Salary Range: $82,000.00 to 92,000.00, Annually
Department: Advancement & Partnerships
Reports to: Director, Advancement & Partnerships
The Washington Center (TWC) is a leader in the development and delivery of experiential learning programs built to serve learners and employers. Our mission is to create flexible, immersive pathways to enhance the pipeline of diverse talent and build more equitable, inclusive workplaces and communities. Since our 1975 founding, we've helped more than 67,000 individuals from across the U.S. and around the globe expand their academic pursuits into rewarding jobs and careers.
The Office of Advancement & Partnerships is seeking a creative, experienced advancement professional who is entrepreneurial and collaborative to serve as the Assistant Director, Advancement & Partnerships. The individual will report to the Director of Advancement and work closely with the Executive Director, Advancement & Partnerships to build a strong culture of philanthropy throughout TWC’s alumni community. Under the supervision of the Director, the Assistant Director will lead the design and implementation of strategic engagement, cultivation, and solicitation efforts that inspire new and renewed support from alumni and a broader donor community. The Assistant Director will leverage their proven experience and understanding of best practices in donor partnerships, executing regional and affinity programming, engaging and soliciting individuals, and building a pipeline of dedicated supporters and prospective donors from the alumni, corporate, and foundation communities.
The Washington Center is a remote/hybrid organization with most employees working on average one day per week in TWC’s Residential and Academic Facility, conveniently located near Union Station and public transportation in the NoMa neighborhood of Washington, DC. Given our organizational mission focus on skills, workforce development and collaboration, there are times where cross-collaboration among teams and departments will require more than one day per week in the office. The individual in this role is expected to reside in the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area and will require some business travel to visit with prospects and donors.
Key Job Functions
Fundraising & Donor Engagement
- Design, manage and execute an annual alumni engagement strategy through the use of email, social media, and in-person events.
- Support the creation of donor engagement and partnership opportunities that inspires giving and creates a rewarding donor experience.
- Identify alumni giving trends and patterns using the CRM system to apply best practices for segmentations and customized messaging and communications.
- Design a matching gifts program and leverage strategies to maximize alumni giving using employer data.
- Leverage alumni leaders and P2P strategies in support of achieving alumni giving participation goals, fundraising targets, and the alumni employer engagement when opportunities arise.
- Work closely with IT and Marketing departments to manage and troubleshoot software and applications that support gift transactions, communications, tracking, and receipting.
Alumni Engagement, Programming & Events
- Track and report trends on concentrations of TWC alumni (e.g., geographic residency, employment industry and career advancements) and use this data to develop and enhance engagement strategies.
- Plan and execute approved virtual and regional engagements and strategies for the Alumni Leadership Council bolstering year over year growth in metrics.
- Oversee pre-event registration processes and post-event follow up to ensure a smooth seamless experience for all constituencies.
- Develop surveys and feedback mechanisms to evaluate alumni programs and experiences.
- Assist in the reimagining and tracking of alumni volunteer opportunities (e.g., mentors, panelists, speakers).
- Collaborate with Communications and Marketing staff to develop attractive invitations, volunteer materials, partnership recognition and sponsorship materials as applicable.
- Develop systems to track engagement, pledges, event sponsorships/revenue and guests' participation.
Portfolio Management
- Develop and manage a personal portfolio of up to 75 leadership annual giving prospects and conduct regular outreach and visits to build relationships and grow philanthropic engagement.
- Conduct all stages of the gift solicitation process: discover, qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward individual donors in assigned portfolio.
- Build relationships based on credibility, trust, knowledge, and understanding of prospective and current supporters’ values and priorities.
- Travel as often as necessary to meet with prospects and/or to bring together benefactors, prospects and/or scholarship recipients.
- Maintain plans and opportunities for assigned portfolio as well as all other activity relative to assigned donors, prospects, programming, and events in the CRM database, including meaningful interactions, and ensuring the accuracy of the data entry.
Other Duties as Assigned
Required Education and Experience
An equivalent combination of education, training, and experience will be considered:
- Bachelor’s Degree required
- 4-6 years of proven professional work experience in a fundraising operation
- Proven track record of soliciting, cultivating, and closing annual gifts from individuals, corporations and/or foundations
- Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office 365, as well as major social media platforms, and a fundraising CRM system (Salesforce preferred)
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
Preferred Education/Qualifications and Experience
- Proven experience working in private school/higher education fundraising, alumni relations or related non-profit fundraising.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills.
- Ability to work independently of daily supervision.
- Demonstrates professionalism, persistence, initiative, and tact in building and maintaining relationships.
- Ability to ask and bring closure to annual gifts.
- Demonstrated ability to exercise judgment and conduct oneself in a professional and ethical manner in interactions with high-level stakeholders.
- Must be able to work with highly sensitive and confidential information.
- Experience planning and implementing projects including managing the development of projects, timelines, assessment, and reporting.
- Must have the ability and willingness to travel, including overnights, evenings, and weekends as necessary.
Supervisory Responsibility
- As the department grows, supervisory responsibilities for junior staff/positions is likely.
Competencies Required to Perform the Job Successfully
- Leads/Empowers People, Develops Relationships, Inspires Trust
- Effective Prioritization
- Cross-functional Capacity
- Strategic Operational Thinking
- Analytical Thinking/Problem Solving
- Self-Awareness
- Change Management
- Attention to detail
- Customer Satisfaction
- High-level Time Management
The Washington Center’s Values
Values which guide our mission work in every regard – internally and externally:
- Equity & Inclusion
- Learning
- Connection & Collaboration
- Integrity
- Impact
Location
This is a hybrid position based in the Washington, DC metro area.
Equipment Used to Perform the Job
May be representative but not all inclusive of those commonly associated with this position:
- Cloud-based technologies
- Standard company laptop
- Job-related software
We Take Care of Our People
Our Mission is to create flexible, immersive pathways to enhance the pipeline of diverse talent and build more equitable, inclusive workplaces and communities. Whether you’re looking to launch a new career or grow an existing one, TWC is the type of organization where you can balance rewarding work with a great life. Your age is only a number. It doesn’t matter if you’re just out of college or your children are; we need you for what you can do to better the lives of students.
We strive to have parity of benefits across the organization and, while regulations differ from place to place, we believe taking care of our people is the right thing to do.
- Competitive pay based on your experience
- Health coverage for you and your family in all locations
- Ability to work in a remote or hybrid environment
- Generous number of vacation days each year with company closure the last week of the year between Christmas and New Year
- Half Friday’s restoration and development
- One day per year use toward volunteer projects you love
- Embracing parenthood with a max of 15 extra days of parental leave
- Recognize all Federal Holidays
- One-Hundred-and-fifty-dollar stipend towards office equipment
Physical Abilities
Commonly associated with the performance of the functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation can be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform described essential functions of this job. These physical demands are representative of the physical requirements necessary for an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job:
- Specific vision abilities required for this job include close vision to work on a computer.
- While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, use repetitive wrist, hand, and/or finger movement, reach with hands and arms and talk or hear.
- The employee may be required to stand and walk.
Application Instructions
To apply to this position, please do so via our online application form.
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This job description no way states or implies that these are the only duties performed by the employee occupying this position. Employees may be required to follow other job-related instructions and to perform other job-related duties as requested, subject to all applicable state and federal laws.
Certain job functions described herein may be subjected to possible modification in accordance with applicable state and federal laws.
The Washington Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is the policy of The Washington Center 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. Provisions in applicable laws providing for bona fide occupational qualifications, business necessity or age limitations will be adhered to by the organization where appropriate.
The Washington Center stands in solidarity with all marginalized communities. We believe communities are strengthened by the inclusion of and equity for all people. Racism, hate, and violence have no place in our society, and we condemn all such acts. We are committed to becoming an anti-racist and anti-hate organization.
We commit to continuously striving for diversity, equity and inclusion through ongoing education and self-awareness. At The Washington Center, each person brings unique and varied experiences which inform our thoughts, actions, and decision-making processes. Our mission is to create an inclusive, safe environment for our staff and our students, where everyone’s differences are celebrated, every perspective is valued, and everyone feels safe to bring forth their authentic selves.