Associate Director of Development

OVERVIEW OF ALDER GSE

The mission of Alder Graduate School of Education (Alder GSE) is to create opportunity and to cultivate success for every student by recruiting and educating excellent teachers and leaders who reflect our schools’ communities.

Alder GSE is an innovative graduate school of education and a powerful, community-based professional workforce development pathway. Through a one-year program Alder GSE engages and supports community members in traditionally underserved communities across California to earn a Master’s and teaching credential through a teacher residency model. We are growing and building on excellent results with a remarkable team. Sixteen years into our work, Alder GSE has prepared over 2600 teachers across California and data show that our graduates are more effective as teachers, stay in the profession longer, and their demographics more closely mirror those of their TK-12 students. We continue to build on excellent results with a remarkable team. For more information, visit our website: https://aldergse.edu

JOB PURPOSE & OVERVIEW

As we continue to serve more communities and public TK-12 school systems in California, Alder GSE is looking for an Associate Director of Development who will report to the Senior Director of Strategy and collaborate closely with the CEO.

In this role you will get to:

• Join and strengthen a small and mighty results-oriented team of people;
• Guide and implement ambitious fundraising strategies and outcomes with the team;
• Steward and expand Alder GSE’s donor community – of individuals, foundations, and government funders;
• Manage the data systems and processes and effectively support the team leaders to amplify Alder GSE’s fundraising efforts;
• Draft and manage writing grant proposals and reports to secure funding;
• Track, anticipate, and prepare for donor engagement and communications; and
• Help to shape the Development team that you want.

A broad range of responsibilities and leadership activities will make each day unique and interesting, offering an opportunity for you to use your skills and expertise to grow and develop our Development function and in turn establish a strong foundation for long-term fundraising success.

You are the ideal candidate if you:

• Bring expertise and enthusiasm for Development and Fundraising, especially for writing grants and reports, tracking and delivering on deadlines, managing lots of detailed data, preparing others for donor engagements, and researching and sourcing new donors;
• Can proactively contribute and collaborate on a small, high-capacity, fast-paced team;
• Enjoy thinking about what inspires each donor and enjoy building and maintaining the systems that motivate and support donor engagement;
• Enthusiastically focus on all of the details and enjoy using data to make connections/insights;
• Want to work in an equity-centered organization; and
• Bring a solution-oriented, client-service mindset.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

This is a full-time position. Your primary responsibilities include:

DONOR MANAGEMENT - 50%

• Support the team to accomplish its annual, multi-year, and endowment fundraising goals, through proactive management of donor data, activity flow and donor communications.
• Proactively manage fundraising activities for the CEO and Senior Director of Strategy by creating and managing plans for individuals and foundations that anticipate donor needs, promote donor engagement for new and existing donors, and foster donor connection to Alder’s mission and work.
• Lead database management (Salesforce) for Development activities. Assess current donor data and develop a plan and continuously iterate on optimizing and maintaining data integrity. Maintain an efficient and effective database. Ensure tracking in the database is accurate and up-to-date.
• Participate in the Scholarship Committee to award scholarships to Alder GSE candidates and align donor intent and restrictions with scholarship needs.

WRITING & COMMUNICATIONS - 35%

• Actively track, draft and submit well-written grant proposals and reports before deadlines.
• Lead the drafting of communication collateral for donors, including specialized appeals and other development communications (e.g. marketing materials, personalized emails, written solicitations, acknowledgment letters, and stewardship letters).
• Maintain current, thorough, and comprehensive understanding of Alder GSE’s mission, model, partners, programs, goals, and initiatives to serve as a reference for colleagues and to incorporate in donor communications and other advancement activities.
• Participate in managing the Board Development Committee, which includes coordinating with Alder GSE Board members, guiding agenda and material development, providing reports, attending meetings, and maintaining minutes.
• Manage consultants (as needed) to support development and communication efforts.

DONOR STEWARDSHIP & PROSPECT DEVELOPMENT - 15%

• Design events and engagement strategies. Project manage and attend donor events. Support and prepare the leadership team and Development Committee members at and for events.
• Identify and research prospective donors to diversify and grow the donor community (e.g. individuals, corporations, foundations, DAFs).
• Contribute to long-range planning of Alder GSE.
• Perform other related duties as directed.

QUALIFICATIONS

1) Required knowledge, skills & abilities:

• Demonstrated experience in core fundraising activities, including clear and persuasive grant writing (considering audience, purpose, tone, etc.), supporting donor-facing leaders to prepare for meetings and decisions, relationship management, project management, internet research, and data analysis.
• Demonstrated experience proactively maintaining and tracking detailed data (e.g. emails, meeting notes, historical records, giving histories, project dates, etc.) and managing it to make connections between data, research, notes and conversations.
• Track record of working on a high-paced, results-oriented team.
• Goal-oriented. Ability to apply creative thinking, while being persistent, motivated and energetic.
• Exceptionally detail-oriented, outstanding organization skills, and strong time-management skills.
• Strong project management skills with ability to plan, organize, prioritize, initiate, and execute on strategies and ideas, including informing supervisors’ activity.
• Excellent written communication skills.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with a variety of stakeholders.
• Strong interpersonal skills; must demonstrate good judgment, integrity, discretion and exercise diplomacy in dealing with a variety of constituents.
• Experience using and managing Salesforce, or another CRM (customer relationship management) system.
• Proficiency with Google Suite, MS Office, Canva and Adobe.
• Capacity and eagerness to learn quickly and work in rapidly changing environments.
• Personal commitment to education as a means to create positive change in our world.
• Experience working in or have knowledge of diverse communities.
• Preferred, but not required: Demonstrated knowledge of TK-12 public education, ideally in California context and in educator preparation.
• Enthusiasm for Alder’s mission and vision as well as the role and required tasks and desire to make a contribution to underserved communities across California.

2) Minimum educational level and experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required;
• Minimum 3-5 years of relevant experience in a complex institution, ideally in higher education, TK-12 schools and ideally in fundraising;
• Experience managing others; and
• Or equivalent combination of education and experience.

START DATE: Immediate

ROLE TYPE: Full-Time

LOCATION: The ideal candidate will be based out of our Home Office in Redwood City, California or work remotely from the Bay Area, Central Valley, Central Coast, or Los Angeles with periodic visits to the Home Office.

Must present proof of identity and legal authorization to work in the United States.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be reasonably met to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Occasionally lift and/or move a minimum of 30 pounds. While performing the duties of this job, frequently required to sit, stand, move, feel, reach with hands and arms, and communicate in person and by telephone. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: The office work environment characteristics are representative of those in a typical office which one might encounter while performing the essential functions of this job. The noise, exposure to dust, oils, and cleaning chemicals are moderate. Work may be performed in indoor and/or outdoor environments. There may be some moderate exposure to childhood and/or other diseases in a school environment. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

CA FAIR CHANCE ACT: Alder GSE will consider qualified applicants with a criminal history pursuant to the California Fair Chance Act. You do not need to disclose your criminal history or participate in a background check until a conditional job offer is made to you. After making a conditional offer and running a background check, Alder GSE is concerned about a conviction that is directly related to the job, you will be given the chance to explain the circumstances surrounding the conviction, provide mitigating evidence, or challenge the accuracy of the background report.

BENEFITS & COMPENSATION

Compensation commensurate with experience. Generous benefits package, including group health, dental, and vision insurance, retirement plan, vacation package, and more.

Established salary range for the role is $88,000-$100,000 annually, and commensurate with experience and location.

Applications will continue to be accepted until the position is filled.

It is the policy of Alder Graduate School of Education to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. Alder is an equal opportunity employer, and we value diversity.