempt position.

Highly competitive benefits package:

• 100% health and dental insurance coverage; able to purchase vision insurance.
• 403(b) retirement plan with up to 3% employer match.
• Pre-tax Transit Program.
• Pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Plan.
• Life and ad&d insurance.
• 3 weeks paid vacation in the first year that increases annually with tenure.
• 8 sick days and 3 personal days annually.
• ESYNYC is closed between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day and closes for all federal holidays.
• Additional paid time off and early close in the summer on Fridays.

Edible Schoolyard NYC provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established by applicable law. We seek to build a diverse staff representative of the communities we serve. All qualified applicants are strongly encouraged to apply.

To apply, please submit your resume and cover letter addressed to Ariel Grace, Vice President of Development and External Affairs, through our careers page at https://www.edibleschoolyardnyc.org/careers. In your cover letter, we’d love to hear why you’re excited about joining the Edible Schoolyard NYC Development team and how your skills make you a great fit for this position.

We will review applications on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Please note that we are unable to accept phone calls regarding this position.