JOB OPPORTUNITY: Development Associate

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Development Associate

Posted by Sonoma Community Center

Posted: Aug, 30, 2021

Jobs/Internships - Wanted

Website: https://sonomacommunitycenter.org/

 (415) 696-3371

 276 E Napa St, Sonoma, CA, 95476

Hours per week: Full time, 40 hours per week, non-exempt
Pay rate: $23-26 per hour, depending on experience
Reports to: Executive Director
Benefits: Sick leave, paid vacation and holidays, 401(k) safe harbor retirement plan with 4% company match, health & dental insurance

About the Sonoma Community Center: Housed in the beautiful 107-year old Sonoma Grammar School building just off Sonoma Plaza, the Sonoma Community Center was founded in 1953 as a resource for community enrichment through the arts. Today, the mission of the Sonoma Community Center is to cultivate a vibrant community through extraordinary creative, cultural, and learning experiences. Driven by values of community, innovation, creativity, inclusion, and leadership, the Center offers a broad range of classes, events, and performances that encourage people from all walks of life to create, connect, thrive, and build community together.

About this position: As the Development Associate, you’ll work closely with the Executive Director and other staff to ensure that our fundraising, event, and volunteer management systems run smoothly. You’ll take primary responsibility for managing the administrative processes that make our success possible, participate in donor and volunteer engagement, and generally play a crucial role in ensuring that the Sonoma Community Center has the resources it needs to continue offering high-quality programming to our community.

Your responsibilities will include:

Donation processing & acknowledgement

  • Monitor the Community Center’s donation channels and take the lead on prompt processing and acknowledgement of all incoming gifts
  • Update acknowledgement letter templates quarterly and as needed for special campaigns in order to ensure that their content is relevant and engaging
  • Prepare acknowledgement letters for signature by the Executive Director, including modifying letters as necessary to add personalized touches

Membership Program

  • Promptly process all new membership sign-ups as well as renewals
  • Ensure that all lapsing members receive a timely renewal request
  • Act as primary customer service point of contact for members
  • Participate in the development and planning of regular member engagement and appreciation activities, including member-only events
  • Take the lead on creating a monthly members-only newsletter
  • Provide a monthly report on membership for the Executive Director and Board of Directors Fundraising & Development Support
  • Assist with direct mail and other fundraising campaigns by generating draft mailing lists and executing mail merge projects
  • Generate monthly reports that allow us to track our progress towards annual fundraising goals, including a Development Dashboard to be shared with the Board of Directors
  • Work closely with the Marketing Team to develop an engaging social media component for each Community Center fundraising campaign
  • Act as an ambassador for the Center out in the community

Database and data management

  • Use best practices to keep data in our systems current, accurate, and relevant, including regular cleaning and de-duplication
  • Serve as resident expert on our donor database and its capabilities
  • Work closely with the Bookkeeper to reconcile monthly fundraising records with our accounting software
  • Ensure regular updates to mailing lists in our marketing platform

Volunteer Coordination

  • Process incoming volunteer applications and lead the onboarding process for new volunteers – including screening interviews, collection of signed agreements, and ensuring that background checks are completed
  • Work with staff to recruit volunteers as needed for programs and events
  • Work with staff to ensure that all volunteers receive a clear job description and have an on-duty supervisor during their shift.
  • Ensure that all active and former volunteers are accurately recorded in our Donor Database, and included on our newsletter mailing list
  • Develop and implement annual volunteer appreciation and engagement activities

Event Support

  • Lead the administrative management of event-related fundraising, including silent auctions, sponsorship tracking, raffles, and/or fund-a-need processing
  • Supervise, track, and ensure successful close-out of all financial transactions taking place at and following events
  • Assist with guest check-in and check-out at events
  • Assist with event set-up and breakdown
  • Generate post-event reports to track fundraising success
  • Other duties as assigned

This job may be a fit for you if:

  • You pride yourself on your attention to detail
  • You have an interest in running and continually improving administrative systems
  • You have an interest in engaging your community around a worthy cause, and connecting people to volunteer and/or contribution opportunities
  • You are able to keep up with regular weekly tasks while also working on larger, longer-term projects
  • You have experience with spreadsheets and word processing software
  • You demonstrate empathy and respect in all interpersonal interactions
  • You can communicate with clarity and authenticity in both written and spoken English
  • You are able to work some evenings and weekends
  • A plus, but not required, is experience with a donor database or customer relationship management (CRM) system
  • A plus, but not required, is experience with an email marketing client like Constant Contact or Mailchimp
  • A plus, but not required, is experience with social media engagement
  • A plus, but not required, is written and oral fluency in Spanish

How to Apply: This position will be open until filled.

To apply, please send us:

  1. A resume outlining your fit for this position
  2. A short letter describing your interest in this role.

Please send your materials to Charlotte Hajer, Executive Director, at charlotte@sonomacommunitycenter.org.

Questions about the role? Please reach out to Charlotte Hajer at the email listed above or via phone/text at (415) 696-3371.

The Sonoma Community Center is committed to an equitable, inclusive, and accessible application process for the open Development Associate position. We are seeking applicants of all races, cultural backgrounds, abilities, and gender identities. If you require any assistance in accessing the job description or require an accommodated application process please reach out to Charlotte Hajer for more information.