Strategic Partnerships Manager

Location: NYC (hybrid, 3 days/week in office, 2 days remote)

Salary: $145,000-$165,000

ABOUT US

The Freedom Together Foundation’s mission is to support people who have been denied power to build it, so they can change unjust systems and create a more democratic, inclusive, and sustainable society. We are dedicated to long-lasting, systemic change. Over the last 10 years, Freedom Together has grown to be one of the largest US foundations, awarding over $300 million in grants each year.

THE POSITION

The Strategic Partnerships Manager (SPM) provides high-level strategic, relational, and operational support to the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships (VP, SP) at Freedom Together. Joining the team at an exciting time of strategic development and team growth, the SPM will work closely with the VP, SP. 

The Strategic Partnerships Manager will directly support the VP in meeting his strategic priorities, including breaking down goals into actionable milestones, helping him prepare for and accompany him to meetings, providing impeccable follow-through, and managing his correspondence. This person will also foster external relationships, assisting with relationship management, including tracking engagement efforts with important partners, and designing and implementing strategies to support those relationships.

The ideal candidate brings exceptional organizational skills, deep understanding of how best to use an executive’s time, and a wide range of strengths including superb written skills and verbal communications. They will be able to work quickly, have high emotional intelligence and organize and juggle a large volume of details. 

They will understand the worlds of social justice movements, NGOs, and philanthropy. The SPM will be adaptable and fast learner across a wide range of material, have excellent judgement about people and delicate situations, and be an exceptional diplomat. They will bring at least 5 years of experience working in progressive movements and foundations and a deep commitment to social justice and power building.

There is a moderate travel requirement for this position; the SPM will accompany the VP to events that may occur in the evenings or on the weekends or may require overnight stays out of town.

This role is designed for a detail-oriented, values-driven professional who thrives at the intersection of relationship management, logistics, and thought partnership. The SPM will manage complex calendars and travel while contributing to the internal rhythm and external strategy of the VP’s portfolio, ensuring precision, follow-through, and momentum.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Executive Support

• Prepare briefing materials, talking points, and meeting packets for engagements with funders, movement partners, and internal stakeholders.
• Draft, proofread, and send written communications on behalf of the VP-SP, including memos, emails, reports, and presentations.
• Attend meetings to track action items, take clear notes, and ensure timely follow-up and accountability.

Relationship and Project Coordination

• Coordinate donor “touchpoint” strategies across the year, ensuring that the VP’s relationships are deepened and well stewarded.
• Support the execution of key projects, donor events, and communications efforts that showcase the Strategic Partnerships portfolio.

Strategic Operations & Planning 

• Help manage competing priorities and deadlines across the VP’s portfolio, keeping things moving with foresight and flexibility.
• Create and maintain organizational systems and dashboards to track internal priorities, funder engagement, and external timelines.
• Support the development of materials that communicate the vision and strategy of the Strategic Partnerships team.
• Coordinate with other senior leaders, communications, development, and operations staff to ensure alignment on cross-functional initiatives.

Provide strategic calendar management, planning, and travel 

• Manage the VP’s schedule by taking in requests for meetings, compiling the requests for the VP’s review and decision-making, and following up reliably and promptly with meticulous care and detail. 
• Anticipate and forecast potential scheduling needs, including calendaring time to ensure the VP’s schedule reflects the short-, medium- and long-term priorities of the organization.
• Coordinate and book VP’s travel, including confirming travel itineraries within Concur (Freedom Together’s expense system) and creating and documenting travel plans and confirming day-of travel details.
• Coordinate daily with external vendors to ensure seamless travel.
• Correspond and coordinate with the VP so both parties are well-informed of commitments and changes to the VP’s schedule and manage revisions or cancellations and rescheduling as needed, including providing daily and weekly digests to communicate commitments and itineraries.
• Collaborate with the VP to review and improve scheduling and coordination processes, adapting practices as needed to meet the needs of the VP, Freedom Together team, and external audiences.
• Correspond with people requesting meetings in ways that communicate respect, care, and discretion to ensure VP’s time is strategically aligned with the organization’s priorities.
• Communicate last minute cancellations or changes to others, as needed.
• Coordinate with other members of the team to respectfully hand-off meeting requests where appropriate.

Build relationships and ensure thoughtful, effective communication

• Build relationships with team members and external constituencies who are in regular contact with the VP to support effective coordination and access.
• Maintain open communication with the team, providing a bridge to foresee, identify, or address any issues that should be raised for consideration by the VP.
• Communicate thoughtfully and respectfully to internal and external audiences, holding care and confidentiality, exercising judgement, and maintaining credibility and trust.
• Communication management: will manage the VP’s communications and correspondence. They will draft communications on behalf of the VP, lift up urgent matters or VIP communications, and seamlessly route messages to team members.  

 Support effective meeting logistics 

• Ensure smooth logistical coordination for meetings by reserving and setting up virtual or physical meeting space; coordinating and booking travel; sending invitations, agendas and materials to appropriate people.
• Receive and direct visitors for meetings involving the VP.
• Coordinate with the Office Management team about rooms, food, and early or late set up.
• Order food for meetings as needed, coordinating delivery with the building, vendor, and Office Management team.

QUALIFICATIONS, COMPETENCIES, AND BEHAVIORS

While no one candidate will embody all the qualifications below, the ideal candidate will have many of the following professional and personal abilities, attributes, and experiences:

• Minimum of five (5) years of relevant experience working with donors, providing administrative support, and event logistics.
• Experience supporting a high-level principal or having held a senior-level role.
• Implementer and excellent project manager who gets results. Skilled at completing projects and tasks. Strong track record of driving administrative priorities.
• Exceptional attention to detail. 
• Excellent written communication skills with the ability to summarize and present information to various audiences, including foundation leadership, grantees and partners.
• Proficient with Google Suite and administrative systems, including budget monitoring, data tracking, and file management.
• Helpful and willing to pitch in on anything. 
• Enjoys working in both a collaborative environment and independently.
• Positive and professional demeanor and ‘can-do’ solution-oriented mindset.
• Resourceful and finds a solution in any situation.
• Sound judgment and integrity.
• Curious and learning-oriented.
• The proven ability to manage multiple priorities and adapt in a changing environment.
• Passion for and commitment to Freedom Together’s mission and values.

SALARY & BENEFITS

This is a full-time, exempt position and the annualized salary is $145,000-$165,000. Freedom Together offers an extensive and generous benefits package including health insurance (with 100% of the premiums paid for employees, spouses, domestic partners, and qualified family members), paid time off (including last week of the year), 401(k) retirement plan with 12% employer contribution, and access to an inclusive family building reimbursement plan. Freedom Together provides up to $5,000 annually for professional development and the ability to recommend an annual grant to the nonprofit of your choice.

WORKING WITH FREEDOM TOGETHER

We believe that diversity is critical to our mission, and we value an inclusive culture. We strongly encourage applications from people with lived experiences related to our programs and applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals. The Freedom Together Foundation is an equal opportunity employer; we do not discriminate in employment based on race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, gender or gender identity, age or sexual orientation.

The Freedom Together Foundation is based in Manhattan, NY. Freedom Together staff operates on a hybrid schedule and currently works from the NYC office three days weekly, with the flexibility to work remotely two days weekly. We will not consider remote candidates. You must be living in the NYC tristate area on your first day of work. 

TO APPLY

The priority deadline to apply for this position is July 2, though applications will be considered until the position is filled.

To apply, please submit a resume and answer the questions. Reach out to Jaclyn Jones at [email protected] with any questions.