Development Associate

Job Type

Full-time

Description

Position: Development Associate

Department: Development

FLSA Status: Full-Time, Non-Exempt

Reports to: Chief Development Officer

Direct Reports: None

Date Issued: June 2017

Date Revised: September 2022

Location: Washington, DC

The Mission

Polaris is leading a data-driven social justice movement to fight sex and labor trafficking at the massive scale of the problem - 25 million people worldwide deprived of the freedom to choose how they live and work.

For more than a decade, Polaris has assisted thousands of victims and survivors through the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, helped ensure countless traffickers were held accountable and built the largest known U.S. data set on actual trafficking experiences. With the guidance of survivors, we use that data to improve the way trafficking is identified, how victims and survivors are assisted, and how communities, businesses and governments can prevent human trafficking by transforming the underlying inequities and oppressions that make it possible.

About Opportunity

Polaris seeks an exceptionally detail-oriented, curious, and efficient Development Associate to join an eight-person Development team responsible for securing revenue from a wide range of funding sources, including foundations, government, corporations, and individuals. In this role, the successful candidate will possess the ability to meet deadlines, multitask, maintain sensitive and confidential information, identify problems and solve them, and provide top-notch customer service. We seek a fast learner, great communicator, and nimble Development Associate who is eager to learn and support all facets of mission-driven fundraising.

The Development Associate will lead our Development operations and provide administrative and project support to the Chief Development Officer (CDO) and Development team. They will administer Salesforce and Springboard, and lead on gift entry, gift acknowledgement, and reconciliation; provide input on best practices for systems, tools, and processes that drive the fundraising program; interface on a regular basis with donors, donor prospects, and philanthropic advisors; and assist team members who work with foundations, corporations, and individuals to track and manage their funding pipelines. This is an opportunity to learn more about these different funding streams and successful nonprofit fundraising.

Responsibilities

Administrative and Project Support

• Assist the CDO with scheduling internal and external stakeholder meetings, including sending and managing invitations, reserving meeting space, and coordinating logistics;
• Maintain and execute an ongoing master list of all tasks to be completed and all immediate deadlines requiring CDO input or decisions;
• Assist the Development team with administrative tasks, including printing and sending materials, creating and sending donor packets, and ordering supplies;
• Create presentations, decks, and materials for internal and external meetings, including weekly Development meetings, retreats, and board meetings;
• Take meeting notes and ensure follow up on action items takes place for various Development meetings;
• Provide high-level project and event support to the Development team, including managing RSVP lists, creating or ordering materials, and developing agendas.

Database Entry and Gift Acknowledgement

• Capture interactions with donors and prospects in Salesforce;
• Handle all aspects of gift processing, including the entry of gift and constituent information into the database, sending acknowledgment letters, and making and storing digital copies of acknowledgement letters into the appropriate online platform;
• Regularly updating and cleaning data to ensure reports, analysis, and dashboards are accurate;
• Collaborate with the Finance team to reconcile revenue on a monthly basis .and ensure Development and Finance's funding streams are aligned.

Customer Service

• Provide outstanding phone and email customer service to donors, prospects, and their representatives, and ensure a prompt, friendly, and knowledgeable response within 24 hours;
• Assist recurring donors with requests to modify their gift;
• Ensure that guests receive, sign, and return visitor agreements and are scheduled on the daily visitor log, prior to coming to the office;
• Work with third party vendors and fundraising organizations to obtain and update portal information; and
• Commitment to the National Human Trafficking Hotline mission and Polaris values ;
• Other duties as assigned by supervisor.

This job description provides a summary of the major duties and responsibilities performed by individuals in this position. Incumbents may be asked to perform other tasks not specifically written in this job.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

• Deep passion! Mad skills! Low ego!
• Minimum one year of relevant work experience;
• Exceptionally strong attention to detail;
• Experience working with multiple organizational stakeholders, including donors, colleagues, Executive team, and board members;
• Proactive and a self-starter who solves problems and enjoys a fast-paced environment;
• Outstanding communication skills, both oral and written;
• Highly organized, reliable, and able to set and balance competing priorities; and
• Ability to work independently and in a collaborative team environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree;
• Experience with use of databases (preferably Salesforce) or the ability to rapidly learn; and
• Commitment to and interest in social justice and human rights; specific interest in human trafficking.

Communication

• Internal: Ability to communicate with supervisor, colleagues, and board members.
• External: Frequent contact with individual donors, prospects, and wealth advisors.

Working Conditions
• Typical office setting

Physical Requirements (can change with position)
• Prolonged sitting, chiefly at a computer terminal;
• Occasional bending, stooping and stretching;
• Requires eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity sufficient to operate a computer, telephone, calculator, and other office equipment;
• Requires normal range of hearing and eyesight to record, prepare, and communicate in writing, in person and by phone.

Organization Background

VALUES: Polaris is grounded in a set of values and organizational beliefs and strives to model and embody these values in all that it does.

We work with humility and a spirit of service. We serve a mission that is bigger than ourselves, and we recognize that we cannot do this work alone. We foster a caring community of mutual support, and we actively pursue collaborations and partnerships to expand our reach.

Victims' and survivors' experiences ground our efforts. We honor the dignity, agency, and resilience of victims and survivors of slavery, both past and present. We serve, work alongside, and stand in solidarity with those who have been most affected by modern slavery.

We strive for inclusion and equity. We engage different perspectives to inform our decisions, actions, and positions. We create opportunities that empower individuals of diverse backgrounds and circumstances. We acknowledge the structural inequities that lead to human trafficking and modern slavery, which drives us to create just and equitable solutions.

We approach our work with courage. We promote a culture of inquiry, innovation, risk-taking, and continuous learning. We are resilient and evolve when faced with obstacles or failure. We recognize that what is typical or traditional is not always optimal.

We create positive impact and achieve results. We leverage and cultivate the strengths of our staff, and we work with discipline, integrity, and a commitment to excellence. We embrace a measurement culture to track our progress. We view impact holistically, considering multiple sectors and the effects on individuals' lives, as we pursue systemic and social change to eradicate modern slavery.

DIVERSITY STATEMENT:

Polaris designs and implements data-driven strategies to prevent and disrupt human trafficking, and restore freedom to survivors. Achieving this ambitious goal requires both trafficking-specific systemic interventions and broader cultural and structural shifts that reduce the inequities that lead to human trafficking. While Polaris alone cannot build a more diverse, just, equitable, and inclusive society, both the success of our work and our organizational values require modeling in the workplace the change we want to see in the world.

This means cultivating a workforce, organizational culture, and priorities that respect and celebrate a dynamic, multi-disciplinary team made up of individuals with different identities, lived experiences, and backgrounds. Within both our team and across every part of our work, we strive to integrate and elevate the full range of survivor voices.

This is a living commitment. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are values to be manifested daily, in the work we do, the decisions we make, and the way that we treat each other and the people we seek to serve. This means creating space where staff can be included, heard, valued, and set up for success, and where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, best selves to work. We will not check boxes and consider it done. We will push new innovations and different ways of thinking, and treasure the community built and strengthened by each of our contributions

Salary Description

40,000 - $46,000