Founded in 1999, iMentor builds mentoring relationships that empower students from low-income communities to graduate high school, succeed in college, and achieve their ambitions. iMentor partners with public schools and matches every student in participating grades with a college-educated mentor. Mentors commit a minimum of 3 years to a single student, after which they have the option to extend the relationship through college completion. Mentors and students work together through the iMentor curriculum, which is designed around 4 core outcomes: developing strong personal relationships between mentors and students, nurturing each student’s college aspiration, developing the non-cognitive skills critical to success in college, and successfully navigating the college exploration, application, financial aid, and transition process. By providing a level of personalization that can’t be matched by traditional counseling models, iMentor seeks to reimagine how schools prepare first generation college students for postsecondary success.

Since iMentor’s founding in 1999 in NYC, the organization has matched more than 15,000 students with mentors. iMentor is currently serving 3,500 students in NYC and recently launched programs in Chicago and the Bay Area. iMentor will expand to a fourth region by 2018. iMentor also partners with 14 Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies across the country who run the iMentor model in their local communities, serving a total of 2,800 additional students. 

iMentor has been recognized through funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and the Robin Hood Foundation, and is a subgrantee of the federal Social Innovation Fund. As a team, we are collaborative, bring passion and joy to our work, and deeply believe in human potential.  iMentor was recently named one of the Best Nonprofits to Work For by Opportunity Knocks and The Nonprofit Times.  Read more about our work and values at: http://www.imentor.org. 

Position Overview

iMentor is seeking a Development Manager (Grant Writer) to be iMentor’s resident writer, with a primary focus on drafting and submitting proposals, reports and other materials to meet annual fundraising goals. The Development Manager will play a key role in the execution of iMentor’s institutional fundraising strategies, with a focus on foundation and government revenue sources for iMentor’s national work, securing new funding partnerships, and growing existing funder relationships. The ideal candidate will be an exceptional researcher, writer and storyteller who can translate iMentor’s work into compelling talking points and collateral. They will possess a passion for relationship-building, a keen eye for detail and project management, and proven effective persistence. Reporting to the Director of Institutional Giving, the Development Manager will also play a critical role in maintaining cross-departmental collaboration efforts in order to procure information and data for grant proposals and reports.

iMentor is a fast-growing, entrepreneurial, and national organization offices in NYC, Chicago and the Bay Area, with a growing portfolio of non-profit partners around the United States. The Development Manager will have the exciting opportunity to help further iMentor’s work and impact on a national scale and build partnerships with some of the country’s top-tier foundations.

Responsibilities

• Research foundation prospects to strengthen iMentor’s foundation revenue pipeline and support the development of cultivation strategies for both new and current funders
• Work with Development Team to expand pipeline for government sources of support
• Write exceptional grant proposals and reports, letters of inquiry, internal briefing documents and memos, and other donor materials, that effectively and succinctly capture iMentor’s work and impact
• Build relationships with key departments across iMentor to aggregate data and information that will help inform and tailor grant requests to strongly align with the grant-making priorities of each foundation
• Manage internal grants calendar and schedule to ensure proposals and reports are submitted on time, and work across iMentor departments to ensure grant requirements are met in a timely and coordinated fashion
• Update and maintain iMentor’s Salesforce database of foundation funders and prospects, and ensure accuracy of recording funder histories, activities and profiles
• Support organization-wide and Development Team initiatives and events (includes some weeknight evenings) 

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ experience in relevant field with demonstrated success in grant and proposal writing, development, or journalism/public relations
• Excellent written, verbal and non-verbal communication skills with the ability to articulate clear, persuasive, and concise thoughts
• Strong contributor within team environments and a driver of organizational culture; leverages input of stakeholders in order to move work forward
• Understanding of fundraising landscape and how to articulate iMentor’s role in the nonprofit sector
• Proven track record of successful internal and external relationship management with ability to propel connections toward mutually beneficial outcomes
• Displays exceptional project management skills while balancing multiple, complex projects in a highly deadline-driven environment
• Flexible and adaptive to effectively manage changing priorities and new opportunities
• Takes a solutions-based, collaborative approach to drive change in work and navigate challenges
• Quick learner who demonstrates an eagerness to continually strengthen their understanding of iMentor’s work and seeks to hone written communication skills
• Aligned in thought and action with iMentor's values (http://www.imentor.org/values)
• Views differences between individuals (race, gender, age, cultural heritage, physical ability, education and lifestyle) as an asset and demonstrates an appreciation of the diversity within iMentor
• Bachelor’s degree required
• Employment is contingent upon the completion of a satisfactory fingerprinting and criminal background check, conducted by the Division of Human Resources at the New York City Department of Education