Associate Director of Development

Job title: Development, Associate Director

Location/facility: Business Office

Reports to: Executive Director

Supervises: Interns and volunteers, support staff, additional hires

Compensation: Competitive salary with benefits and potential for performance-based bonuses.

NorthStar Learning Centers is a multiservice organization seeking an energized, passionate and entrepreneurial-minded Development Associate as a key member of our development team.

NorthStar Learning Centers, Inc. (NorthStar) is a people-of-color led nonprofit born out of the civil rights movement in New Bedford in 1974. As we have grown to meet need, we have remained committed to providing culturally competent, research-informed services, and on a broader scale, to uplifting communities of color and fighting structural racism. We have a longstanding dedication to staff who look like our constituents.

Today, NorthStar operates wrap-around programs and services for New Bedford residents from birth to adulthood who are living in the most challenging circumstances. We provide: two early childhood education program sites; specialized afterschool care and programming for elementary and middle school children; youth and family support programs; our HEAL Center, focused on young adults recovering from violence and trauma; a mental health clinic; and collective impact initiatives expanding our reach beyond direct service.

NorthStar has operated for almost 50 years, funded by fee-for-service government contracts and a very small amount of grants and donations. Via our current Reaching for the Stars Capital Campaign – our first Campaign – we have been awakened to the potential related to building a sustainable Development effort on behalf of NorthStar. This position is the first full time dedicated position for this new department. The ideal candidate will have a start up, growth mindset; be a team player, and also possess strong leadership skills

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Working as part of a team to build a sustainable Development Department, the duties and responsibilities of this role include both fundraising and operations.

Strategy and Donor Relations:

• As part of a team, raise $1.3M dollars over the next year, increasing this amount annually by 25-30%.
• Co-develop strategies that continue to build the capacity of NorthStar’s DevelopmentDepartment

Reaching for the Stars Capital Campaign

• Collaborate with program leads to develop marketing materials for fundraising efforts
• Cultivate relationships with corporations, foundations and individuals within the South Coast region and beyond
• Maintain open lines of communication with the capital campaign team: consultants, project managers, architects and internal NorthStar leadership team.
• Develop progress reports for monthly board meetings.
• Update marketing material and budgets.
• Cultivate and maintain relationships with foundation, corporate and individual donors.
• Grant submission writing and reporting.
• Develop strategies for donor cultivation across NorthStar programs.
• Maintain efficient, comprehensive record-keeping systems.
• Work independently and within a team on special, nonrecurring and ongoing projects. Serve as manager for special projects, which may include planning and coordinating multiple presentations, disseminating information, and organizing events.

Grants, Database Management and Reporting

• Maintain accuracy and integrity of the donor database (using Bloomerang donor management software).
• Prepare e-mail list segmentations.
• Process donations and prepare acknowledgement/thank-you letters and other correspondence. File donations/acknowledgement letters physically and digitally.
• Coordinate production and mailings of all appeals and related correspondence.
• Enter grant-related information into the database, including maintaining a grant schedule.
• Assist with grant proposal development, submission, and reporting.
• Lead the design and production of NorthStar’s Annual Report.

Maintain Professional and Ethical Standards

• Be honest, reliable and dependable.
• Respect and maintain rights and privacy of all staff, parents, and children.
• Maintain a positive work ethic.
• Disclose to the Executive Director any indictment or arrest for off-duty activity that would show up in a criminal records check.

QUALIFICATIONS / EXPERIENCE

Education

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• Master’s degree preferred.

Licenses and certifications

• Current driver’s license, good driving record, and normal risk insurability.
• Ability to pass criminal offender record information (CORI), Department of Children and Families (DCF)

Experience / competency areas

The following generally describes the knowledge, skills, and ability required to enter the job and/or be learned within a short period of time in order to successfully perform the assigned duties.

• Will have 5 years of non-profit development experience, with a resume that demonstrates growth in the field of development.
• Track record of raising 5 figure gifts; 6 figure gifts a bonus.
• Experience with most of the following: grants, individual and corporate donors, events, public funding, Capital Campaigns.
• Maintains a growth mindset.
• Possess strong leadership skills.
• Use of Microsoft Office suite of products, including Word, Excel (including working with multiple worksheets, filtering data, and manipulating databases), Power Point, and Publisher.
• Proactive and self-directed.
• Independently organize and appropriately schedule multiple responsibilities associated with the job.
• Excellent strategic thinking skills and communication of programmatic impact to those outside of NorthStar.
• Able to develop effective working relationships with children, families, staff, and other persons of diverse experiential, educational, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds.
• Work with detailed information with reasonable accuracy and speed.
• Communicate effectively orally and in writing with diverse audiences. Literacy in a second language (English/Spanish) is a plus.
• Ability to adapt communication style appropriately dependent on the audience.
• Deep interest in NorthStar’s mission, programs and potential.
• Respect and value diversity of opinion, experience, and background.
• New Market Tax Credit experience a plus.

Shared values

• Dedication to the mission of NorthStar Learning Centers.
• Understanding and valuation of the integral roles of people-of-color-led organizations in informing and organizing communities for collective action to obtain self-determination, wellness, justice and prosperity for all people.
• Accord with NorthStar’s philosophy of inclusion and trauma-informed policies.

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Ability to commute/relocate:

• New Bedford, MA 02740: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)

Education:

• Bachelor’s (Required)

Experience:

• Fundraising: 1 year (Required)
• Microsoft Office: 1 year (Required)