Brand Partnerships Manager, Athletes

Leadership and Management

• Represent IJM’s mission through public speaking and media interviews at the highest levels across global sport and culture; 

• Serve as a leader in the Team Freedom community, inspiring and mobilizing a movement of freedom; 

• Present compelling fundraising opportunities to groups and individuals within the pro athlete community, through public speaking or individualized proposals and high-level 1:1 meetings; 

• Qualify leads and develop a portfolio of professional athlete and influencer partnership opportunities throughout North America which raises $3 million plus per year in given or raised funds. This includes examples such as My Cause My Cleats, Pro Athlete Foundation events, IJM regional or media events, pledging opportunities and Athlete in Action Super Bowl Brunch; 

• Serve as primary fundraising expert for Team Freedom/influencer team, regularly meeting with SP/mid/writing/marketing team and providing proposals and fundraising opportunities across the Team; and 

• In partnership with the Team Freedom Director and Head of Team Freedom, equip and engage Team Freedom partners/donors in portfolio with platform opportunities utilizing earned partnership strategies and NA/partnership campaigns. 

Networking and Partnership

• Identify, cultivate and solicit new pro athlete donors or sports-related partners who want to use their platforms to build awareness of IJM’s mission through marketing campaign integration and bespoke platform activation opportunities across marketing channels like social media, media outlets like TV, news and magazines, and more, to reach an audience of 10M people annually; 

• Build and manage a portfolio of 100+ current pro athlete champions and prospects, raising $1M in revenue annually from pro athlete families and the campaigns, events and activations they host; and 

• Qualify leads and cultivate relationships to convert prospects to active donors by securing the first gift, with donors who can give $10k or more annually, by facilitating 1:1 meetings, preparing fundraising proposal or impact report documents, and tracking relationship touchpoints and progress within Salesforce. 

Events & Logistics

• Lead strategy and collaborate with internal creative teams to bring to life campaigns and platform activations connected to pro athlete portfolio of relationships that can reach millions of people with IJM’s mission; 

• Lead strategy for event format, programming, recruitment and fundraising tactics for events hosted or co-hosted by pro athletes or sports industry partners within portfolio; and 

• Collaborate effectively, with kindness and integrity with the Brand Partnerships associates who facilitate event logistics, providing strategic guidance and decision-making with clarity and timeliness and assisting where necessary with problem solving as the event strategy owner. 

Communication

• Work collaboratively with other members of the partnership team to develop best practices and key learnings; 

• Support the work of the newly forming pro athlete advisory committee; and 

• Work with marketing teams to proactively develop best resources needed to leverage partner relationships. 

General tasks 

• Report portfolio activity and progress against KPIs to the Director of Brand Partnerships on a regular basis and as requested; 

• Ensure portfolio data hygiene, including logging donor interactions, portfolio management, donor communications, forecasting and results analysis; and 

• Book travel logistics for portfolio-related travel. 

• 7 years of proven experience delivering results in a fast-paced, multi-disciplinary environment; 

• 7 years of direct experience working with professional athletes and their families; 

• 7 years of high-end marketing, sales or major donor fundraising experience; 

• Bachelor’s degree in related field, such as communication, marketing or a related discipline; and 

• Proven track record of activating pro athlete/influencer platforms. 

Technical Competencies

• High-capacity, networked sports or influencer philanthropy/management professional; 

• Event/conference experience; 

• Expert in utilizing media and PR; 

• Expert in marketing; 

• Strong written and oral communication skills; 

• Public speaking experience; 

• Fundraising experience preferred; 

• Professional athlete experience preferred; and 

• Ability to travel up to 20%. 

• Eager commitment to IJM's Core Values: Christian, Professional and Bridge-Building; 

• Mature orthodox Christian faith as defined by the Apostles’ Creed; 

• Self-starter with strong initiative; 

• Disciplined with priorities; 

• Strong interpersonal skills and self-awareness; 

• Exceptional verbal and written communication; 

• Flexible, collaborative and eager to support others; 

• Effective team player who fosters collaborative environment; and 

• Adept at creative problem solving. 

Upload Resume, Cover Letter & Statement of Faith* in one PDF document. 

*What is a statement of faith? 
A statement of faith should describe your Christian faith and how you see it as relevant to your involvement with IJM. The statement can either be incorporated into the cover letter or submitted as a separate document and should include, at a minimum, a description of your spiritual disciplines (prayer, study, etc.) and your current fellowship or place of worship. 

What does IJM have to offer? 

• Comprehensive Medical/Dental/Vision benefits 

• Monthly commuter and parking benefits in the DC metro area 

• Retirement benefit options  

• Paid leave starting at 23 days 

• 12 holidays (plus early release the day prior) 

• Daily, quarterly, and annual community spiritual formation 

• Robust staff care resources 

IJM holds strict safeguarding principles and a zero tolerance to violations of the Safeguarding Policy, Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Policy, and Code of Ethics. Candidate selection is based on technical competence, recruitment, selection and hiring criteria subject to assessing the candidate’s value congruence and thorough background, police clearance, and reference check processes. 

At IJM, we’re committed to building a diverse workforce through fair and equitable employment practices. IJM encourages people of any race, color, age, sex, marital status or political ideology to apply for employment. While we welcome everyone into this work, we truly believe that the work we are doing is God’s work, not our own, and practice spiritual disciplines together daily. That’s why we legally require under SEC. 2000e-1 [Section702] of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that all employees practice a mature orthodox Christian faith, as defined by the Apostles’ Creed. 

IJM requires a background check, police clearance and thorough review of references with an employment offer and/or employment contract.