Job Location
Lifsey-Development
Job Summary:
The Development Associate plays a key role in supporting the Development Department with a strong focus on donor stewardship and data management. This position is responsible for ensuring timely and personalized donor engagement, maintaining accurate and up-to-date donor records, and generating data-driven insights to enhance fundraising strategies.
The Development Associate will promote a positive work environment that celebrates our vision, mission and core values of Teamwork, Respect, Uprightness and Empowerment in every action and interaction with team members, donors, customers, management and persons served.
Job Description
Essential Functions
Donor Stewardship
- Assists in the execution of donor recognition and engagement plans, including thank-you communications, stewardship events, and personalized outreach.
Data Management
- Oversees accurate data entry and maintenance within the donor database.
- Regularly updates donor contact information, gift records, and communication logs.
- Generates reports and analyzes donor data to support fundraising campaigns and track progress toward goals.
Gift Processing
- Accurately records donations, produces acknowledgment letters and tax receipts in a timely manner, and ensures proper documentation of donor intent and fund allocation.
Administrative Support
- Provides administrative assistance to the development team, including scheduling meetings, preparing materials, processing purchase orders, managing receipts, and supporting special projects as needed.
Communication & Collaboration
- Maintains effective internal communication with development team members and collaborates cross-departmentally to support organization-wide fundraising initiatives.
- Other duties as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications
Required Skills
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in nonprofit management, communications, marketing, or related field preferred; equivalent experience will be considered.
Experience
- 1-3 years of experience in fundraising, event coordination, or nonprofit administration.
- Experience working with donor databases/CRM systems (Virtuous preferred).
- Experience with donor stewardship, such as writing thank-you letters, generating mail merges, crafting and sending emails.
- Experience with gift processing, acknowledgment workflows, or tax receipt procedures.
- Intermediate user with Microsoft Suite
- Experience generating data reports, segmenting donor lists, or supporting fundraising analytics is a big plus.
Knowledge / Skills
- Strong attention to detail (critical for managing data and donor records).
- Solid written communication skills (for donor correspondence and acknowledgments).
- Comfort with spreadsheets and working with data sets.
- Strong organizational and time-management skills.
- Ability to handle confidential donor information with discretion.
- Commitment to the mission and values of the organization.