Development Assistant
Development Assistant
DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
Job Summary:
As a key member of the Development Team, the Development Assistant supports the Director of Development & Liaison to the Board to achieve annual team goals. The Development Assistant plays a critical role in partnering with the DoD as she/he provides overall leadership for all aspects of fundraising including individual giving, major gifts, corporate, foundation, community, and church partnerships, volunteers, fundraising events, donor engagement, and stewardship, gift-in-kind donations, donor database, and direct response marketing.
The Development Assistant will function as the administrative arm of the DoD, tasked with facilitating collaboration between staff members to accomplish shared goals and support team culture building. On occasion, the Development Assistant may support the activities of the Executive Leadership Team and/or Board of Directors.
The Development Assistant will implement and manage internal systems and processes to ensure the smooth and efficient operation of the Development Team’s activities in a way that provides superior, personal, responsive, relevant, timely, and productive relationships with donors and other stakeholders/constituents. These systems and processes include team operations communications, policies, and procedures; department-wide reporting; coordination of approvals; selected meetings management.
Reports to: Director of Development & Liaison to the Board (DoD)
Location: 89 Lincoln Park, Newark, NJ 07102
Specific Responsibilities:
Support the Director of Development & Liaison to the Board:
- Partner with the DoD to help her/him achieve annual goals and ensure the effective and efficient performance of the Development Team.
- Work closely with the DoD to manage Development Team communications as well as cross-division communications with Program Services, Shared Services, and Finance/Administration and keep relevant records.
- Support the DoD in managing department and priorities and projects, individual tasks/projects in Asana, and DoD calendar scheduling.
- Initiate, prepare for, and follow up on weekly one on one meetings with the DoD to advance agenda items, review and assign follow-up for certain gifts, review action items related to past and future appointments/meetings, and review progress against priorities and project goals.
- Support the DoD with the preparation of presentations and reports to the Board of Directors and/or the Executive Leadership Team as needed.
- Manage projects as assigned, including development operations projects, video projects, fundraising campaigns, special events, VIP donor meetings, outsourced/consultant projects, special mailings, presentations, etc. Assist with administrative tasks as assigned including DoD donor data entry in Donor Software, expense reporting, minute taking, etc.
- Develop a general knowledge of the various Development departments and their functions, paying attention to and anticipating the needs of the DoD as it relates to the team.
- Facilitate collaboration between staff members organization-wide to accomplish shared goals (e.g., collaborate with the Events team to coordinate donor cultivation events, with the Marketing team regarding the development of donor cultivation materials: with the Donor Services team to ensure the accuracy of donor records and mailing lists; Communications staff to ensure the proper communication of specific program developments to interested donors, or specific donor interests to program staff, etc.)
- Act as a team resource knowledge hub by staying up to date on internal and external resources (such as literature, marketing materials, media stories, video, corporate sponsorship documents, etc.)
General Responsibilities:
- Exercise discretion in donor and personnel matters, paying attention to matters of confidentiality.
- Coordinate and work closely with other members of the Team on projects of mutual benefit
- Actively participate in team meetings and team initiatives. Be a servant leader and team player. Possess professional demeanor and demonstrated ability to communicate effectively
- Maintain an effective presence as a spokesperson and ambassador for Newark School of the Arts, representing all aspects of NSA in a professional way to staff, visitors, volunteers, donors, and external groups.
- Seek out opportunities for educational growth and maintain professional relationships with peers in other organizations.
- Complete other duties assigned.
Qualifications and Education:
To perform this job successfully, the Development Assistant must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
- Embrace the organization’s Mission Statement and adhere to Employee Handbook
- High integrity that builds trust with internal and external stakeholders to meet organizational objectives
- Bachelor’s degree in business administration or related field
- Demonstrated ability to think strategically and implement new initiatives to increase efficiencies and effectiveness within a team
- Project management experience and ability to manage multiple competing priorities
- Excellent written, oral, and interpersonal communications skills
- Strong administrative and organizational skills with high-level attention to detail
- Competency with Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe, and Google Suite
- A demonstrated passion for the community served by Newark School of the Arts
- Ability to travel within the NJ/NY metro area to participate in donor-focused events or meetings on occasion
Preferred: Experience with fundraising or CRM database
Compensation Range: $20 - 22/hour
Time Commitment: 20 hours per week