Development Manager

The Development Manager leads Portland Playhouse's fundraising: building and executing the annual plan, running two annual campaigns, donor events, and cultivating and soliciting individual donors, including major gifts. The position carries a $600,000 individual giving goal and supervises two part-time staff.

Institutional funding is handled separately. Cone PDX manages all grant applications and reports and works directly with the Artistic Director. The Development Manager stays informed and coordinates where individual and institutional relationships overlap, but grant writing is not part of this role.

About Us

Portland Playhouse is a professional theatre company in Portland's King Neighborhood with an annual budget of $2.2 million. Founded in 2008 in a converted church, we've grown from a company of friends into one of the city's significant cultural institutions — with a mainstage season, education programming, and deep neighborhood roots. We're hiring a Development Manager to lead the fundraising that sustains it, working directly with the co-founder and a small staff of dedicated professionals.

Job Responsibilities

• Fundraising:
• Development of Portland Playhouse’s annual fundraising plan to raise $600,000 and work with the Staff and Board on its implementation
• Direct and manage the work of Development Associate (to be hired for 20 hours/week), Development/Box Office Associate (current, 10 hours/week Devo support)
• Participate and collaborate with [Cone PDX](https://www.conepdx.com/) who is responsible for all grant applications and reports. Cone reports to the Artistic Director.
• Envision & execute donor events for Opening Nights
• Cultivate, recruit and support a portfolio of individual donors
• Create & execute 2 annual campaigns: end of year and Give!Guide in Nov/Dec and a Spring or end of fiscal year campaign in May/June
• Solicit and manage partnerships with local businesses and corporate sponsorships
• Communications:
• Collaborate with the Marketing and Communications Directors on the development of Portland Playhouse’s donor Communications Plan, including donor and volunteer recruitment
• Assist with public relations activities as needed
• Provide sponsor and donor recognition information for all communication channels, including maintaining accurate funder lists for each production and ensuring that these are regularly updated and shared with the Marketing and Communications Department
• Review marketing and communication collateral as needed (email, postcard, ads, playbill, etc.) to ensure integration with fundraising goals
• Program Evaluation:
• Collaborate on program evaluation process to measure the effectiveness of our education, community, and stage productions - including patron demographic surveys, patron email surveys, pre- and post-evaluation surveys
• Reporting back to funders as needed and requested
• Donor Cultivation and Appreciation:
• Work with the Artistic Director, Staff and Board to create an outreach campaign to improve donor relations and major giving opportunities. Analyze donor interests to help develop better donor stewardship
• Serve as project manager for the creation and distribution of the Annual Report
• Meet with donors to further cultivate relationships and identify interests - point of engagement

Qualifications/Characteristics/Key Competencies

• At least three years of fundraising experience, including direct solicitation of individual donors
• Demonstrated ability to cultivate and close major gifts
• Experience planning and executing fundraising campaigns or donor events
• Experience supervising staff, volunteers, or contractors
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Comfort working in a CRM and using donor data to guide strategy (Portland Playhouse uses Salesforce/Patron Manager; direct experience a plus)
• A strong commitment to equity and inclusion, and the ability to build relationships across diverse communities
• Ability to be self-directed and manage competing deadlines in a small organization where staff wear many hats
• Experience in arts, culture, or another performance-based organization a plus
• Familiarity with the Portland philanthropic community a plus