Senior Corporate Partnerships Manager

About DonorsChoose: DonorsChoose is an education nonprofit ensuring every US public school student has the classroom resources they need to learn, grow, and thrive. Founded by a teacher in 2000, DonorsChoose connects educators with a nationwide community of supporters who believe investing in students today will transform tomorrow. Educators request the materials they know their students need, and donors can choose the classroom, community, or cause they want to support. Since our founding, donors have supported 90% of US public schools. Every request is vetted, resources are delivered to classrooms, and donors can see the impact of their support through transparent reporting and updates from students and teachers.

About The Corporate Partnerships Team

Our team raises funds for classrooms by building and executing philanthropic partnerships with corporations and renewing and growing those partnerships over time. Read more about our partnerships.

About the Role

DonorsChoose is seeking a Senior Corporate Partnerships Manager to grow and steward a portfolio of strategic corporate partners while helping evolve how we build long-term, mission-driven partnerships. This is more than traditional account management. Our strongest partnerships create meaningful value for both our partners and the classrooms we serve. Success requires curiosity, commercial thinking, exceptional relationship management, and the ability to translate partner objectives into creative, measurable philanthropic strategies.

As a senior individual contributor, you will own a portfolio of complex corporate relationships who each contribute $250K+ annually, while helping shape partnership strategy, identifying new opportunities for growth, and contributing to how the team continues to evolve.

Responsibilities

• Build and Grow Strategic Partnerships
  • Own a portfolio of corporate partnerships, developing long-term strategies that deepen engagement and increase philanthropic investment over time.
  • Build trusted relationships across multiple levels of partner organizations, identifying new stakeholders and opportunities to expand impact.
  • Consistently identify opportunities for renewals, upsells, multi-year commitments, and expanded partnership scope.
  • Contribute meaningfully toward annual fundraising goals through a portfolio of sophisticated corporate partnerships.
• Design Thoughtful Partnership Strategies
  • Develop customized partnership strategies that align partner business objectives with DonorsChoose's mission.
  • Translate corporate priorities into high-impact partnerships through creative campaigns, employee engagement opportunities, and storytelling.
  • Use data, insights, and impact reporting to demonstrate value and strengthen long-term relationships.
  • Partner with internal teams to ensure successful implementation while balancing partner experience with organizational scalability.
• Lead Complex Cross-Functional Execution
  • Serve as the primary relationship owner across complex partnership engagements.
  • Coordinate cross-functional teams including Marketing, Revenue Operations, Product, Finance, Impact, and Communications.
  • Anticipate risks, remove obstacles, and maintain momentum across multiple concurrent initiatives.
  • Ensure exceptional execution from proposal through renewal.
• Strengthen Team Capability
  • Share successful partnership strategies and contribute to evolving team best practices.
  • Mentor newer teammates through deal strategy, proposal development, and relationship management, using a B2B consultative selling approach.
  • Identify opportunities to improve partnership operations, processes, and scalability.
  • Bring an external perspective on corporate philanthropy trends, helping the team continuously improve how we engage partners.

Qualifications

You may thrive in this role if you:

• Have 8+ years of experience, including experience in corporate partnerships, strategic account management, fundraising, business development, consultative sales, customer success, or relationship management.
• Have successfully secured and managed complex six- and seven-figure partnerships.
• Are exceptional at building trust with senior leaders and navigating complex stakeholder environments.
• Think commercially—you naturally identify opportunities to deepen relationships and create mutual value.
• View feedback as not just a tool for development, but as a catalyst for action. You embrace constructive insights and show visible improvement in your next iteration.
• Are highly strategic without losing sight of execution details.
• Are a master of prioritization, who thrives on turning ambiguity into execution. You know how to scope a project, balance urgency with thoughtful prioritization across multiple high-value relationships, and keep cross-functional teams moving in the same direction.
• Enjoy collaborating across functions and are known as someone who makes teams stronger.
• Care deeply about educational equity and believe philanthropy can be a powerful driver of systemic change.

Level Expectations

Senior Corporate Partnerships Managers independently own the organization's most sophisticated partnership portfolios and consistently deliver against ambitious fundraising goals. They shape partnership strategy, influence how the team approaches relationship management, and serve as mentors and thought partners to colleagues. While they do not directly manage people, they regularly influence cross-functional decisions, improve team practices, and help raise the overall quality of partnership work across the organization.

Pay

The hiring salary range for this role is $90,000 - $110,000.

We have a hiring salary range of $100,000 - $120,000 for specific higher cost of labor locations, which include New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Once employees are hired, everyone at DonorsChoose is eligible to receive annual performance-based raises as they grow in their role.

Benefits

• 25 paid vacation days per year and 11 paid holidays.
• Rich employer-paid individual and family health plan.
• Matching 401(k) plan (up to 5% of base salary).
• Annual professional development stipend.
• Casual and flexible work environment.

To learn more about what it is like to work for DonorsChoose, visit our careers page.

Schedule

In this role, you’ll have the option to work a flexible hybrid schedule in our NYC office, or to work fully remotely from CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, MA, MD, MI, MN, NC, NJ, NY, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA, or WI. Candidates should expect to travel approximately 8-10 times per year, based on business need. Travel based on business needs including, but not limited to, internal events such as all staff gatherings, as well as external events such as partner meetings, conferences, and other events as necessary. All work-related travel expenses will be covered by the organization.

Core Values

• Equity: Combating systemic inequity is crucial to a brighter future for all. This reality fuels our ambitions and drives us to persevere.
• Ingenuity: Complex problems require innovative solutions. We dream big, get creative, roll up our sleeves, and take action. We believe the best products can change the world.
• Humanity: People are the heart of our team and the communities we serve. Our compassion informs our goals and how we work together to achieve them.
• Integrity: We strive to do right. We’re up-front about the facts. We boldly learn and grow from mistakes.
• Learning: Education is the beating heart of our organization, inside and out. We’re curious. We listen. We know we don’t know everything.
• Gratitude: We begin and end with thanks. We take joy in our mission, our communities, and each other.