Development Assistant

The Legal Aid Society's Development team seeks a Development Assistant (DA) to join our thirteen-person, fundraising team. This newly created position will report to Legal Aid's Director of Major Giving & Donor Engagement and have two main areas of responsibility: providing overall administrative support to the development team and enhancing donor stewardship as a key member of the individual major gifts team. The DA will join at an exciting time for The Legal Aid Society, as we approach our 150th anniversary and launch a $150 million fundraising campaign. The DA will support our frontline private revenue fundraising program, which raises almost $20 million annually from private funders-including grassroots donors, Justice Network members (individuals giving $2,500 or more a year), law firms, corporations, and foundation supporters.

As an important member of the individual major giving team, the DA will handle major giving acknowledgments, maintain the donor database, lead research efforts, and provide donor communication support. The DA will work hand in hand with the individual giving team to establish a more structured, robust reporting system for our new 1876 Legacy Circle program. The DA will support the identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of major donors and prospects, and help identify new Justice Network members capable of making significant, sustainable contributions. The DA will work closely with the Development Operations team to ensure that research and wealth screening data is integrated into the database. The DA will be integral to our moves management and portfolio meetings: preparing research and driving conversations about replenishing the prospect pipeline.

The DA will be an adept communicator and writer. In addition to these duties, the DA will assist the Development Department in special projects and assignments, including preparations for our Annual Awards Dinner and other annual campaigns and initiatives. This is a great opportunity for someone who thrives on details and information, is excited to grow within a dynamic, fast-paced development team, and is ready to learn more about relational fundraising.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Individual Giving Major Gift Team Support

• Execute and oversee donor stewardship communications in an organized and timely manner, including managing all acknowledgments for major donors

• Maintain major donor data in the database, including updating records, running reports, and tracking stewardship and cultivation activities

• Manage individual giving and team research needs-working on longer-term assigned projects and proactively helping to identify prospective major donors through research and analytics on an ongoing basis

• Stay informed with Legal Aid news and help create and write insider updates and timely donor communications

• Ensure 1876 Legacy Circle members are stewarded; develop accurate and timely tracking and reporting of the legacy giving program

• Assist the Manager of Individual Giving and Director in enhancing our Justice Network and 1876 Legacy Circle donor journeys by developing creative donor engagement and stewardship opportunities (i.e. offering virtual briefings, volunteer opportunities, etc.) and recognizing key giving milestones

Overall Development Team Support

• Responsible for email inbox management of Legal Aid's general and legacy giving email accounts, ensuring all donor inquiries are responded to on time and defunct emails are updated in the database

• Manage expense tracking and team calendars/deadlines

• Support all Legal Aid development events, creating name tags, helping with logistics, event mailings, and list preparation as needed

• Conduct research and research projects for team members as requested

• Help keep the development team on track by taking notes in meetings and managing up when necessary

• Acknowledgement support for Development Operations team at high volume times

• Database cleanup and ongoing maintenance

• Administrative support for in-house mailings

• Scheduling-- managing CDO calendar and requests from other Chief's admins on scheduling; scheduling internal meetings and external events with Practice staff; keeping team calendar up to date proactively

• Admin team support for building-wide Legal Aid activities and community events, as needed

Professional Development and other duties as assigned

• Participate in continuous professional development, including attending a conference and classes on prospect research

• Continuously learn about forms of bias in the workplace and demonstrate affirmative behaviors that support an inclusive work environment

• Other duties as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS

Required qualifications:

• A Bachelor's degree and 1+ years of work experience OR an equivalent combination of 5+ years of post-secondary education and work experience

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience in a fundraising, sales, or customer service role

• Familiarity with donor prospecting, including best-practice web-based research tools

• Excellent interpersonal skills, including interacting with donors

• Ability to achieve results and complete assignments on time, managing multiple projects simultaneously

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Position-Based Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Familiarity with donor prospecting, including best-practice web-based research tools

• Familiarity with fundraising databases, preferably Raisers' Edge database and NXT moves management

• Sense of professionalism, confidentiality, independent judgment, and an exceptional work ethic

• Strengths in attention to detail, time management, demonstrating initiative, and oral and written communication

• Demonstrated commitment to equal and social justice and experience working with the non-profit sector preferred

Organizational Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Commitment to Legal Aid Society's mission to secure equal justice before the law for all New Yorkers

• Interpersonal and communication skills that enable healthy and productive working relationships

• Ability to perform duties with the highest regard for confidentiality, integrity, and respect

• Commitment to Legal Aid Society's mission and values

Physical, environment, travel, and other duties required:

• Mostly sedentary, significant time using a computer and monitor; communicating and meeting using video

• May or will require travel within NYC, across the five-borough region

• Ability to lift 5-10 pounds on an occasional basis

* For positions noted as essential, this will require either remote or in-person work during times of closure or otherwise non-typical business hours which may include evenings and weekends and during unforeseen events such as inclement weather or poor air quality conditions

SALARY AND BENEFITS

The salary range represents a good faith estimate of the range we expect to pay for this role. The actual salary offered may vary depending on many factors, including but not limited to job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as collectively bargained salary steps for unionized roles.

Salary Range: $65,000 - $75,000

The Legal Aid Society offers a generous benefits package including health insurance, paid vacation, disability, and life insurance, and more. Click here to read more about benefits.

Higher Education and Loan Forgiveness

The Legal Aid Society is a qualified employer for the purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This position allows an employee to take advantage of PSLF and other State and Federal loan forgiveness programs. Additionally, employees who are New York residents may be eligible for assistance from New York state to assist with loan repayments, depending on years of practice. To learn more, click the links below.

studentaid.gov

hesc.ny.gov/loan-forgiveness-programs

WORK AUTHORIZATION

All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship for a work visa or permit. We are currently unable to sponsor employment visas or permits. (However, for citizens of Canada and Mexico, LAS will provide a letter documenting employment status that is needed to obtain a TN visa.)

HOW TO APPLY

All applications must be completed online via the career portal. We do not accept emailed applications. Submit the following documents as a combined PDF:

• Cover Letter

• Resume

For technical difficulties or questions regarding this posting, please email jobpostquestions@legal-aid.org.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

As an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer, The Legal Aid Society prohibits discriminatory employment actions against and treatment of its employees and applicants for employment based on actual or perceived race or color, size (including bone structure, body size, height, shape, and weight), religion or creed, alienage or citizenship status, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity (one's internal deeply-held sense of one's gender which may be the same or different from one's sex assigned at birth); gender expression (the representation of gender as expressed through, for example, one's name, choice of pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, or body characteristics; gender expression may not conform to traditional gender-based stereotypes assigned to specific gender identities), disability, marital status, relationship and family structure (including domestic partnerships, polyamorous families and individuals, chosen family, platonic co-parents, and multigenerational families), genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, domestic violence victim status, arrest or pre-employment conviction record, credit history, unemployment status, caregiver status, salary history, or any other characteristic protected by law.

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

The Legal Aid Society is committed to a work culture of zealous advocacy, respect, diversity and inclusion, client-oriented defense, access to justice and excellent representation. We are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each of our clients (people), to understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs. Our ability to achieve these goals depends on the efforts of all of us and our ability to build strong relationships with our colleagues. Every member of our community is expected to continuously learn about the dynamic, evolving, and emerging field of knowledge of identity, bias, and systemic forms of oppression and participate in productive efforts to dismantling bias in all forms.