Development and Communications Associate

Founded in 1968 in the Lower East Side by a pioneering group of parents and educators, Corlears School is a small New York City independent school located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Over fifty years since its founding, Corlears School has become firmly established among independent schools in New York City. The original founding families believed in the progressive approach to education and creating a rich educational foundation for young children where they could explore, question and take their learning beyond the classroom. Along with this original pedagogical approach, the school has retained a deep commitment to maintaining a community that welcomes and includes children and families from diverse racial, cultural, socioeconomic, gender, sexual identity and religious backgrounds. The Corlears community values an inquiry-based, constructivist approach to instruction, responsiveness to student exploration, and the role of teacher as a guide to student learning. We are committed to creating an environment and shaping a curriculum that is equitable and inclusive for all. We aim to create a collaborative teaching environment by supporting the partnership of teaching teams. Our small and dynamic community makes working at Corlears an opportunity for professional growth.

This and all Corlears School job descriptions are intended to describe the type of work being performed by a person assigned to this position.  It is not an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities required by the employee. Job descriptions are subject to change and can be updated throughout the school year.

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Role Description

The Development and Communications Associate is an essential role to support the administrative team and ensure an effective, streamlined approach to communications through effective database management and administrative operations. This role is vital to maintaining school business, enrollment, fundraising, and marketing operations. 

Key Responsibilities

Development

Support the school's fundraising efforts through the Annual Fund and Gala, as well as campaign-related activities, events, and communication related to fundraising. 

• Track and report on annual giving and financial reporting as needed
• Donor reports and briefings as needed
• Send acknowledgement letters to donors
• Support event coordination, including researching/securing venue, invites, catering, and related needs 
• Support follow-up communications and meeting coordination
• Maintain and develop appropriate mailing lists to support development events
• Input of gift donations in database, and track donations throughout the school year

Database Administration and Registrar

Support the school's educational operations and integrity of student and parent data through CRM maintenance that includes entering, exporting, and importing data throughout a number of tools including (but not limited to) TADS, Sawyer, HubSpot, Ravenna, and Google Sheets.

• Generating class directories
• Preparing and sending student report cards to families
• Generating student transcripts as needed
• Maintaining and updating enrollment, enrollment agreements, and financial aid information in TADS
• Database cleanup and optimization
• List creation and segmentation for development and other communications
• Systems audit and discovery

Communications 

Collaborate with the Communications Director, Director of Marketing and Engagement, Educational Program Team, Admissions Director, and Director of Business to ensure timely, accurate, streamlined communication with current and prospective Corlears families through multiple channels (email, print, etc.). 

• Creation and distribution of parent flyers
• Decorating bulletin boards
• Creating and maintaining website pages as needed
• Email-writing and editing as needed
• Maintaining the internal and external events calendar
• Create registration pages for events on Humanitix and Zoom

Key Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience
• 3-5 years of work experience
• Experience with database work, and familiarity with or willingness to learn the following cloud-based tools and programs: HubSpot, Humanitix, Canva, Sawyer, Docusign, TADS, Ravenna, and Google Sheets
• Experience with importing and exporting data, and with mail merge
• Experience working in nonprofit organizations or development offices preferred 
• Direct experience in communications, marketing, or marketing operations preferred 
• Some understanding of how data is tabled in databases, and how different systems and information can be integrated either through open API, direct integration, or automation
• Demonstrated ability to self-manage, project-manage, and prioritize (with support from the supervisor)

Essential Qualities:

• Align with the school's mission and core values
• Demonstrate a personal and professional commitment to equity & inclusion
• Have the ability to connect to and collaborate with a diverse community 
• Demonstrate emotional intelligence to identify and manage emotions in positive ways 
• Demonstrate a keen self-awareness and strong interpersonal communication skills that support positive relationships with various constituents in the school community
• Have the motivation, skill, and positive outlook to collaborate with colleagues
• Demonstrate depth of technical knowledge and skill as evidenced by previous experiences 
• Keen attention to detail
• Commitment to self-reflection and professional growth
• Customer-first mindset

Background Check Requirements:

Please note that Section 424-A of the New York State Social Service Law requires that all employees be cleared with the State Central Registry to determine if they are the subject of an indicated child abuse or maltreatment report. Also, all employees are subject to be fingerprinted by a school approved private vendor.

Health Requirements: 

All employees are required to have received one COVID vaccine series (but not a booster).Should the DOH institute a mandate for any vaccination, including COVID vaccination, we will require staff to comply, with due time and notice from the school

Salary Range: $60,000–$70,000

Days/Hours: Full-Time (8 a.m.–4 p.m., in-person)

Term: 12 months

Reports To: Director of Marketing and Engagement

Start Date:  July 1st, 2024 

Apply: Email a resume to jobs@corlearsschool.org with the job title in the subject line.