Business Development Manager

Mission:

Our mission is to change the way stories are told and understood. We produce events that feature live storytelling supplemented with music, photography, video and audio. We have partnered with 25+ news orgs across the country and journalists from the Washington Post, the New York Times, KQED, ProPublica, Grist and more. In addition to Pulitzer-Prize winning journalists, past storytellers include comedians, poet laureates, founders, incarcerated people and acclaimed scientists.

Back Pocket Media formed out of a radio show in San Francisco when we decided to turn our on-air program into a live event. Local Live(s) - our mission-driven journalism series - launched out of the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, a bicoastal collaboration between Columbia and Stanford University. We have since received support from Meta, Future Earth and the Knight Foundation. 

Benefits:  

If you’re looking for an exciting opportunity to do meaningful work, here’s why working with us could be a perfect fit for you.

• Your work will directly support our mission - you’ll see firsthand the impact that storytelling has in our partner communities. It’s amazingly rewarding! 
• You’ll collaborate with hard-working, smart, and hilarious people. Work culture is important to us; we celebrate achievements, get together for off-sites and in-person events. 
• You’ll have the opportunity to grow with us. We’re a new start-up with exciting momentum. Joining our team gives you the opportunity to grow within the company as we continue to expand. 
• We promise fair and competitive compensation with benefits including paid time off, a stipend for health, dental, and vision insurance + the ability to work from home.

Role:

Storytelling is key to everything we do, from the origin of our organization to the live stories we produce on stage. The ideal candidate will embody our story and help write the next chapter. 

As the Business Development Manager, you will help to identify individual, corporate and foundation prospects to fund our brand collaborations and proprietary events, starting with the Summer Storytelling Festival. You will drive all revenue activities, including prospecting, pitching and maintaining relationships with corporate sponsors as well as pursuing grants from foundations.

The ideal candidate can sell creative ideas to senior marketers at top brands, develop and manage a pipeline of new prospects, and develop sponsorable content franchises. You will also manage and write grant applications on deadline and steward individual donors. Previous event marketing and field marketing is a big plus; or, you might have experience selling sleek branded content to premium brands that engage with audiences across different media channels.

As an integral member of Back Pocket, you will have a hands-on role in:

• Creating and implementing revenue strategy across all streams. 
• Identifying and pitching new corporate sponsorship and foundation grant prospects.
• Tracking proposals and reporting deadlines for all foundation grants.
• Designing and launching an individual donor program. 
• Providing ongoing care and stewardship to corporate sponsors, foundations and individual donors.
• Pitching special projects and events to incentivize corporate sponsors. 
• Providing regular updates about the program to the Back Pocket team; effective tracking, record keeping, and reporting aligned with metrics.

Your Background:

• 3+ years of fundraising/sales experience with proven results.
• Experience leading fundraising development efforts. Management experience preferred.
• Prior experience in sales, sponsorship, fundraising, donor engagement, event or journalism development in a non-profit or a public media setting.
• Ability and interest to develop, test and evaluate new revenue strategies.
• A self-starter who thrives in an independent work environment and is able to identify the next important task.
• Actively participate in outbound calling & emailing campaigns to generate sales opportunities
• Accurately capture and qualify leads gathered from events, inbound sources, and other marketing initiatives