Those who insist that we cannot solve America’s education problems without first solving poverty have it exactly backwards: we will never solve poverty until we guarantee a great education for all our children.
This belief inspires our work at 50CAN: The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now, a nonprofit advocacy organization that recruits and supports local leaders who build citizen movements in their states to ensure that every child has access to a great school. 50CAN is led by President & Founder Marc Porter Magee, and is built on the groundbreaking accomplishments of ConnCAN, where he spent six years as its chief operating officer. 50CAN operates campaigns in Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
As part of Team Growth at 50CAN, the Development Associate will play an integral role ensuring that day-to-day development activities progress smoothly. The Development Associate reports to the Senior Vice President of Growth.
Key Responsibilities
- Conduct in-depth research on individual, foundation and corporate prospects to proactively grow the state level funder pipeline.
- Write research memoranda summarizing prospect information and recommending cultivation strategies.
- Power map existing connections to discover new prospects and work collaboratively with executive directors to create innovative strategies for pursuing leads.
- Monitor a calendar of grant proposal and report deadlines, shepherding the creation of grant materials and carrying out final submission of proposals, reports, letters of inquiry and other development communications.
- Help populate and maintain a nonprofit Salesforce database with information on current and prospective donors and other key information.
- With the Development Manager and Director of Communications, reimagine 50CAN’s Salesforce, increasing its functionality and increasing adoption throughout the organization.
- Record gift information and draft acknowledgment letters for donors.
- Assist the 50CAN executive team, Team Growth and state executive directors with various projects on an as needed basis.
Key Skills, Abilities and Experience
The ideal candidate will be absolutely dedicated to the idea that great schools change everything. Additionally, he or she will demonstrate:
- Exceptional thinking, research, writing and editing skills.
- The ability to quickly gather and analyze information.
- A keen eye for detail and superb organizational skills.
- Candor, gumption and humility.
- The ability to establish and work towards long-term measurable goals.
- A knack for working independently, thinking creatively and taking initiative, while also taking the time to pause, be thoughtful and ask questions.
- A sense of humor, strong work ethic, a “roll-up-my-sleeves” attitude and a willingness to do “whatever it takes” in a fast-paced, highly collaborative startup work environment.
Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. 50CAN offers a comprehensive benefits package. Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume with “Development Associate” in the subject line to adena.silberstein@50can.org.
50CAN is an equal opportunity employer