Development Associate

Do you believe in the power of transformative relationships for girls? Are you ready to impact the Greater Boston community one girl at a time? If you answered yes, and the idea of being part of a collaborative, performance-driven, focused team excites you then join us! At Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, we have been helping girls reach their full potential through positive mentoring relationships with women since 1951. We are the largest mentoring organization in Greater Boston exclusively serving girls and an award-winning affiliate of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. 

Big Sister Boston is seeking a detail-oriented, solutions-focused individual to join our Development team. The Development team is essential in building relationships with donors to ensure that we are meeting annual and multi-year revenue goals to support our programs and operations. As a member of this team, you will play a key role in providing a meaningful experience to our donors and help the organization raise significant financial resources.  

The Development Associate is responsible for maintaining data in our Salesforce database that supports our fundraising efforts. This includes gift entry, processing, and acknowledgment; giving trends reporting; stewardship and cultivation strategies tracking; and supporting colleague’s data analysis. This position supports members of the development team with the information necessary to inform their business and relationship-management decisions.  In collaboration with the Manager of Database Administration and Evaluation, the DOC will work to identify best practices and recommend procedures and solutions for database accuracy and efficiency. The DOC is also responsible for ensuring that all fundraising software is operating properly.  

Strong candidates have an eye for detail, are driven to deliver accurate, timely information and understand how quality, back-office operations are essential in supporting a values-aligned and meaningful donor experience. This is a tremendous opportunity for those who are excited to work within a highly collaborative organization and are eager to gain exposure and contribute to all areas of development operations.  

Big Sister is committed to hiring staff who reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. Candidates of color, multilingual and multicultural candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. If you are interested in working at a well-established, dynamic and supportive organization committed to serving girls, please apply. 

Responsibilities:  

Development/Fundraising  

• Oversee all gift processing and donor follow up, such as gift/donor entry in Salesforce, acknowledgement letters, stewardship, etc. 
• Assist Development leadership with prospect research to identify new individual and institutional donors, creating donor profiles as requested 
• Organize materials for meetings with current and prospective funders 
• Create donor reports and fundraising dashboards to assist in donor solicitation and stewardship 
• Assist with the planning, organizing, record-keeping, gift processing, tracking, report generation and execution for fundraising and other donor-focused events 
• Manage assigned portfolio of donors via Gravyty 
• Responds to donor inquiries according to established standards 
• Support Development events  

Operations/Administration  

• Manage Development operations including daily gift records and reporting, donor acknowledgements, donor reports, donor inquiries, pledge documentation and payment schedules 
• Support Salesforce donor database management, strategy, and improvements 
• Perform records management and data clean up, suggesting process improvements to Development leadership for implementation.  
• Collaborate with all Development staff to ensure accurate data to advance donors' relationship with Big Sister Boston 
• Manage monthly invoice processes 
• Partner with the Senior Director of Development to ensure accuracy and high quality of all donor communications including donor impact reports, gift acknowledgments, pledge reminders, and phone and email queries 
• Provide donor giving profiles, corporate performance reports and other intelligence-gathering information as requested to support achievement of org-wide goals 
• Support direct mail and online campaigns, including the creation of mailing lists  
• Ensure database integrity and recommend procedural improvements 
• Work with Finance team to ensure accurate gift and pledge recording across systems 

Qualifications:  

• At least one year of non-profit fundraising experience  
• At least one year of database/CRM administration or other transferrable experience, with demonstrated ability to enter data and pull reports from a CRM database 
• Passion for and a proven track record of success in data management  
• Excellent at organizing, managing, and completing multiple complex projects and tasks simultaneously with thoroughness, accuracy, timeliness  
• Ability to prioritize daily, weekly, and long-term tasks independently.  
• Excited about and effective in working autonomously and within a cross-functional team 
• Enthusiastic about learning with the ability to give and receive constructive feedback 
• Awareness, understanding, and appreciation for being a positive contributor to a diverse, equitable and inclusive team 
• Excellent written and oral communication skills that are effective with a diverse range of audiences including board members, volunteers, internal staff, donors, executives, potential funding partners and all constituencies 
• Ability and appetite to take initiative and deliver a quality product  
• Facility with Microsoft Office Suite and comfort with data management systems (Big Sister uses a Salesforce database and OneCause fundraising software) 
• Availability and flexibility to work weekday mornings, evenings and weekends to support fundraising activities, as well as travel to varying local venues 

Reports to: Senior Director of Development  

Language Skills: Written and oral fluency in English 

Start date: May 2022  

Location: Big Sister Association Offices, 20 Park Plaza, Boston, MA. Our office will continue a hybrid working model that allows staff flexibility to work remote and in office. This role requires staff to work in office at least once a week, as well as the occasional weeknight or weekend.  

Compensation: This position offers a competitive salary starting at $51,411. . Full-time, exempt position. Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off and health benefits. 

Please send cover letter and resume with subject line Development Associate to: hr@bigsister.org . Please attach your cover letter, resumé as a Word document or a PDF. 

Big Sister Association of Greater Boston is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality, ability, age, gender identity or gender expression or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.