Development Manager - Local News Nonprofit

Development Manager – Local News Nonprofit

Corporation for New Jersey Local Media / New Jersey Hills Media Group

Location: Whippany, NJ (On-site)

Type: Full Time

About Us: The Corporation for New Jersey Local Media is a nonprofit organization that owns New Jersey Hills Media Group and the West Essex Tribune, publishers of local news websites, email newsletters and weekly printed newspapers serving 51 communities across Essex, Hunterdon, Morris and Somerset counties. Our mission is to engage and inform the towns we serve with locally-driven, fact-based reporting that inspires civic participation and strengthens the fabric of our communities.

As we transform professional local news for the digital age, we're building a sustainable model that combines traditional reporting excellence with innovative membership and donor support. We're launching new digital-first initiatives in 2026 while maintaining our commitment to the core communities we've served for decades.

The Development Manager is a critical member of our growing fundraising operation, responsible for identifying prospective new donors and building and managing relationships with those and previous donors who believe in the importance of our mission. This new position will play an essential role in strengthening donor revenue streams to support independent, community-building news coverage.

Reporting to the CEO and Publisher, the Development Manager will identify prospective donors, cultivate meaningful relationships, execute strategic solicitations, steward supporters through personalized engagement, lead all fundraising events, and launch and manage our audience membership program. This role requires someone who can translate our mission into compelling donor conversations and repeat contributions and who is excited to grow an emerging nonprofit toward sustainability.

• Manage a growing portfolio of individual donors and prospects, developing personalized engagement strategies to deepen relationships and increase giving
• Create and strengthen connections through meetings, phone calls, community events, and tailored communications demonstrating the community-building impact of our efforts
• Establish stewardship practices including timely acknowledgments, impact reporting, and recognition opportunities showing donors how their support makes a difference

• Lead all aspects of fundraising event planning and execution from concept to completion, including annual fundraising dinners, donor cultivation gatherings, and mission-focused community experiences
• Develop event strategies, budgets, timelines, vendor relationships, and logistics for multiple events annually
• Create compelling event programming that showcases our journalism, introduces donors to our newsroom, and demonstrates community impact
• Manage event promotion, registration, donor recognition elements, and post-event follow-up and reporting
• Serve as a visible ambassador for the organization at community events, government meetings, and civic gatherings
• Develop creative touchpoints that connect donors to our news and business partnership teams and the communities we serve

• Design, launch, and manage an audience membership program that converts readers and community members into financial supporters of our mission
• Develop membership tiers, benefits, messaging, and value propositions that resonate with our communities
• Create and implement membership acquisition, retention, and upgrade strategies across digital and print platforms
• Collaborate with editorial and marketing teams to integrate membership appeals into content distribution and audience engagement
• Track membership metrics, analyze conversion data, and optimize the program for sustainable growth
• Build systems for membership onboarding, communications, renewal cycles, and benefit fulfillment

• Research and identify new prospective donors within our coverage communities who share our commitment to local news
• Develop and execute individualized solicitation strategies, including direct…