Manager, New Donor Strategy

About Us

Climate Lead empowers philanthropic leaders everywhere to take immediate and far-reaching climate action. Climate Lead equips new climate philanthropists with the information and insights they need to drive transformative solutions by serving as an impartial guide. We cut through the complexity by curating roadmaps in partnership with a diverse network of experts to help philanthropists make a bold impact on climate from day one.

Summary

This newly created role on the Philanthropy team will serve as a key partner to relationship managers, helping deepen Climate Lead’s engagement with its network of peer volunteers - a global community of experienced climate funders who act as informal ambassadors to inspire and engage new-to-climate philanthropists.

The ideal candidate will be comfortable owning and evolving a position built from the ground up, bringing structure and clarity to a dynamic, fast-developing function.

By identifying where collective efforts can have the most impact, designing cross-functional infrastructure, and tracking outcomes across initiatives, this role will help the team maximize the reach and effectiveness of Climate Lead’s network-driven strategies to attract and support new donors.

Managerial Responsibilities

This role does not have any managerial responsibilities.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

 Peer Volunteers, Influencers, and Strategic Networks (50%)

• Partner with prospect research team members and relationship managers to optimize team-wide volunteer engagement and recruitment, clarifying which relationships warrant deeper investment.
  
  
• Identify shared challenges or opportunities across volunteer strategies and help design lightweight, scalable solutions (e.g., templates, engagement frameworks, or progress snapshots).
  
  
• Supporting the Senior Director, New Donor Strategy, in drafting materials to advance volunteer engagement strategies.
  
  
• Collaborate with team members to strengthen and leverage institutional networks, such as wealth management firms, donor collaboratives, and advisory groups, that serve as key channels for reaching and engaging new philanthropists.
  
  

Donor Engagement Through Events (40%)

• Track and support a strategic calendar of events with the Communications team and relationship managers aimed at acquiring and engaging new donors.
  
  
• Serve as a partner to relationship managers in advancing event guest strategy, ensuring pipeline goals are reflected in all stages of the event and in follow-up.
  
  
• Provide operational support for flagship donor events, particularly around integration of donor strategy and volunteer engagement throughout the event lifecycle.
  
  
• Ensure that events align with and amplify relationship-building work with peer volunteers and networks.
  
  

Outcome Tracking & Strategic Insights (10%)

• Track and synthesize all pipeline metrics against Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and help forecast progress against key benchmarks.
  
  
• Provide clear, insight-driven updates that help relationship managers and leadership understand progress, impact, and where to adjust.
  
  
• Partner with the Senior Director, New Donor Strategy to feed insights and metrics into broader team OKRs and learning loops, helping to inform strategy and resource allocation over time.
  
  
• Maintain a thoughtful approach to data hygiene and clarity, ensuring information is reliable, accessible, and actionable.

Success Criteria

• Strategic Systems Orientation: Able to step back and identify where team efforts can be elevated. Creates light-weight, scalable systems to improve how we track, engage, and reflect on peer volunteer and donor engagement.
• Metrics-Driven Decision Maker: Comfortable using qualitative and quantitative data to inform priorities, track progress, and refine strategy.
• Discernment & Prioritization: Understands that not all tasks are created equal; able to filter signals from noise and focus on what will generate the highest return.
  Builder’s Mindset: Thrives in ambiguity and brings proactive structure to a newly created role. Can shape and refine responsibilities, systems, and goals even when there is no existing blueprint.
• Excellent Communicator: Communicates clearly and persuasively with diverse stakeholders, including high-level volunteers and donors.
• Trusted Collaborator: Builds strong internal relationships, especially with relationship managers; contributes to a positive, constructive, team-oriented culture.

Required Experience

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• 4+ years of relevant professional experience in donor engagement, volunteer coordination, events, or external affairs, preferably in a philanthropic, nonprofit, or mission-driven setting.
• Experience working closely with relationship managers, development officers, prospect research, and/or principal + major gifts advisors.
• Brings clarity and structure to complex workstreams; anticipates interdependencies and ensures initiatives move forward with focus and alignment.
• Demonstrated ability to discern high-value actions from noise; knows how to help teams prioritize what will yield the highest return.
• Strong interpersonal skills with ability to engage stakeholders across levels, especially high-level volunteers and donors.
• Familiarity with CRMs (e.g., Salesforce), event platforms, or engagement tracking systems is strongly preferred.
• Passion for climate action and belief in the power of philanthropy to drive meaningful change.

Salary Range: $143,000 - $159,000

Work Environment

The Climate Lead is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. This position operates in a hybrid environment and is based in our San Francisco, CA, office. Staff in the San Francisco Bay Area currently work in the office Tuesday through Thursday each week and typically work from a home location the other days.

At the Climate Lead, we value diversity and always treat all employees and job applicants based on merit, qualifications, competence, and talent. We do not discriminate on the basis of or traits historically associated with race, color, religion, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran and/or military status), domestic violence victim status, political affiliation, and any other status protected by state or federal law.