Development Operations Manager

Job Description

Job Description

GENERAL FUNCTION :

C-SPAN is building a comprehensive philanthropic program to expand and diversify support for its public-service mission. The Development Operations Manager will establish and manage the systems, processes, data, and administrative infrastructure required to support this work.

This is a hands-on role on an entrepreneurial team. The Development Operations Manager will own the day-to-day operation of C-SPAN's fundraising databases and workflows, including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Donorbox. The position will ensure that donor and prospect information is accurate, communications and follow-up are completed on time, grant deadlines are tracked, gifts are processed and acknowledged, and fundraising activity is properly documented.

Although this position will have primary responsibility for development operations, all members of the team will share responsibility for building the program, supporting donor engagement. The successful candidate will be comfortable creating structure, managing both detailed administrative work and larger projects, and identifying practical ways to improve operations.

RESPONSIBILITIES :

Development Systems and Data Management

• Serves as the primary administrator and internal expert for the Development team's use of Salesforce, HubSpot, Donorbox and other fundraising platforms.
• Establishes consistent standards for entering, maintaining and using donor and prospect information.
• Cleans, organizes and strengthens existing donor records, including resolving duplicates, standardizing fields and addressing missing or incomplete data.
• Ensures that gifts, donor communications, meetings, proposals, reports, commitments and follow-up activities are accurately recorded in Salesforce.
• Creates and maintains procedures for prospect assignments, moves management, contact reports, opportunity tracking and portfolio review.
• Builds dashboards, reports and lists that help the team monitor fundraising performance, prospect activity, campaign progress and outstanding actions.
• Manages data imports, exports, integrations, segmentation and quality-control reviews across fundraising systems.
• Partners with internal technology, finance, digital and communications teams and outside vendors to troubleshoot system issues and improve integrations.
• Maintains appropriate data security, donor confidentiality, record-retention and user-access practices.

Donor Communications and Follow-Up

• Manages the execution and distribution of approved donor communications, including solicitations, acknowledgments, stewardship messages, campaign updates, event communications and grant-related correspondence.
• Coordinates email lists, mail merges, digital communications and other distributions through HubSpot, Salesforce, Donorbox or outside vendors.
• Monitors fundraising inboxes, donation platforms and other donor-response channels.
• Ensures donor questions, requests and concerns are acknowledged promptly and routed to the appropriate team member.
• Tracks outstanding responses and follow-up commitments to ensure they are completed on time.
• Maintains templates and workflows for acknowledgments, tax receipts, pledge reminders, tribute notifications, recurring-gift communications and other routine correspondence.
• Supports personalized correspondence from the CEO, Chief Development Officer and other senior leaders by preparing lists, background information, attachments and distribution plans.
• Tracks returned mail, email deliverability, opt-outs, communication preferences and address changes.

Gift Processing and Financial Coordination

• Oversees the accurate and timely processing and recording of gifts, pledges, recurring contributions, grants, donor-advised fund distributions, stock gifts, matching gifts, tribute gifts and other contributions.
• Ensures donors receive timely acknowledgments and tax receipts that comply with applicable requirements and C-SPAN policies.
• Coordinates regularly with Finance to reconcile fundraising records with financial records and resolve discrepancies.
• Tracks gift restrictions, pledge schedules, payment status, soft credits, campaign designations and donor recognition preferences.
• Maintains documentation related to gift agreements, grant awards, pledge commitments and donor restrictions.
• Supports implementation of C-SPAN's gift-acceptance policy and flag gifts or donor circumstances requiring additional review.
• Helps establish written procedures for gift processing, reconciliation, acknowledgment, documentation and reporting.

Grant and Institutional Funding Administration

• Creates and maintains a centralized grants calendar that tracks proposal deadlines, award periods, reporting requirements, payment schedules, renewal dates and internal responsibilities.
• Alerts Development and relevant C-SPAN colleagues well in advance of upcoming proposal and reporting deadlines.
• Maintains organized records of proposals, budgets, award letters, grant agreements, reports, correspondence and supporting materials.
• Coordinates the internal collection of programmatic, financial, audience and impact information needed for proposals and reports.
• Tracks grant restrictions, deliverables, reporting commitments and changes to funded projects.
• Supports the Chief Development Officer, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Chief of Staff, Finance and program leaders in managing institutional funders and meeting reporting obligations.
• Ensures institutional donor contacts, submissions, decisions and follow-up activities are documented in Salesforce.
• Helps maintain a reusable library of approved organizational information, attachments, budgets, metrics and proposal materials.

Prospect Management and Fundraising Support

• Supports the development and administration of a formal prospect-management system.
• Prepares prospect lists, briefing materials, portfolio reports, meeting agendas, call sheets and follow-up trackers.
• Monitors open actions and remind staff and organizational leaders of upcoming donor meetings, calls, deadlines and commitments.
• Supports weekly fundraising meetings with the CEO and other senior leaders by preparing action lists, recording decisions and tracking next steps.
• Coordinates with executive and administrative staff to help schedule donor meetings and identify events where senior leaders may engage with donors or prospects.
• Conducts initial donor and prospect research and coordinates more in-depth research as needed.
• Helps identify opportunities to upgrade, reactivate, retain and more effectively steward existing donors.
• Ensures that information from donor meetings, emails, calls and events is captured in Salesforce and translated into clear next steps.

Team and Organizational Collaboration

• Works closely with the Chief Development Officer on department priorities and takes ownership of projects from planning through completion.
• Shares responsibility with other team members for donor stewardship, research, event support, campaign execution and other needs of a growing program.
• Builds effective working relationships with Finance, Legal, Editorial, Communications, Digital, Product, Technology and executive leadership.
• Helps colleagues understand their role in fundraising and makes it easy for them to provide information, record donor activity and complete assigned follow-up.
• Protects C-SPAN's editorial independence, nonpartisanship, donor confidentiality and public trust in every aspect of the work.
• Performs other responsibilities consistent with the needs of a small and developing fundraising team.

BACKGROUND/SKILLS :

• At least five years of experience in development operations, fundraising administration, database management, advancement services or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience managing a nonprofit CRM; direct Salesforce experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience with online fundraising, email-marketing or donor-engagement platforms such as HubSpot and Donorbox is preferred.
• Knowledge of gift processing, donor acknowledgment, pledges, restricted gifts, grants administration and fundraising reporting.
• Experience creating or improving workflows, documentation and data standards.
• Strong project-management skills and the ability to manage multiple deadlines, details and stakeholders.
• Advanced proficiency with spreadsheets and experience producing actionable reports and dashboards.
• Strong written communication and proofreading skills, with close attention to accuracy, tone and detail.
• Sound judgment when handling confidential donor, financial and organizational information.
• Ability to work independently, identify problems, recommend solutions and follow projects through to completion.
• Comfort working in a startup environment where priorities may evolve and team members share responsibilities.
• Commitment to C-SPAN's mission, editorial independence, nonpartisanship, and role as a public-service institution.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS :

• Experience helping build or significantly strengthen a fundraising operation.
• Experience supporting a comprehensive, capital, anniversary or major-gifts campaign.
• Familiarity with prospect management and moves-management practices.
• Experience supporting foundation, corporate, individual donations and grant administration.
• Knowledge of fundraising compliance, donor privacy, data governance and charitable-giving practices.
• Experience working with senior executives, boards, campaign volunteers or major donors.