Summary
Description
The Manager, Institutional Giving will play an integral role in telling the story of our organization by developing compelling narratives and strategic funding requests , including proposals, project budgets, and comprehensive reports for a wide range of foundations and government agencies. This position will have the opportunity to describe our work through a variety of frameworks including arts and culture, equity and inclusion, social and racial justice, science, environment, economic development, and more.
Working closely under the Associate Director, Institutional Giving, this role manages a diverse institutional portfolio, identifying and cultivating mission-aligned foundations and government entities to secure sustainable financial support and multifaceted partnerships for the Institute’s programs.
This full-time position is based within a commutable distance to Boulder, CO, Salt Lake City, UT, Los Angeles, CA, or New York, NY in order to work onsite in a hybrid capacity throughout the year. Preference will be given to candidates in the greater Boulder, CO area. The role requires flexibility, including extended hours, evenings, and weekends during peak periods, as well as travel to Institute locations, events, and meetings as needed.
Top priorities include but are not limited to…
- Managing a select portfolio of midsize and major grants from foundations and government partners including cultivating new and maintaining established relationships with a diverse portfolio of local, national, and international funding organizations.
- Working with Finance, Festival, and Artist Program teams to ensure budgets and deliverables align with proposals.
- Overseeing the research, development, and submission of grant proposals, funding requests, and applications to foundation and government agencies, including case statements, narratives, budgets, and supplemental materials.
- Maintaining accurate grant pipeline data in Netsuite and Airtable, escalating risks to the Associate Director.
- Conducting targeted prospect research and making recommendations to strengthen the multi-year funding pipeline.
- Partnering with Advancement operations and contract-support to ensure Customer Relationship Management (CRM) data is accurate and complete.
- Maintaining and updating the reporting toolkit (logic models, shared metrics, boilerplate outcomes) to streamline proposal and reporting preparation.
- Implementing Institutional Giving data standards and impact tracking cadence set by the Associate Director.
- Contributing to process documentation, workflow improvements, and special projects to ensure departmental goals are met.
- Drafting funder updates, impact highlights, and Festival briefings and communicating to relevant stakeholders.
- Partnering with Artist Program colleagues to collect and update outcomes data for proposals, reports, and stewardship communications.
- Managing activations and benefit fulfillment for donors at the Sundance Film Festival and other public programs.
- Collaborating with departments Institute-wide to engage alumni and audiences as supporters of Sundance Institute.
- Representing Sundance Institute and the Development team at Institute events.
- Managing volunteers, including selecting and training them, assigning appropriate tasks, providing feedback, and ensuring they understand their responsibilities and are effective in their roles.
You have the following direct or transferable skill sets:
- 3 years experience in nonprofit marketing or managing an annual giving or membership program.
- Experience writing for marketing purposes and with compiling and interpreting marketing analytics.
- Experience with direct mail or marketing campaigns.
- Strong attention to detail and accuracy in recording, tracking, and issuing information.
- Outstanding interpersonal communication skills to work effectively with a wide variety of people.
- Excellent organizational skills including the ability to set priorities.
- Passion for the arts and Sundance Institute’s mission.
- Ability to maintain confidential information.
- Strong customer support skills.
- Working knowledge of fundraising databases and proficiency in Google Products preferred.
- Legal authorization to work in the United States.
You will be successful in this role if you…
- Build meaningful relationships with donors and colleagues across the Institute.
- Build and execute successful donor engagement and solicitation strategies.
- Draft compelling fundraising campaigns that motivate individuals to donate to the Institute.
- Communicate clearly and prioritize work effectively to ensure time-sensitive responses and deadlines are met.
In addition to an annual salary of $54,000.00 to $65,000.00*, this position** is eligible for our comprehensive benefits package, highlights include:
- Health, vision, and dental insurance
- 25 paid Institute holidays plus accrued vacation time
- Paid sick, family, and medical leave
- Employee Wellness initiatives
- 401(k) with automatic 3% employer contribution after one year of employment
- Sundance Film Festival passes and benefits (varies each year)
*Final rate of pay is determined based on the applicant's geographic location, relevant experience and skills, and internal equity among similar positions within our organization.
**Applications open 4/17/2026 and will be accepted for at least one week
