Brooklyn, Remote in USA

Associate Director of Development, Democracy Works

The Organization

At Democracy Works, we work to help Americans vote, ano matter what. To that end, we build technology for both voters and election aadministrators that increases voter access to and participation.

  • TurboVote is a tool designed to help voters register, request their ballot, and make their voice heard in every election, from local to national. We’ve connected over ten million Americans with TurboVote by building the largest college, nonprofit, and corporate voter engagement coalition in the country, including more than 300 campuses, nonprofits – like Headcount, Color of Change, and the Hispanic Federation–and companies like Starbucks, Univision, Facebook, Google, and Snap.
  • As the only comprehensive official election dataset, the Voting Information Project (VIP) helps Americans find their polling site and available ballot dropbox locations where they look for it most: online. Across Google products alone, our ballot dropbox and polling place data were viewed nearly 500 million times in 2020.
  • How To Vote breaks down all the options each state offers for voting, their voter registration rules, as well as unique circumstances like voting overseas and voting rights restoration for the formerly incarcerated. Across Google products alone, our How to Vote guides were promoted over 2 billion times in 2020.
  • Our tool Ballot Scout brings transparency and accountability to the vote-by-mail process by allowing elections administrators and voters to track every ballot with the same ease as a package. Ballot Scout helps election administrators track absentee ballots through the mail, providing transparency in the vote-by-mail process and making it easier to follow up when things go awry.
  • Co-founded by Democracy Works and the CAA Foundation, Civic Alliance is a nonpartisan group of businesses working together to build a future where everyone participates in shaping our democracy. In 2020, membership grew to 1,030 companies with an employee reach of 5,163,938.

Position Overview

Democracy Works’ Fundraising Team excels in generating revenue to advance our work to help Americans vote, no matter what. To create sustainability in both our funding pipelines and in our programmatic offerings, the Democracy Works Development Department raises over 70% of the organization’s annual budget through contributions. Contributions are distributed through multiple revenue channels: corporations, foundations, major gifts, mid-level gifts, and the community giving fund.

You will:

  • Report to and collaborate with the Director of Development to develop a portfolio of donors, leads, and prospects
  • Maintain and manage a portfolio of donors and prospects with the intent to discover and realize donor potential
  • Have a minimum annual fundraising goal tied to a blended portfolio as specified in performance standards, including both renewable and new incremental revenue
  • Work alongside Democracy Works’ internal teams and partners to refine and segment fundraising strategies in alignment with their respective objectives and interests
  • Develop and execute an ongoing strategy for qualifying donors in extensive donor discovery, retention, and growth of donor contributions, as well as recapture from previous donors
  • Develop aggregate donor moves management plans resulting in phone interaction, zoom meetings, and face-to-face solicitation
  • Be accountable for cultivating relationships with individual, foundation and corporate donors
  • Update donor records from your portfolio in Salesforce
  • Engage in conversations about anti-oppression and racial justice in our work

You are:

  • Able to work effectively with multiple stakeholders and audiences
  • Able to work independently, both remotely and in-person (post pandemic), while being a supportive team member
  • Able to integrate strategic goals into day-to-day tasks
  • Proficient with Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Salesforce
  • Supportive of the mission of Democracy Works and understanding of the civic engagement space
  • A gifted storyteller who effectively communicates impact to external audiences
  • An experienced fundraiser with a history of raising five, six and seven figure gifts
  • Able to meet donors in person (post pandemic)
  • Well-versed in issues of systemic oppression, including racial justice, or are committed to deepening your knowledge

You have experience:

  • Working with clients, customers, donors, and investors
  • Soliciting gifts from individuals and foundations from $10K up to and exceeding $1M
  • Of at least 2 years managing portfolios over $1M and up to $5M
  • Meeting annual monetary goals of over $1M
  • Working in the civic engagement space
  • Creating robust prospect lists of high wealth capacity donors and expanding your portfolio
  • Working with CRM software like Salesforce or equivalent informational databases
  • Managing independent work that requires self-direction and close attention to detail
  • Applying fundraising best practices via moves management principles, especially with individual major and foundation gifts
  • Working in a union environment is preferred

Physical demands

This position requires regular, daily use of a computer (including use of G Suite and Slack) to conduct work and communicate with colleagues. For those working out of our Brooklyn office, the F train stops closest to our office, but exiting the station requires the use of four flights of stairs. Our office has an elevator available at street level. Streets and buildings nearby are currently under construction, which can disrupt sidewalks and result in varying levels of construction noise audible from the office. Our offices share a set of bathrooms with other offices on our floor, and there are no gender neutral bathrooms in the building at this time.

Social expectations

Regular (weekly and monthly) meetings are expected with the supervisor for this role, as well as colleagues and donors, both in person (when appropriate) and virtual.  External-facing meetings are required for this role.

Time and travel expectations

DWs regular operating hours are 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday to Friday. Two times per year, all full-time staff members participate in a five-day retreat in our Brooklyn offices. All Staff is held each year in May and November, when we are able to safely do so.

How To Apply

To apply, please attach a resume and respond to the following questions (in lieu of a cover letter) using the application link https://grnh.se/bf2fef3e3us

In your responses, please include only the following information:

  • What are your pronouns?
  • How did you find this job listing?
  • Why are you interested in this role and working at Democracy Works?
  • Democracy Works values diversity in its teams. Why is it important to you to work on a diverse team? How do you communicate a nonpartisan voice while balancing your passion for a cause?
  • Describe your most rewarding fundraising experience relative to gifts over $10K and up to and exceeding $1M. Include major gift experience, as well as foundation and corporate revenue.
  • Are you authorized to work lawfully in the United States for Democracy Works?

As part of our application, you’ll see an optional form used to collect EEOC demographic information. The data collected in this form is useful in our EEOC reporting and in our assessment of our recruitment practices. However, please keep in mind that the standardized EEOC language used in this form does not reflect the values of Democracy Works–for example, we don’t view gender as binary. We also encourage all applicants to state their pronouns when applying for any job opening at Democracy Works.

Democracy Works is committed to diversity and inclusion in everything we do and aspires to have a team that’s representative of the voters we serve. When hiring, we practice proactive outreach to top talent that’s underrepresented in our sector. We’re a woman- and gay-founded nonprofit, and promote an inclusive culture that stands against racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism (to name a few). To be explicit, we strongly encourage applicants of all races, ethnicities, political party associations, religions (or lack thereof), national origins, sexual orientations, genders, sexes, ages, abilities, and branches of military service.

Feel free to contact work@democracy.works if you have any questions about our commitment to inclusion or about general hiring practices, or if you need an accommodation for a medical condition during the hiring process. Democracy Works posts all current career opportunities at democracy.works/careers.

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