About Restore Oakland

Restore Oakland is a community-rooted organization in Oaklands Fruitvale district working at the intersection of restorative justice, economic empowerment, and community healing. Through cooperative economic models, restorative justice practices, and community-driven initiatives, Restore Oakland builds pathways toward safety, belonging, and shared prosperity.

Our work is grounded in values of courage, reciprocity, transparency, and collective liberation. We center the leadership, resilience, and vision of communities most impacted by harm and systemic inequities.

Development Manager Position Summary

The Development Manager is a new and critical role at Restore Oakland that will ensure that the organization has the financial resources to advance systems-level change in the East Bay. This position leads day-to-day fundraising strategy and execution with a strong emphasis on grants management, donor stewardship, and creating fundraising systems, while partnering closely with the Executive Director & Senior Communications Lead to ensure alignment in storytelling and external engagement.

This is a development-heavy role for someone who is both strategic and hands-oncomfortable managing funder relationships, writing proposals, tracking pipelines, and supporting leadership in cultivating major donors. The Development Manager helps translate Restore Oaklands impact into compelling opportunities for investment while honoring the organizations community-centered voice and values.

Development Manager Primary Roles & Responsibilities

Development Strategy and Implementation (45%)

1. Oversee the development and implementation of ROs fundraising strategy aligned with Restore Oaklands mission, values, and growth goals, in close partnership with the Executive Director;
2. Set clear revenue targets and build systems to meet them across individual donors and institutional funders;
3. Work with the Executive Director to build and maintain relationships with local, regional, and national foundations;
4. Oversee grant agreements, compliance, and reconciliation of foundation income, ensuring accountability and transparency;
5. Develop multi-year funding plans and projections to meet organizational growth goals;
6. Collaborate with ROs Leadership Team to integrate programmatic insights into fundraising strategy and donor engagement;
7. Collaborate with ROs Fundraising Consultant to produce high-quality grant proposals, letters of intent, and reports, leveraging data, storytelling, and impact metrics;
8. Personally engage with foundation partners as a senior representative of RO, shaping multi-year grants aligned with our power-building, healing, and restorative economics work;

Narrative Strategy & Communications Support (25%)

1. Partner closely with the Senior Communications Lead and Executive Director to develop ROs Narrative strategy aligning development messaging with organizational storytelling
2. Create development-related materials such as:
   1. Annual Impact Report
   2. Case for support language
   3. Funder-facing impact summaries
   4. Campaign messaging
3. Help translate ROs complex healing justice and restorative economics organizing work into clear, resonant stories for donors, foundations, partners, and the broader public
4. Ensure fundraising and public-facing communications reflect Restore Oaklands voice, values, and community impact
5. Research and propose opportunities for RO staff to speak at conferences, panels, and podcasts to amplify ROs innovative work and impact
6. Share grassroots fundraising opportunities and impact highlights to inform communications content on our social media channels (LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)

Prospect Research and Outreach (15%)

1. Conduct data-driven prospect research using CRM analytics, funding databases, and other tools to identify and qualify new funders.
2. Prepare reports on foundation funding, including both past and prospective funding.
3. Develop and implement cultivation and solicitation strategies that facilitate increased funder engagement and institutional revenue, in collaboration with the Executive Director.
4. Represent RO at community and philanthropic events, building networks and fostering collaborative funding opportunities.

Development Operations (10%)

1. Establish a Fundraising system that optimizes our existing development operations and workflows by consolidating and organizing ROs existing development tools and tracking sheets
2. Serve as the development lead for ROs CRM database (Solidarity Tech & Instrumentl), managing data integrity, workflows, and reporting systems.
3. Design and implement dashboards and evaluation tools to track progress toward revenue goals and inform strategy.

Supervision and Co-working Collaboration (5%)

1. Directly supervise ROs Fundraising Consultant (contractor), supporting professional growth and leadership development.
2. Be a co-leader in ROs Communications & Development team alongside the Senior Communications Lead.
3. Support the Senior Communications Lead and the Administrative team in implementing gift acknowledgement procedures, as well as collaborating on foundation stewardship as needed.
4. Create opportunities for continued training and political education within the team

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS

• Proven commitment to racial, economic, and gender justice, with demonstrated ability to integrate these values into fundraising strategy.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills and adept at building a positive team culture.
• 4 or more years of experience in fundraising, with demonstrable experience implementing strategic institutional giving programs.
• Proven track record in successfully raising $75,000 or above.
• Strong understanding and analysis of the criminal justice and economic justice foundation landscape locally, statewide, and nationally. Backgrounds in other foundation landscapes are also welcome, with a strong analysis of how these intersect with the criminal justice reform movement and how to diversify funding pipelines.
• Proficiency in budget and revenue tracking towards revenue goals.
• History of using CRM/database tools to support funder engagement successfully.
• Experience in collaborative fundraising, funder convenings, and cross-sector partnerships.