Job Summary:
Reporting to and in partnership with the Chief Advancement Officer, the Director of Development will plan and implement a development and fundraising program to provide for the short- and long-term needs of the organization. A new position in the organization, the Director of Development will need to be both strategic and hands-on, with the opportunity to build a team and a development function for the organization.
Supervisory Responsibilities:
- Oversees the financial development office and staff.
- Assigns, plans, and oversees the work of departmental staff.
- Conducts performance evaluations that are timely and constructive.
- Handles discipline and termination of employees as needed and in accordance with company policy.
Duties/Responsibilities:
- Works with the Chief Advancement Officer to determine the mission, purpose, and priorities of the philanthropy team.
- Sets annual monetary goals and budgets according to short- and long-term goals.
- Establishes fundraising objectives for the organization, setting one year, five year, and longer-term goals.
- Maintains a list of potential financial donors including corporations, foundations, and individuals.
- Produces relevant and informative fundraising literature for distribution to previous donors and the public.
- Researches potential sources of, and supervises what the organization applies for, grants and public funding.
- Oversees the fundraising process and maintains records of receipts and disbursements of funds.
- Manages the day to day operations of the department
- Performs other related duties as assigned.
Required Skills/Abilities:
- Extensive knowledge of fundraising strategies and principles.
- Excellent management and supervisory skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Excellent interpersonal skills.
Education and Experience:
- Bachelors degree required.
- Five years of experience in fundraising for a nonprofit organization highly preferred.
- Understanding of tax planning principles and techniques that favor charitable giving.
- Knowledge of Salesforce highly preferred.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite or similar software.
Aspire Living & Learning serves people who are neurodiverse; indeed, a diverse community. These individuals present with a range of abilities, including, but not limited to autism, emotional disturbance, ADHD and intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). In addition, the individuals-supported identities span economic, racial, religious, family, country of origin, and LGBTQ spectrums.
For our organization as a whole, Aspire believes diversity and inclusion improve our services to the I/DD community. I/DD support is challenging work; requiring creativity, compassion, problem-solving, and risk-taking. Discrimination and racism are abhorred organizationally, and are counterproductive to providing effective, humane services to our clients.
Aspire has strong relationships with immigrant communities and others of diverse backgrounds. By employing diverse staff members with different lived experiences, they bring their differences to these critical roles, resulting in more culturally sensitive, well-matched services that can address each person’s unique needs.
Aspire believes we must play an active role in creating a community that is diverse, inclusive and equitable in order to successfully fulfill our mission to serve neurodiverse children and adults who are discovering their passions, unlocking potential, and thriving. Our work benefits greatly from the contributions of people of color, people from working class backgrounds, women, LGBTQ people, and individuals with disabilities. That’s why we actively seek potential employees, board members and partners with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities
Aspire strives toward a staff and board that reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. Currently, 64 percent of Aspire’s employees identify as BIPOC, while four percent of the people served by Aspire are BIPOC. With 84 percent of our executive leadership team and 78 percent of the board of directors identifying as white, we recognize that the organization has work to do to create equity and representation across all levels of the organization. To that end, we are embarking on a video project to highlight the career paths of colleagues who started at Aspire, or in the I/DD field, in entry-level Direct Support Professional roles, and are now in roles as diverse as Director of Finance, Director of HR Shared Services, Shared Living Coordinator, and Quality Enhancement & Training Manager to name a few. Using real life, familiar examples will help employees from marginalized communities imagine what is possible, with Aspire supporting them along the way. That support might come in the form of our professional mentorship program (currently starting its second cohort) internal and external training, attendance at conferences, or myriad other professional development opportunities.