Development Associate

The Council of New Jersey Grantmakers (CNJG) is a statewide nonprofit philanthropy-serving organization. Among our members are private and community foundations, corporations, public/government grantmakers, federated funds, and giving circles. As a membership association, our priority is to support the philanthropic aspirations of members through networking, high quality training and education, knowledge building, and technical assistance.

The Council of New Grantmakers seeks an enthusiastic and highly organized fundraising professional to serve as Development Associate. This new position will provide dedicated development support and play a critical role in sustaining and expanding the organization’s growth.

The Development Associate is a key member of the CNJG team helping to support outreach and development, and operating in a remote office. This position is responsible for assisting in the development process; managing the grant reporting process; maintaining, identifying and researching potential sponsors, grant opportunities, gifts and other revenue-generating pursuits; providing administrative and strategic support and all activities related to CNJG’s fundraising efforts. The Development Associate will work closely with the CEO and other CNJG team members as assigned.

The full-time position reports to CNJG’s President and CEO.  

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Cultivate funder, donor, and sponsorship relationships – communicating with donors and sponsors to maintain strong relationships to ensure continued support.
• Implement, improve, and expand current sponsorship program for special events, including creating an internal vetting process for new sponsors, maintaining solicitation lists, and sponsor benefits menu. Coordinate production, distribution, and follow-up activities of sponsorship.
• Develops, prepares, writes and submits grants, proposals, applications, and reporting. Prepares all relevant grant funding materials. Maintains grants calendar of upcoming applications, proposals and reporting deadlines. Ensures due dates and deadlines are met. Prepares acknowledgement letters and other correspondence. Maintains grant contracts.
• Maintain sponsorship, grants, and other gift/donor files on the database and server, including data entry, gift reporting, sponsor and grant acknowledgement, fundraising reports.
• Conduct research on prospective corporate sponsors, foundation giving, and exhibitors and vendors. Support CEO and other revenue-generating staff to prepare for stakeholder meetings, including research and creating meeting materials.
• Implement and expand Resource Marketplace opportunities at major events, and coordinate exhibitors and all aspects of their participation at major events to ensure a successful exhibitor experience. Cultivate new and ongoing paid exhibitors.
• Maintains standard requested grant information digital library. Ensure updated and annual information is available. Create supportive documentation, materials, and reports that can be easily repurposed and reused.
• Develop and create new sponsorship and other revenue-generating opportunities for current and new programs, workshops, events and other untapped ventures.
• Conduct ongoing prospect research and analysis of new grant opportunities.
• As part of a team, will attend and assist at major events.
• Other duties as assigned.

EXPECTATIONS

• Work closely with the President and CEO, Office Manager, and Manager of Programs and Learning, and other team members to meet fundraising goals. 
• Stay informed about members’ grantmaking activities, philanthropic resources and trends, and philanthropy-serving organizations’ revenue-generating programs and products.
• Must be able to travel throughout New Jersey, and out of state on occasion for regional and national conferences.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills.
• High attention to detail and able to proof and quality check own work and others’ work and prepare materials free of errors for funders, sponsors, and others.
• The ability to organize and prioritize projects to meet work goals in a timely manner.
• Self-starter who values a collaborative team environment.
• Ability to adapt to shifting work demands and organizational priorities and willingness to assist organization with special projects and activities, as assigned.  
• Experience working in and clear understanding of the nonprofit and fundraising environment for charitable organizations.
• Must be flexible.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree with an equivalent 2 years related nonprofit fundraising experience.
• Creative and strong communication skills to write and speak to different audiences, with the ability to adapt and change writing styles when necessary.
• Excellent writing skills and ability to edit others’ work for clarity, conciseness, and grammar.
• Outstanding administrative and project management skills, with high level of attention to accuracy, detail, and organization.
• Ability to contribute to an organization’s fiscal and fundraising needs in alignment with vision, mission, and values.
• Demonstrated sound judgment, and the ability to manage a diverse workload, prioritize projects and follow through on detail with accuracy.
• Ability to work with diverse constituencies, maintain diplomacy, and negotiate successfully.
• Ability to perform a substantial number of tasks independently yet work collaboratively as part of a small team.
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office required.
• Experience with a CRM system (Salesforce a plus).
• Must be equally comfortable working independently, as well as part of a small team.
• CNJG is a fully virtual office. Must agree to work at own location.

Physical Expectations

The Development Associate must:

• Have access to a reliable, properly insured vehicle to travel throughout the state.
• Lift up to 20 lbs.
• Work at a desk with repetitive hours at a computer.
• Participate in occasional early morning and/or evening work.

A strong proficiency in English language is required, as well as creative and strong communication skills to write and speak to different audiences, with the ability to adapt and change writing styles when necessary.