Development Assistant

instituteforjustice; Arlington (VA); Hybrid; USD 50,000 - 55,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid schedule

Flexible hours

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Disability insurance

Life insurance

HSA contributions

401(k) match

Casual dress

PTO & holidays

Job summary

The Institute for Justice in Arlington, VA seeks an assistant-level donor relations associate to process and acknowledge gifts of $1,000 and up, ensuring accurate donor records and tailored acknowledgment letters for major gifts.

You will communicate with supporters by phone and email, assist with fundraising programs, travel planning, and donor events, while upholding IJ’s reputation for thoughtful, timely responses.

Qualifications

• 0-2 years of professional office experience.
• Attention to detail with error-free work.
• Communicate with donors by phone and email professionally.
• Write clear, personalized donor correspondence.
• Handle confidential donor and financial information discreetly.
• Able to manage multiple tasks and deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Process and acknowledge donations of $1,000+ and route letters for review.
• Personalize acknowledgments for major gifts $25,000+ reflecting donor’s interests.
• Ensure donor records coded accurately based on latest giving.
• Manage Development's primary mass email inbox and draft replies to donor questions.
• Support IJ's major gifts program through data hygiene and travel planning.
• Coordinate in-house magazine and appeal mailings front to back.

Skills

Attention to detail

Donor communications

Written correspondence

Multi-tasking

Discretion handling confidential data

Phone & email etiquette

Microsoft Word & Excel

Outlook

Team collaboration

Problem solving

Tools

Salesforce

CRM software

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Outlook

Job description

The Institute for Justice is a national public interest law firm that litigates to protect private property rights, economic liberty, and free speech. IJ represents its clients free of charge, supported by the contributions of a broad base of individual and foundation donors.

In this position, you will support the cultivation and stewardship of some of IJ's most dedicated supporters by processing and acknowledging all donations of $1,000 and up, from midpoint supporters through major donors giving $25,000 or more. This includes accurate entry and coding of each gift, producing the acknowledgment letter that goes back to the donor, and, for IJ's largest gifts, personalizing that letter to reflect the donor's particular interests or history with the organization. Ensuring accurate record coding is critical to maintaining donor relationships, and this role will be responsible for keeping clean data for some of our most dedicated supporters.

Beyond gift entry, you will also regularly communicate with supporters to help facilitate their gifts, answer questions about their giving, or to respond to feedback after a mass email is sent. Issuing thorough and accurate responses in a timely manner is a hallmark of IJ's fundraising program, and this position plays a key role in upholding that reputation. You will also contribute to other donor engagement and solicitation efforts, including travel planning for team members meeting with supporters, production of quarterly informational donor webinars, and organization of in-house mailings for our bimonthly magazine and appeal mailings (our primary means of solicitation).

Characteristics: The ideal candidate brings the close attention to detail that gift processing demands, writes clearly and warmly enough to represent IJ in correspondence with its supporters, and is comfortable picking up the phone. This is an entry point into donor relations; it is best suited to someone who is organized by instinct, invested in the work supporters make possible, and willing to own a process end to end.

Responsibilities

• Process and acknowledge all donations of $1,000 and up, including gift entry, producing letters of acknowledgment, and routing them for review and signature.
• Personalize acknowledgments for major gifts of $25,000 and above so they reflect the donor’s interests and relationship with IJ.
• Ensure donor records are coded accurately based on the donor’s latest giving, with particular attention to communication preferences.
• Manage Development's primary mass email inbox, drafting timely replies to donor questions and routing other inquiries to the appropriate team member for response.
• Support IJ's major gifts program through data hygiene work, collecting program data for board and fiscal-year reporting, travel planning for donor meetings, and donor events.
• Coordinate IJ's in-house magazine and appeal mailings front to back, from segmenting and printing through stuffing, stamping, and mailing.

Required Skills

• 0-2 years of experience working in a professional office setting
• Strong attention to detail and a commitment to producing error-free work
• Comfort communicating directly with donors by phone and email in a professional, warm, and accurate manner
• Ability to write clear, concise, and personalized correspondence
• Proven ability to independently manage multiple tasks and deadlines, including during periods of high donation volume
• Interpersonal skills, capacity to work effectively with different teams and team members
• Ability to manage confidential donor and financial information with discretion
• Ability to troubleshoot unexpected errors that arise
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools (particularly Word and Excel) and Outlook

Preferred Qualifications

• Salesforce or similar CRM experience
• Gift processing, donation entry, or other nonprofit development experience

Benefits

• Hybrid work schedule
• Flexible work hours with our core business hours of 10am and 4pm
• Health, Dental, and Vision insurance (IJ covers 100% of individual premiums)
• Free Short-Term Disability, Long-Term Disability, and Life insurance plans
• HSA employer contributions
• 401(k) with employer matches
• Smart casual dress code with casual Fridays
• Generous PTO package of accruing sick and vacation hours in addition to a paid personal day and floating and traditional holidays

This position is posted at the Assistant level with a salary range of $50,000-$55,000.

IJ is an equal opportunity employer.

Don't meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At IJ we value a diverse workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

To learn more about our culture and benefits, visit our Working at IJ page. No phone calls please.

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