Foundation Partnerships Manager

About DonorsChoose

DonorsChoose is an education nonprofit ensuring every US public school student has the classroom resources they need to learn, grow, and thrive.

Founded by a teacher in 2000, DonorsChoose connects educators with a nationwide community of supporters who believe investing in students today will transform tomorrow. Educators request the materials they know their students need, and donors can choose the classroom, community, or cause they want to support. Since our founding, donors have supported 90% of US public schools. Every request is vetted, resources are delivered to classrooms, and donors can see the impact of their support through transparent reporting and updates from students and teachers. Raising $1.9 billion for classrooms, DonorsChoose has earned top ratings from Charity Navigator, GuideStar, and CharityWatch for its transparency, trust, and impact. Our dedicated team works from across the United States to turn resources into opportunities for students and teachers.

About the Foundations Partnerships Team

Our team raises funds for classrooms by building and executing philanthropic partnerships with foundations and renewing and growing those partnerships over time. Read more about our partnerships.

About the Role

DonorsChoose is seeking a Senior Foundation Partnerships Manager to manage and grow strategic partnerships with private foundations and donors that advance educational equity and expand support for teachers and students nationwide.

Success in this role requires more than excellent grant writing. Our strongest partnerships are built through thoughtful relationship development, deep understanding of philanthropic priorities, and the ability to connect foundation strategies and individuals’ giving priorities with meaningful opportunities to create impact. This role combines strategic fundraising, business development, and consultative partnership management to build long-term relationships that generate transformational support for classrooms.

As a senior individual contributor, you will own a portfolio of sophisticated foundation and donor relationships while helping strengthen DonorsChoose’s approach to institutional and individual philanthropy, identifies new opportunities, and grows long-term investments. This role will focus primarily on a portfolio of sophisticated foundation and major donor relationships, each contributing $250K+ annually.

Primary Responsibilities

Build and Grow Strategic Foundation Partnerships

• Own a portfolio of institutional and individual philanthropic relationships, developing long-term strategies that deepen engagement and increase investment over time.
• Build trusted relationships with program officers, foundation executives, trustees, individual donors, and other key decision makers.
• Consistently identify opportunities for renewals, increased investments, multi-year commitments, and expanded partnership scope.
• Contribute meaningfully toward annual fundraising goals by managing renewals and increased investments from a portfolio of sophisticated foundation and individual partners.

Develop Strategic Funding Opportunities

• Design compelling funding strategies that align funders’ philanthropic priorities with DonorsChoose's mission, programs, and long-term organizational goals while creating opportunities for deeper, longer-term partnerships.
• Develop persuasive grant proposals, concept papers, reports, and presentations tailored to foundations’ and individuals’ interests.
• Translate DonorsChoose's data, classroom insights, and impact into compelling cases for investment that connect to sector trends and philanthropic priorities.
• Stay current on philanthropic trends, emerging funding priorities, and evolving giving strategies to strengthen DonorsChoose's fundraising approach

Lead Complex Cross-Functional Execution

• Serve as the primary relationship owner across complex foundation and individual partnerships from cultivation through stewardship and renewal.
• Partner closely with Marketing, Impact & Insights, Revenue Operations, Finance, and other internal teams to develop proposals, execute grant-funded initiatives, and deliver exceptional funder experiences.
• Anticipate challenges, coordinate stakeholders, and maintain momentum across multiple concurrent grant cycles and partnership commitments.
• Ensure outstanding execution across every stage of the partnership lifecycle.

Strengthen Team Capability

• Share successful fundraising strategies and contribute to evolving fundraising best practices.
• Mentor teammates on strategy, proposal development, and relationship cultivation.
• Identify opportunities to improve fundraising operations, proposal development processes, and portfolio management practices.
• Bring an external perspective on philanthropy trends, helping the team continuously strengthen DonorsChoose's approach to institutional fundraising

Qualifications

You may thrive in this role if you:

• Have 8+ years of experience in foundation fundraising, institutional giving, philanthropy, business development, strategic partnerships, or consultative relationship management.
• Have successfully secured and managed complex six- and seven-figure partnerships.
• Are exceptional at building trusted relationships with foundation leaders and individuals and navigating sophisticated philanthropic organizations.
• Think strategically—you naturally connect organizational priorities with funder interests and identify opportunities for long-term partnership growth.
• Are an outstanding writer and communicator, able to translate complex ideas into compelling, fundable proposals.
• Balance long cultivation cycles with disciplined execution and thoughtful relationship management.
• Are a master of prioritization, who thrives on turning ambiguity into execution. You know how to scope a project, balance urgency with thoughtful prioritization across multiple high-value relationships, and keep cross-functional teams moving in the same direction.
• Enjoy collaborating across functions and are known as someone who makes teams stronger.
• Care deeply about educational equity and believe philanthropy can be a powerful driver of systemic change.

Level Expectations

Senior Corporate Partnerships Managers independently own the organization's most sophisticated partnership portfolios and consistently deliver against ambitious fundraising goals. They shape partnership strategy, influence how the team approaches relationship management, and serve as mentors and thought partners to colleagues. While they do not directly manage people, they regularly influence cross-functional decisions, improve team practices, and help raise the overall quality of partnership work across the organization.

Travel Expectations 

Candidates should expect to travel approximately 8-10 times per year, based on business need. Travel based on business needs includes, but is not limited to, internal events such as all staff gatherings, as well as external events such as partner meetings, conferences, and other events as necessary. All work-related travel expenses will be covered by the organization.

Compensation & Benefits

Our compensation philosophy ensures that we are both externally competitive with tech-forward nonprofits of a similar size and internally fair in our pay practices. The following ranges represent the target offer range given the scope and experience expectations for this role.

• The hiring salary range for this role is $90,000 - $110,000
• We have a hiring salary range of $100,000- $120,000 for specific higher cost of labor locations, which include New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

Once employees are hired, everyone at DonorsChoose is eligible to receive annual performance-based raises as they grow in their role. We are open to a variety of experiences, and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced or more senior than this job description as posted. If you don’t check every box listed here, or you know you’d bring additional experience to the table, we hope you’ll submit your application. 

In addition, we offer full-time staff 25 paid vacation days per year and 11 paid holidays, a rich employer-paid individual and family health plan, a matching 401(k) plan (up to 5% of base salary), annual professional development stipend, and casual and flexible work environment. To learn more about what it is like to work for DonorsChoose, visit our careers page.

Hybrid Workplace and Other Details

In this role, you’ll have the option to work a flexible hybrid schedule in our NYC office, or to work fully remotely from CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, MA, MD, MI, MN, NC, NJ, NY, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA, or WI.

Candidates should expect to travel approximately 8-10 times per year, based on business need. Travel based on business needs including, but is not limited to, internal events such as all staff gatherings, as well as external events such as partner meetings, conferences, and other events as necessary. All work-related travel expenses will be covered by the organization.

DonorsChoose participates in E-Verify. We will provide the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with information from each new employee’s Form I-9 to confirm work authorization. 

An important note on communications: All messages from our hiring team will come from an official @donorschoose.org email address. If you ever receive a message about a role with us from a different domain, it’s not from us, and you should not reply or click on any links. We care deeply about your time, your privacy, and your experience—thank you for your interest in joining the DonorsChoose mission!

DonorsChoose Core Values

EQUITY
Combating systemic inequity is crucial to a brighter future for all. This reality fuels our ambitions and drives us to persevere.

INGENUITY
Complex problems require innovative solutions. We dream big, get creative, roll up our sleeves, and take action. We believe the best products can change the world.

HUMANITY 
People are the heart of our team and the communities we serve. Our compassion informs our goals and how we work together to achieve them. 

INTEGRITY
We strive to do right. We’re up-front about the facts. We boldly learn and grow from mistakes.

LEARNING
Education is the beating heart of our organization, inside and out. We’re curious. We listen. We know we don’t know everything. 

GRATITUDE
We begin and end with thanks. We take joy in our mission, our communities, and each other.

To Apply

Please submit your resume and answer the application questions online. Since we’re trying to get to know you through our hiring process, we ask that you please refrain from using AI writing tools to craft your response to our application questions. A cover letter is optional and may be addressed to Ben Underwood, Managing Director, Foundation Partnerships.

A Final Note

The DonorsChoose team works toward a nation where students in every community have the resources needed for an excellent education. To do this we hire and support a diverse team of the best and the brightest talent available because it makes us more effective, high-performing, creative and resilient. If you are passionate about our mission, highly skilled in your field, and looking for a place where you can bring all of yourself to work, we want you.