We are hiring a full-time Manager, Marketing Partnerships to join the External Affairs Department at Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.
What you’ll do:
Summary: The Manager, Marketing Partnerships is responsible for developing, growing, and stewarding strategic marketing partnerships across Middle and West Tennessee to advance Second Harvest's brand visibility, supporter acquisition, and revenue through cause-related marketing initiatives. This role cultivates and manages relationships with small, medium, and large businesses; secures marketing-forward partnerships; and activates community-based promotions that align with the organization's marketing calendar and fundraising goals.
The Manager, Marketing Partnerships, serves as the primary point of contact for cause-related marketing requests, business engagement opportunities, and co-branded promotional initiatives. The role works within the Marketing & Communications team to integrate partner activations into campaigns, gather field insights and content, and ensure consistent brand representation across partner channels.
This position supports and fosters our deep commitment to diversity and inclusion, which is the foundation for creating a culture of belonging for all personnel.
Key Responsibilities:
MARKETING PARTNERSHIPS & BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS
- Develops, secures, and stewards marketing partnerships that raise awareness, grow audiences, and generate revenue through cause-related marketing efforts.
- Cultivates relationships across business sectors including retail, hospitality, fitness, food & beverage, entertainment, professional services, and local franchises to expand SHFB's marketing reach.
- Builds and maintains a strong partnership pipeline by actively identifying, cultivating, and onboarding new CRM partners each quarter through community outreach, business prospecting, and strategic networking.
- Serves as primary contact for all cause-related marketing inquiries, providing partners with clear guidance, campaign materials, and support.
- Prospects and pitches partnership opportunities that align with marketing strategy, seasonal campaigns, and community visibility goals.
- Creates and maintains partnership agreements, ensuring accurate documentation, deliverables, and follow-through.
- Coordinates with Corporate Team for strategic handoffs when partners demonstrate philanthropic potential beyond CRM scope.
- Designs marketing collateral, partnership one-pagers, and co-branded promotional materials using Canva or similar design platforms to support partner activations and pitches.
- Applies sales best practices—prospecting, needs assessment, and closing techniques—to secure and grow marketing partnerships and cause-related marketing agreements.
CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
- Leads the development and execution of SHFB's cause-related marketing plan, including annual goals, partner portfolios, and campaign-specific activations.
- Research local and national marketing trends to identify new partnership opportunities and strengthen CRM strategy.
- Activates partners during priority campaigns including Hunger Free Summer, Power of ONE, Holiday, Spread the Love, Nutrition Month to ensure message alignment and strong visibility.
- Collaborates with Senior Marketing Strategist to integrate partner promotions into campaign calendars, email communications, social media content, and storytelling opportunities.
- Collaborates with the Manager of Media & Communications to identify and coordinate news appearance opportunities that promote cause-related marketing partnerships and elevate partner visibility in earned media coverage.
- Tracks performance of CRM initiatives, maintaining accurate revenue reporting and partner stewardship documentation.
- Supports the Senior Marketing Strategist with the design and implementation of email marketing campaigns for Source for Good Foods, Second Harvest's social enterprise business.
BRAND VISIBILITY & COMMUNITY MARKETING
- Represents Marketing & Communications at select community-facing engagements, ensuring SHFB's brand presence is visible, consistent, and mission-aligned across the service area.
- Ensures SHFB branding is applied accurately across partner promotional materials, point-of-sale displays, digital assets, and co-branded campaigns.
- Identifies geographic or demographic segments where SHFB's marketing presence is underrepresented and develops partnership strategies to expand reach.
- Captures light content from partner engagements including photos, short videos, quotes, and activation details to support campaign, social, and digital needs.
- Shares organized notes, partner information, and content opportunities with the M&C team to support storytelling, content planning, and campaign integration.
- Provides initial partnership summaries or copy drafts when needed, with final content production owned within the M&C content workflow.
- Communicates timely updates to the M&C team to ensure partner activations are reflected appropriately across marketing channels.
- Gathers field insights on community perception, audience behavior, and partner engagement to inform broader marketing strategy.
When & Where:
- Monday - Friday, 8 am - 4:30 pm
Occasional duties may be necessary, as well as responding to issues, outside of normal working hours (e.g., disaster response, community events, etc.). Occasional evenings and/or weekends may be required for meetings or special events.
- Essential business/ first responder: In instances of a federal, state or locally declared emergency, Second Harvest is typically considered an essential business service and emergency responder. All employees may be required to perform regular or emergent duties on-site. Employee safety is balanced with business and community necessity. Some positions are more likely to be required on-site than others.
Is this you?
Education: Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, or related field preferred.
Experience: 3+ years of experience in marketing partnerships, community engagement, business development, or cause-related marketing; or equivalent combination of education and experience. Experience with Canva or similar graphic design tools preferred.
Skills & Capabilities:
- Strong relationship-building skills and comfort engaging diverse business partners.
- Proven ability to pitch and secure partnerships, promotions, or co-branded activations.
- Understanding of cause-related marketing, retail promotions, or field marketing.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple deadlines and partner deliverables.
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.
- Comfortable representing SHFB publicly with professionalism and mission alignment.
- Experience with CRM systems, project management tools, and marketing platforms preferred.
- Passionate about community engagement and the nonprofit sector.
- Project coordination skills with ability to manage workflow processes and schedules.
- Composed, poised and professional demeanor.
- Self-starter approach toward work with an eagerness to consistently meet and exceed objectives and take on more responsibility.
- Proficiency in Canva (or similar design tools) to create marketing collateral, partner one-pagers, social graphics, and campaign materials independently.
- Working knowledge of sales principles and techniques, including prospecting, pipeline management, and closing partnership agreements.
Allowable Substitutions: Combination of education, experience, and/or training that provides the required knowledge and skills for the position may be considered in lieu of education/experience at the organization’s discretion.
Competencies: Coaching/Developing Others, Result Orientation and Execution, Quality Improvement, Project Management
Other requirements: Our pre-hire process requires acceptable results from the following: professional reference feedback, criminal background, Motor Vehicle Record. Current Driver’s License and automobile insurance are also required. Criminal backgrounds are evaluated on a case-by-case basis considering several factors (timing, frequency, severity and job relation).
What Second Harvest has to offer:
Work with a purpose: As one of middle Tennessee’s largest nonprofits, our local hunger relief work is uniquely rewarding, hands on and solutions oriented. We are innovative, mission-focused, diverse, collaborative, values-driven and focused on results. A career with Second Harvest ensures that you not only earn a paycheck, but also help your local community through meaningful work. If you are passionate about serving your neighbors in need and are committed to our mission to nourish and empower people, we invite you to join our 120+ person team in the fight against hunger, as we work to achieve our vision of a community where everyone has equitable access to the food and resources they need.
Award winning workplace: we are a best-in-class workplace because we are passionate and people focused – we listen, respect, care and challenge each other, so that our neighbors can count on us. Our employees have identified us among The Tennessean’s Top Workplaces based solely on employee surveys and feedback. There is ample opportunity to be engaged, have work-life-balance and grow with Second Harvest.
Compensation & Benefits: Second Harvest is proud to offer rich and affordable total compensation packages. Full-time employment includes 34+ days off, medical (employee-only is 100% employer paid), dental, vision, 403b retirement (up to 3% match, 5% base, length of service vesting), disability insurance (short and long term) and long-term care insurance.
DEIB & Equal Employment Opportunity: Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee provides equal employment to all applicants and employees based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. We do not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status. We believe that inclusion and belonging strengthen our team, drive innovation, and enhance our ability to serve our community.
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