Associate Director of Development

Associate Director of Development (Default) New York, NY, USA Full-time Company Description

Uncommon Schools is a non-profit network of 53 outstanding public charter schools in grades K-12 across New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Our mission is to start and manage outstanding urban public charter schools that close the achievement gap and prepare students from low-income backgrounds for success in college and beyond. We are accomplishing that mission every day, with a college graduation rate that is well above the national average and thousands of stories of our students and alumni achieving their dreams.

Job Description

Position Overview:

The Uncommon Schools Development Team is responsible for cultivating and stewarding relationships with individuals, corporations, foundations, and government entities with the goal of raising and sustaining philanthropic support necessary to support existing schools and open new schools to meet growing demand. Uncommon has a long and extensive track record of fundraising success, with many tenured and repeat donors. The Associate Director of Development will serve as an essential member of the team by synthesizing and crafting narrative approaches to communicate the Uncommon story to potential funders and other stakeholders.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

The Associate Director of Development will play a key role as the team’s resident writer, creating and managing institutional and individual grant proposals, as well as cultivation and stewardship materials. We’re looking for a versatile, audience-aware communicator who can support the strategic vision, effectively share the story of Uncommon’s impact, and build deep and lasting relationships with both donors and other Uncommon team members. Candidates will be team players who are responsive to the organization’s evolving needs and committed to ensuring team and organizational success. As the work evolves, you will have the opportunity to take on new responsibilities. We are looking for someone who is excited to help us grow and increase our impact!

Initiatives on which the Associate Director may work include but are not limited to:

• Lead the development of written content for grants and a variety of other communications that will frame, shape, and enhance the way we tell the Uncommon story to prospects and supporters.
• Ensure successful grants management by meeting all grant requirements including grant contract review and execution, tracking contract milestones, and completing grant reports.
• Write grant proposals to secure increased support from institutional funders.
• Build relationships with schools, regions, and Home Office teams to ensure key data points and information can help inform and tailor grant requests to strongly align with the grant making priorities of each donor
• Manage relationships with a portfolio of institutional funders together with the Senior Director of Development.
• Use Salesforce, our donor management system, to drive reporting and decision making across a portfolio of donors.

Qualifications

Preferred:

• Experience with institutional funders
• You intentionally build strong relationships—you have good relationships with the people with whom you work, and your colleagues trust that you will take their perspectives into account
• You’re a systematic thinker—you enjoy organizing information and input from different stakeholders and creating a proactive plan to move work forward that efficiently solves problems
• You get things done! You have a “whatever it takes” attitude and thrive on getting results. You expertly manage your time and priorities through strong organizational systems and diligent follow-through
• You are a flexible self-starter—you enjoy collaboration and take direction, but still know how essential it is to work independently to push forward towards the goals of your team
• You are committed to tracking and using donor data—you can make informed decisions and recommendations based on what you find in the data

Minimum:

• Excellent communication, especially writing and editing skills
• 3+ years of work experience in non-profit development, fundraising, grant writing, and donor or grants management
• A bachelor’s degree