Manager, Foundation Relations presso CRADLES TO CRAYONS INC

Description

 About Cradles to Crayons:

Cradles to Crayons (C2C), founded in 2002, provides children living in homeless or low-income situations with the essential items they need to thrive—at home, at school, and at play. We supply clothing, shoes, diapers, school supplies, and more, free of charge. Our vision is that one day all children will have the essentials they need to thrive.

Two in 5 kids in the United States are currently facing Clothing Insecurity, going without basic essentials like pants, shoes, diapers, and school supplies during their critical development years. Three of the top 10 reasons kids miss school are rooted in Clothing Insecurity—just one example of the significant short- and long-term social and economic costs when these needs go unmet. Cradles to Crayons keeps Clothing Insecurity at the core of our mission and is the only large- scale nonprofit organization to focus on this resource gap. Since its founding, Cradles to Crayons has distributed more than three million customized packages of essentials to children in Massachusetts, Greater Philadelphia, Chicagoland, and nationally, through Giving Factory Direct—a first-in-kind online product donation platform launched in 2021.

Cradles to Crayons takes a three-pronged approach to mitigating Clothing Insecurity:

1. In-person Engagement—through tens of thousands of children and adults volunteering at our Giving Factory warehouses to sort and package high volumes of new and like-new donations from our communities for our Service Partners to distribute to the children they serve.
2. Online Product Donations—Giving Factory Direct matches product donors directly to children who need the items they have to donate, with service partners in 5 US cities including New York and San Francisco.   
3. Advocacy and Awareness—Cradles to Crayons is uniquely positioned to raise Clothing Insecurity as a national issue through awareness campaigns, data/evaluation, and legislative outreach.

Cradles to Crayons’ strong financial health and ongoing effectiveness and reliability have helped it earn a Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator every year since 2009. C2C has a budget of $20M for FY26 and a total staff of approximately 100. Cradles to Crayons has a thriving Family Leadership Circle program and robust corporate engagement programs that fuel its mission and provide opportunities for families, organizations and communities to engage in direct service.  

POSITION OVERVIEW:

Reporting to the Senior Director of Development, the Manager, Foundation Relations supports the identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of mission-gifts and/or grants from corporate and private foundations, with the primary focus on achieving C2C’s annual foundation fundraising goal.

This role requires strong writing, editing, and proofreading skills to create compelling proposals and reports. The Manager collaborates across teams to gather timely data, testimonials, personal stories, and benchmarks to support grant requests and other writing. Additional responsibilities include researching new grant opportunities and analyzing metrics to measure and report impact.

All Cradles to Crayons team members contribute to a culture of shared mission by participating in one volunteer shift per month.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Model and lead a positive “One Cradles” culture, underpinned by Cradles’ Cultural Values and related behaviors.
• Partner with the Senior Director of Development to develop a strategic framework and schedule to achieve Cradles to Crayons’ annual revenue goal from corporate and private foundations.
• Write, edit and review letters of inquiry, proposals, grants and reports for private and corporate foundations to support C2C core initiatives, programs and events.
• Maintain an up-to-date grant calendar to track and ensure the timely submission of all grant proposals, final reports, associated budgets, and collateral materials in the correct format and record all activities in Salesforce.
• Research new foundation opportunities for C2C Philadelphia and maintain a year-round stewardship program for key program officers of existing and prospective foundations.
• Maintain and improve data in CRM to track foundation donors and prospective donors.
• Collaborate with development and other departments to ensure timely access to necessary data for proposals and donor reports.
• Support C2C’s year-round and signature events, such as Un-Gala or Backpack-A-Thon and contribute to other departmental and organizational goals and activities as needed.
• Develop a strong understanding of C2C warehouse operations and work one shift per month in the “Giving Factory”.
• Manage and safeguard confidential development and institutional data, both internally and externally. 
• Serve as spokesperson for C2C with Corporate and Private Foundations as needed.
• Other duties as assigned

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

• In conjunction with the Senior Director of Development establish and meet the annual foundation budget goal.
• Demonstrate ability to generate new business while increasing and maintaining existing grant support.
• Demonstrate knowledge of and ability to use online submission portals for corporate and foundation grants.
• Maintain knowledge of Cradles to Crayons programs, data and impact.
• Demonstrate ability to work collaboratively and cooperatively with other C2C staff, and counterparts at other C2C sites.

Required Experience/Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Passion for Cradles to Crayons’ mission
• Bachelor’s degree; degree in Communications, English, Journalism, or Political Science preferred.
• 3+ years of professional grant writing experience; familiarity with the Greater Philadelphia philanthropic community a plus.
• Excellent writing, editing and proofreading skills.
• Knowledge and understanding of relevant social issues and basic understanding of budgets and financial statements.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite; experience with CRM systems (Salesforce or Raiser’s Edge) and research tools (Foundation Directory or GrantStation).
• Resourceful and able to work independently in fast paced environment.
• Strong organizational and project management skills; able to manage multiple projects and deadlines
• Flexibility to work some evenings or weekends as needed for events.

COMPENSATION:

The estimated starting base salary for this position is $30,000-$32,500 (this is an Exempt position, scheduled for 20 hours per week) based on geographic labor market.

Cradles to Crayons is committed to pay equity and uses geographic benchmarks to ensure fair compensation. The compensation offered to the successful candidate may vary from the posted range based on work experience, education, and/or skill level, among other things. 

This position is not benefits-eligible.  

DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH:

Diversity and Inclusiveness are core values at Cradles to Crayons, and we continuously strive to be a team where everyone feels welcome and supported. It is the policy of Cradles to Crayons to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information and/or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. Individuals from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.

Working Conditions:

This is a combined warehouse and office environment and normal changes in temperature are to be expected while working inside the warehouse or outside, on or around the loading dock. There are no hazardous or significantly unpleasant conditions.

Accommodation:

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is possible that requirements may be modified to reasonably accommodate disabled individuals. However, no accommodations will be made by Cradles to Crayons which may pose serious health or safety risks to the employee or others, or which impose undue hardships on the organization. 

Qualifications