Associate Director of Development and Events

ROLE: Associate Director of Development and Events

LOCATION: Flexible

START DATE: Immediate

REPORTS TO: Vice President of Development

ROLE OVERVIEW

DFER is seeking an Associate Director of Development and Events to identify, cultivate, and solicit a growing portfolio of individual and institutional donors both nationally and regionally, working collaboratively with members of the development team to achieve ambitious revenue goals year over year. This person will be primarily responsible for nurturing donor relationships and facilitating communications and events that inspire donors to support DFER to their fullest potential. The Associate Director of Development will be charged with supporting the Director of Development in developing relationships with donors and expanding funding for each of DFER’s partners and affiliated organizations. These contributors include individual donors, foundations, and other groups that provide support to the organization. Additionally, the Associate Director of Development will create and manage all national, state, and partner sponsored events. This role will partner with the members of the development team on setting fundraising strategy, prospect research, donor stewardship and gift processing data collection for reporting.

WHO WE ARE

Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is a national political organization that supports elected Democrats and candidates for office who seek to expand policies and practices that work well for America’s students and confront those that do not. We are education progressives who prioritize students and families, especially low-income students and students of color who should be better served by our country’s public education system.

DFER partner Education Reform Now Advocacy (ERNA) is an advocacy group that advances education reform measures through empowering community leaders to support our legislative and political advocacy work. ERNA keeps constant pressure on legislators to champion high-quality public education.

DFER partner Education Reform Now (ERN) is a nonpartisan think tank that promotes increased resources and innovative reforms in K-16 public education, particularly for students of color and students from low-income families.

WHAT WE DO

1. Support for Progressive Education Leaders — In an approach that is markedly different from our peers and partners in the field, DFER engages directly with candidates and elected officials to empower them to advocate for education policies that focus foremost on serving students. Our partner organization, Education Reform Now, does work that involves policy research, analysis and education that helps policy makers at all levels understand complex education issues and make informed decisions.

2. Informing the Education Debate — Our coalition work reflects the breadth of our policy priorities. We work collaboratively with organizations and our community networks to create an education system that is held accountable to all kids and families.

3. Targeted Interventions and Rapid Response — DFER’s reach from the most local district relationships to state and federal policymakers, enables us to respond quickly to the changing landscape and policy trends. Activities vary significantly from project to project and may include training, policy analysis, public engagement, electoral and issue advocacy, and policy guidance for elected officials and local advocates.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Fundraising

• Actively build and strengthen relationships with donors and secure an increasing level of support for DFER 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 priorities as a frontline fundraiser.
• Manage a portfolio of 75-100 major donors and prospects, including qualifying high-capacity donors through prospect research, forging one-to-one relationships, and developing tailored engagement strategies for upgrading key donors and prospects.
• Schedule cultivation and solicitation meetings (calls and in-person) with donors and prospects, averaging 3-4 per week, targeting individuals with a giving capacity of at least $5,000.
• Create and manage a robust calendar for funder engagement, including scheduling and planning regular convenings of funders, and working with other key staff, including DFER’s State and regional teams, to ensure implementation and stakeholder management.
• Identify, cultivate, and solicit gifts from individual and institutional donors, leading the comprehensive process, including arranging strategic meetings with external and internal stakeholders—e.g. national and regional chapter leads.
• Devise regional fundraising campaigns and strategies designed to both steward and increase current donors and reach new prospective donor targets.
• Develop and implement, in concert with the Vice President of Development, the strategy to achieve individual giving fund-raising goals, including stretch goals.
• Leverage board and senior leadership in engaging major donors by offering sound strategy, staffing calls and meetings with prospects, and performing follow-up.
• Expertly articulate DFER’s mission, vision, strategy, and funding priorities to donors and prospects.

Manage Donor Research and Reporting

• Oversee process to track donor ratings, capacity, and background information.
• Manage team processes for collecting, qualifying, presenting, and ensuring executing external touchpoints reflect up-to-date and accurate donor information in Salesforce.
• Prepare donor briefings to ensure that the Vice President of Development and Director of Development are equipped with data that leads to increased revenue and successful external meetings.
• Prepare and distribute monthly revenue reports to the senior leadership team.
• Oversee the process of maintaining and updating policies and procedures for all development department tracking systems.
• Measure, track, and report progress against revenue targets and other established metrics, such as new donors, retained donors, cultivation moves, etc.

Events Management

• Plan and execute high-quality and high revenue generating fundraisers including but not limited to state and regional convenings, Annual Poker Event, Philos, and other external events as assigned.
• Lead all components of planning and executing stakeholder engagement plan to maximize revenue and attendee and sponsorship experience, including host committee development and management, vendor coordination, corporate sponsorship opportunities, and acquisition and management of consultants.
• Support all DFER’s fundraising activities and efforts, including the planning and execution of event logistics, event sponsorship and solicitation and employee/volunteer assignments.
• Focus on revenue drivers (proactive constituent engagement, acquisition, day of event experience, sponsorship, data tracking and assessment).
• Manage logistics for day-of organizational fundraising event experience for external partners, political candidates, and all supporters.
• Develop and manage smaller-scale projects. This includes managing budgets and timelines, ensuring deliverables are completed on time, and coordinating with other teams as needed.
• Create and manage project budgets and timelines.

Prospect Research and Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Oversee the evolution of prospecting, research and coordination tools that will allow internal stakeholders to achieve ambitious goals for sponsored research and for philanthropic support from foundations, nonprofits, and corporations.
• Provide these partners and collaborators with best-in-class fundraising skill, insight, and support.
• Work with volunteers and committees to support volunteers who have the potential to make a significant impact.
• Work with policy and programming staff to cultivate community ambassadors to support and lead fundraising initiatives.
• Build strong and effective partnerships with volunteers and supporters and help foster a culture of accountability and recognition.
• Assist with the preparation of collateral materials related to fundraising programs and mission activities.
• Support the effective stewardship of current donors by assisting in preparation for external meetings. Perform background research on prospective individuals and organizational donors and prepare briefs for team and organizational leadership.
• Be knowledgeable about DFER’s strategic plan and operations, ensuring communications reflect mission, vision, and current messaging of DFER; and are effective tools for donor enlightenment, cultivation, and retention.
• As required, draft reporting documents for key stakeholders, including the board of directors and grantors/funders. Collect information and appropriate data from appropriate teams. Ensure reports are accurate and on time.
• Work with outside contractors/vendors as directed.
• Duties and responsibilities may be added, deleted, or changed at any time at the discretion of management.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Experience with individual giving, institutional fundraising, and event planning.
• Excellent written, verbal, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to provide a strategic framework and an implementation process to the donor relations efforts.
• Ability to work on multi-faceted and detail driven projects, as well as completing those projects within the given deadlines and budget.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and execute exclusive events.
• Highly collaborative style with energy, maturity, and leadership to serve as a unifying force and position stewardship discussions at both the strategic and tactical levels.
• Proven ability to work cooperatively and effectively with senior management and constituent groups across all levels of the organization and to maintain productive professional relationships in complex, demanding environments.
• Ability to prioritize goals and formulate independent decisions regarding procedures and operations.
• Strong project management skills, and ability to coordinate collaborative efforts with multiple stakeholders.
• Understanding of budgeting and financial management related to fundraising activities.

Requirements

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree required.
• Minimum of four years of fund development experience, preferably in the education and nonprofit fields.
• Exception communications skills both written and oral, and ability to produce highest-quality written documents and presentations.
• Experience with online fundraising platforms and familiarity with donor research and prospecting.
• Experience with creating and customizing reports.
• Expertise in Microsoft Office suite; familiar with CRM nonprofit software, donor databases and other fundraising technology to use in daily job duties.
• Strong ability to build relationships and manage processes across teams and organizational structures.
• A professional or volunteer background that includes a strong orientation to issues affecting educational opportunity for children, and/or a passion for social change with the ability to convey enthusiastically the work of the organization.
• Ability to work independently and as a team player, to take initiative, and to manage multiple tasks and projects at a time.
• Must maintain strict confidentiality related to donors, staff, and other organizational information.
• Flexibility to travel as required in performance of duties.

Benefits

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The salary for this position is $110,000-$130,000. DFER is proud to offer excellent benefits: health, vision, and dental coverage; flexible spending plan; life insurance; short- and long-term disability insurance; 401K plan with a match plan; flexible spending/benefits plan; paid family leave; paid time off (vacation, sick time, and all National holidays) and paid vacation.

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

Democrats for Education Reform welcomes applications from all, and strongly encourages women, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants, refugees & LGBTQ people to apply for this position. We are committed to maximizing the diversity of our organization and recruiting a team that reflects the diversity of students living in the communities we serve.