Development Manager

Overview

Ascend seeks a Development Manager who will support the fundraising and donor engagement strategy set by the Advancement Office. Ascend has built and launched their first multi-year development strategy and campaign. Reporting to the Chief Advancement Officer (CAO), the Development Manager will be charged with providing administrative support to the Advancement team's revenue generation and brand visibility efforts to achieve Ascend's multi-year plan and goals.

Responsibilities

Ascend is the largest Brooklyn-based public charter school serving nearly 6,000 K-12 students in 17 schools. We exist to serve every student - to help them embody their inherent excellence by providing rich, joyful learning experiences that unlock a life of boundless choice.

Access to education is a social justice issue. As educators, we center justice and live out our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism (DEIA) by ensuring that our students have the skills, tools, and confidence they need to thrive today and in the future. We are proud to have a workforce that mirrors the diversity seen in our students. Working at Ascend provides a community focused on developing an environment of support and belonging. Educators collaborate closely and encourage each other to achieve great outcomes.

Our schools honor, nurture, and challenge the whole child. Ascend fosters critical thinking skills and a love of learning through an inquiry-based learning approach, Responsive Classroom model, and anti-racist education. Students at Ascend benefit from a rich and rigorous liberal arts curriculum that nurtures natural curiosity about the world and guides them to think critically and independently.

Ascend invests in employees by providing ongoing professional development, coaching, and career pathways in our schools. We are proud to provide a generous benefits package, which includes flexibility in our healthcare plan, and 403(b) matching starting at year one. At Ascend, we care about our workforce's mental health and offer services covered by insurance and additional time off for our staff to utilize for their personal care.

For more information on Ascend Public Charter Schools' model, approach, and core values, please visit our website.

Qualifications

Roles and Responsibilities

Primary duties include administrative oversight of campaigns and events, gift management, meeting and event planning, managing the CAO's calendar, and prospect research and support of the donor prospect pipeline. Specific duties:

Campaign and Event Support

• Provide administrative and logistical support on all Advancement events and Development campaigns
  
• Support the design and planning of fundraising, cultivation, and stewardship events and campaigns, including overseeing operational support and logistics, and assigning duties to other staff as needed
  
• Prepare materials for events and campaigns in consultation with Advancement Leadership (invitations, programs, flyers, micro-websites, etc.)
  
• Record, track and report campaign engagement and event attendance data to appropriate departments and internal committees
  

Data Entry, Gift Processing, and Reporting

• Manage the entry and acknowledgement process for all gifts in a timely and appropriate manner
  
• Support monthly gift reconciliation in conjunction with the Finance Team
  
• Data management including creating and updating records and running quality control reports to ensure accurate and complete records and integrity within Hubspot or similar CRM
  
• Provide reports on giving activities, fundraising and campaign goals tracking, and other information as requested by Advancement leadership
  
• Support management and tracking processes for donor and prospect pipelines, including maintaining updated history of interactions with donors, prospects, Trustees, volunteers, alumni, and other key partners
  

Administrative and Logistical Support

• Provide support to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), CAO, and Managing Director of Advancement (MD) in donor cultivation, stewardship, and prospecting efforts
  
• Assist in the collection and inventory of information, resources, and records in support of strategic fundraising activities and goals
  
• Draft biographical, financial, and philanthropic bios and briefings on prospects, donors, and Board members in support of cultivation, solicitation, and engagement efforts
  
• Prepare and/or provide material such as agendas, information packets, and presentations for CEO/CAO/MD meetings and donor/prospect visits
  
• Manage the maintenance of the CAOs calendar: arrange for, schedule and confirm appointments
  
• Provide administrative support to the Development team as needed
  
• Complete special projects as assigned by the CAO
  

Ascend Staff and Reporting Relationships

The Development Manager reports to the Chief Advancement Officer, and works closely with the Managing Director of Advancement, as well as the Chief Executive Officer and Special Assistant to the CEO.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree
  
• Minimum of 3 years of professional experience
  
• Experience with donor database software or CRM platform
  
• Computer literacy, including extensive knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Google Suite
  
• Familiarity with social media channels, simple graphic design, and Canva is a plus
  
• Willing and able to work some evenings and weekends
  

Skills and Traits
The Development Manager must demonstrate:

• Passion and commitment to education and Ascend's ultimate goal of closing the achievement gap
  
• Superb organizational, project management, self-management, and problem-solving skills
  
• Ability to handle sensitive information with discretion and good judgment
  
• Superior analytical skills and comfort with data
  
• Excellent written and oral communications skills
  
• High level of professionalism with excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work closely with staff and volunteer leadership, as well as external partners
  
• A hunger for feedback and an openness to engage in a process of self-improvement
  
• Alignment with the educational philosophy and core beliefs of Ascend Learning
  

Compensation
Initial salary offers for this position range from $70,000-$80,000. Salaries are determined using an equitable compensation scale that accounts for years of experience and levels of attained education. This position operates on a year-round schedule.

Diversity at Ascend

Ascend is committed to building a diverse and inclusive community, both through our hiring practices and our focus on creating a culture and environment where diverse perspectives, ideas, and identities are valued and integrated into our way of working and educating students. Ascend staff represent a wide diversity of racial, socio- economic, gender, religious, and national identities-opening a window to the entire Ascend community on the richness of humanity. We welcome all applicants who share our mission and vision to join us in our deeply consequential work.