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, Florida, and the Bay Area of California helping them to overcome the financial barriers to a postsecondary 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.
uAspire is in the early stages of implementing a multi-faceted Strategic Plan for Growth with Quality that will enable the organization to positively impact the lives of 1,000,000 students by 2017. This plan includes three models for impact:
- Impact in High-Need Cities – prove our model and build credibility by providing direct services to students and families in 3-5 markets across the country. Currently, uAspire is operating in Massachusetts (4 locations – Boston, Springfield, Fall River and Lawrence) and Miami, Florida, and the Bay Area of California (San Francisco & Oakland).
- Training & Technical Assistance – provide best-in-class training & ongoing support on issues of college affordability to frontline college access & success providers, community based-organizations, school districts and higher education institutions. Following a successful pilot and business case summary procured by Deloitte Consulting, uAspire recently received a generous investment from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation to enable the full national launch of this highly scalable training & support model.
- Policy – use impact data, scalable best practices, and a network of knowledgeable practitioners to influence policies and practices within city, state, federal and higher education circles. uAspire is currently engaging in policy efforts at federal and state levels when appropriate while working out the details of our multi-year policy impact strategy.
Position Summary
The Development Associate works closely with uAspire Massachusetts’ Development Manager, Director of Strategic Partnerships, 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 organization’s development efforts, including its key fundraising and stewardship events, fundraising database, board meetings, 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 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 Development Manager.
- Maintain confidential donor prospect lists, donor records, and reports.
- Research prospective donors (individuals, corporations, and foundations).
- Schedule donor meetings for the Executive Director and other Development staff. Manage a schedule of opportunities for donors to visit uAspire programs to see the work first-hand and serve as a liaison with the 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 as 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
- Provide significant support 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: list management, materials preparation, and on-site support.
- 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
- Provide scheduling and communications support for the Executive Director.
- Research prospects and donors to identify demographic and philanthropic information that may be important to the cultivation, solicitation, or stewardship process.
- Provide administrative support for board and committee meetings.
- Perform other duties as assigned by the Massachusetts Development team.
Qualifications
- 1-3 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 grant-writing, 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/Mail 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 non-profit 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 occasional early morning, evening, and some weekend meetings.
- 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 resume and a cover letter detailing their relevant experience for this position. We will not accept applications without a cover letter. Please send to jobs@uaspire.org, with the subject line: Development Associate, Massachusetts.
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