Tight labor markets foster worker power, especially for the most marginalized workers. When employers have to compete for labor, workers can demand higher wages, better working conditions, and greater power in their workplaces. Tight labor markets lower racial disparities in unemployment rates, and increase employment options for people with disabilities. There’s a lot to like about tight labor markets, which is why Employ America (and our sister c4 organization, Employ America AF) is dedicated to promoting sustainablytighter labor markets through better fiscal and monetary policy, and through creative applications of existing authorities and powers in federal agencies. 

Though we were only founded in 2019, we’ve racked up a lot of wins, and have earned media coverage for our ideas in publications like the New York Times, Bloomberg, Vox, the Washington Post, Politico, The Hill, the Atlantic, and many others. We’ve become a premier source on macroeconomic and industrial policy by delivering creative, pragmatic, and actionable analysis and solutions to media, regulatory agencies, and legislators. 

As we enter the next phase of EA’s life, evolving from a scrappy startup to a trusted voice in macroeconomic policy, we seek a Development Manager to take ownership of the fundraising function, turning recent successes into a well-oiled fundraising machine. 

The Role:

We’re looking for an early- to mid-level nonprofit fundraising professional who is passionate about our mission, and can thrive in our unique culture. We anticipate the successful candidate having 1-5 years of nonprofit development experience. 

Our most significant needs - and the focus of this role above all else - are the interrelated areas of systems, capacity expansion, and ownership, with the exact mix depending on the strengths and preferences of the hired candidate.

• Systems: Developing, running, improving, maintaining, and documenting fundraising systems. We need tracking and follow-up systems to prompt us to follow up with potential donors, to check in with current donors, to update grantors and ensure we’re timely in pursuing renewals, to submit new grant applications, to ensure fundraising events happen on the right timelines, to send donors thank-yous and tax info, to track and reconcile donation revenue, etc etc.

• Capacity: Supporting other staff on fundraising - especially the ED - by scheduling and planning meetings and calls, preparing briefs, and tracking and managing follow-up. The systems listed above will make all our fundraising operations better, but each kind of fundraising requires different kinds of day-to-day labor: writing, design, project management, event planning, relationship building. Fundraising is a team effort at Employ America, but we need a professional to lead these efforts internally, to more efficiently leverage the limited time of our brilliant (and busy!) program staff, and add labor capacity to move fundraising projects forward faster. The goal is to make program staff involvement in fundraising as low-lift and efficient as possible.

• Ownership: More than anything, this role requires real ownership. You’ll be the main person on staff who holds foundational knowledge in nonprofit fundraising processes and best practices, and we will rely on you to take the reins. All staff at Employ America work with significant autonomy; in this role, you’ll need to be self-motivated, creating your own goals and workplans, while always building and maintaining alignment with our values and approach. We’re looking for someone willing to take risks and try new things, and willing to push back when your experience or instincts tell us we’re taking the wrong approach. 

The ideal candidate will bring knowledge and experience from working within a well-developed nonprofit fundraising function and team, and is excited to take on the challenge of building from (almost) the ground up to create a robust development function. This is a great opportunity for an early or mid-career fundraiser who is ready for a big challenge, but not yet ready to take on senior-level roles (though we hope the hired candidate will thrive with us, and grow in title, pay, and responsibility over time). 

Though we emphasize autonomy, you won’t be on your own - you’ll have support from our Program Manager Vikas Patel and our Operations Director Kim Stiens, and you’ll report directly to our ED Skanda Amarnath. You’ll be encouraged to ask lots of questions and claim time on the team’s calendars when you need it. 

What We’re Looking For: 

• Experience: We’re looking for mid-level candidates who have nonprofit fundraising and development experience; we imagine 1-5 years, but are open to more senior candidates who are interested in a mid-level role with lots of autonomy. While campaign fundraising or for-profit sales experience is relevant, the bar would be very high for a candidate who did not bring any nonprofit-specific experience. 

• Autonomy & Accountability: We expect a very high degree of autonomy and self-direction from all our staff. We absolutely intend to set this fundraiser up for success, but we expect them to be able to hit the ground running, to have proactive suggestions for ways that they want to use their time, and to generate their own ideas rather than just being delegated tasks. We will work with the hired candidate to agree on clear benchmarks for success.

• Flexibility & Creativity: While this position emphasizes building a functional and resilient fundraising operation based on best practices, we love to see creative fundraising ideas are open to a wide variety of approaches. We tend to have a startup mentality, and are happy to pivot quickly, to stop dedicating time and energy to stuff that’s not working, and to try new things that don’t have easy-to-benchmark comps in the nonprofit sector. This role will have significant freedom to pursue different fundraising projects and ideas, assuming they are successful with the core operations of the role. 

• Alignment with our Mission: You should care about what we do, and want to understand it deeply - it can be hard to fundraise on our work because we’re highly technical, and the learning curve to understand what really differentiates us from other similar organizations can be steep. It’s hard to get there if you’re not truly excited about our work, or don’t understand what makes our approach successful.

• Understanding of Employ America’s positioning: Our audience, generally speaking, is fairly niche - we focus our efforts on policymakers and the media those policymakers consume. While we’re open to broader grassroots approaches, we haven’t found success with those in the past, and we’re skeptical that EA could ever be sustainable through a majoritively grassroots or small-dollar fundraising approach. We want a fundraiser who understands what makes us special, and can help funders understand.

If you’re unfamiliar with Employ America and looking for a place to start, we recommend these pieces: 

Expanding the Capacity Frontier

A Brief History of Semiconductors

A Holistic Anti-Inflation Strategy

The Dream of the 90’s is Alive in 2024

Floor It! Fixing the Fed’s Framework With Paychecks, Not Prices

Salary & Benefits

We’re open to this role being either part-time or full-time, and plan to pay at least $65,000 annually. Over time, we intend to compensate equitably in proportion to how this role contributes to sustained fundraising success. 

Employ America offers excellent health benefits, with employee premium paid 100% and additional dependents 50%, with fully employer-funded vision and dental benefits. We have 13 company holidays, and “close” the office from Xmas Eve through New Years Day, in addition to our unlimited PTO policy. 

Our most-loved benefit is our flexibility. We’re a fully remote organization, and give staff significant autonomy in their work and lives - we’re (mostly) happy to let you work when and where is best for you. Day-to-day, our staff freely schedule doctor’s appointments, therapy, workout time, and other commitments whenever it is best for their individual lives and work schedules. 

How To Apply: 

Please submit applications to Kim Stiens, Director of Operations & Culture, using this application. While not required, we strongly encourage you to include a cover letter or other short bit of writing to describe why you’re interested in Employ America and what you think makes you a special candidate for this role. 

All applications will be reviewed and responded to. Feel free to reach out to Kim@employamerica.org with any questions, or to request an update or expedited review of your application.

We will accept applications and conduct interviews on a rolling basis. After you apply, you should receive an email confirmation that your application was received. Our process typically includes a brief phone screening, an initial interview with Ops Director Kim Stiens, and an actual, paid work project (so both parties can get a real sense of what it’s like to work together). Before an offer is made you would also interview with our Executive Director Skanda Amarnath, and we typically schedule a full-staff video call so everyone has a chance to meet each other. Our process can take a long time, and we understand that talented candidates have many options, so we encourage candidates to let us know if there’s a deadline looming (like another offer on the table). 

It is our intent to contact every candidate whether they are advanced or rejected; if you do not hear from us, please feel free to reach out for an update. 

Employ America is a fully remote organization, and welcomes applicants from anywhere in the United States. At this time, we’re unable to hire outside of the United States, or sponsor visas.