Organization Vision
uAspire imagines a day when all young people have the opportunity to reach their full potential by graduating from college, regardless of their families’ financial resources or college experiences.
Organization Summary
uAspire is committed to ensuring that all young people have the financial information and resources necessary to achieve their dreams of higher education. uAspire provides free college affordability advice and advocacy to students and families in Massachusetts, Miami, and the San Francisco Bay Area, helping them overcome the financial barriers to a college education. Through strategic partnerships with high schools, community organizations and local universities, uAspire helps academically prepared students find an affordable path to – and through – a postsecondary education. Since 1985, uAspire has provided financial aid advising to more than 250,000 students. uAspire is in the early stages of implementing a strategic growth plan that will enable the organization to positively impact the lives of 1,000,000 students by 2017. uAspire Massachusetts currently provides direct service to 11,000 young people and families annually and has an operating budget of $2.3 million. uAspire operates in four cities across Massachusetts – Boston, Fall River, Lawrence, and Springfield.
Position Summary
The Development Associate works closely with the Director of Strategic Partnerships, uAspire Massachusetts’ Executive Director, and collaboratively with national office fundraising staff and Massachusetts program staff to create an outstanding philanthropic experience for all uAspire investors and prospects.
The Development Associate’s primary focus is on supporting uAspire Massachusetts’ internal work to strategically attract and engage the philanthropic resources necessary to fund its services. The Development Associate will provide all administrative support for the site’s development efforts, including managing its key fundraising and stewardship events, fundraising database, grant writing, and budget. This position requires a person with an extraordinary attention to detail, the ability to communicate eloquently both verbally and in writing to a diverse group of volunteers and investors, strong customer service orientation and skills, and the ability to personally connect with supporters on the phone, by email, and at events. The Development Associate plays an essential role in planning and executing special events.
The successful applicant will be someone who is excited about our mission of helping all Massachusetts youth find affordable ways to access and complete a college education and who is eager to help build and sustain uAspire’s work statewide.
This position is located in Boston, with occasional travel to Springfield, Lawrence, and Fall River possible.
Principal Responsibilities
Donor Cultivation, Management, and Stewardship
- Oversee and maintain all elements of uAspire’s donor database system (Salesforce) for effective tracking of current and prospective donors.
- Process all donor contributions, generate acknowledgement letters, coordinate donor recognition, and track donor stewardship activities.
- Provide grant writing and reporting support to the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Senior Manager of Foundation Relations.
- Maintain confidential donor prospect lists, donor records, and reports.
- Research prospective donors (individuals, corporations, and foundations).
- Schedule donor meetings for the Executive Director. Manage a schedule of opportunities for donors to visit uAspire programs to see the work first-hand and liaison with program staff to coordinate donor visits.
- Coordinate informational and appeals mailings.
- Prepare PowerPoint presentations and other support materials for presentations and meetings. Draft and prepare email and letter correspondence for Executive Director if needed.
- Work collaboratively with the uAspire national office fundraising team to implement system-wide development strategies and to leverage the national resources available to support Massachusetts philanthropic revenue opportunities.
Event and Campaign Management
- Oversee the planning and execution for all uAspire Massachusetts special events, including the uAspire First One Awards, along with other regional fundraising and stewardship events.
- Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: overall project planning, list management, invitation distribution, and vendor procurement. Over time, take on the staff leadership role in event design.
- Manage the logistics of employee volunteer events for corporate partners.
- Manage a calendar of all Massachusetts events and marketing/communications campaigns for the year to ensure timely disbursement of awareness-raising information.
- Manage or collaborate with the Director of Strategic Partnerships on multi-media marketing/communications projects, such as creation of videos, newsletters, a photo campaign, or social media campaigns. Write newsletter and social media text and collect visual content.
Other Administrative Support
- Research prospects and donors to identify demographic and philanthropic information that may be important to the cultivation, solicitation, or stewardship process.
- Perform other duties as assigned by the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Massachusetts Executive Director.
Qualifications
- 2-4 years of experience in a fundraising/development environment, including event/budget management, volunteer management, and donor relations.
- Strong project planning, organizational, and managerial skills, including prioritizing and implementing projects in a demanding, fast-paced environment and collaborating and working effectively with a diverse set of colleagues, partners, and external stakeholders. Detail-orientation a must. Event planning experience a plus.
- Excellent verbal and written communications skills required, with experience in grantwriting, marketing, web, and social media a plus.
- Ability to work collaboratively and effectively with a diverse set of colleagues, partners, and external stakeholders.
- Prior experience with Salesforce, or a comparable development database, required.
- High proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite – Word, Excel, PowerPoint – and Google/Gmail required.
- High degree of professionalism, tact, initiative, and diplomacy and high level of flexibility and adaptability required.
- Ability to manage confidential and sensitive information with discretion.
- Energetic, enthusiastic, and interested in learning within a growing, entrepreneurial nonprofit organization.
- Belief in and adherence to uAspire’s Organizational Values – Student-Centered, Excellent, Dedicated, Collaborative, and Systems-Focused – required.
- Ability to work flexible hours that will include some early mornings, evenings, and some weekends.
- Bachelor’s degree required
Compensation and Benefits
Salary commensurate with individual’s experience and education. All full-time employees receive a competitive benefits package.
How to Apply
Applicants should submit a cover letter and resume to jobs@uaspire.org with the subject line: Development Associate, Massachusetts. We will not accept applications without a cover letter.
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