Development Program Specialist

The Nature Conservancy (All); Virginia; Hybrid; USD 52,000 - 72,000; Full time

Job summary

The Nature Conservancy’s Virginia Development team is seeking a Development Program Specialist to secure funding and sustain financial support for conservation priorities. This remote role in EST hours will handle gift processing, donor data management, and dashboard reporting.

You will manage donor records in Blackbaud CRM, generate reports, support pledge reviews, and collaborate across philanthropy and finance to improve workflows while maintaining confidentiality and accuracy.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 2 years of experience in gift coding or database management.
• Experience working with CRM relational databases and data tracking.
• Strong written and verbal communication across teams.

Responsibilities

• Process and manage all commitments (pledges and gifts) for Virginia BU.
• Create financial and non-financial adjustments for all Virginia BU.
• Create Grant ID requests, in collaboration with Finance.
• Development support for Virginia quarterly pledge reviews.
• Troubleshooting of delayed processing and uncommitted batches.
• Ensure that all revenue coding adheres to SOP requirements and provides advice to team.
• Manage database maintenance.
• Conduct research on prospective and current donors, creating briefings and updating donor profiles in the database.
• Demonstrate sensitivity in handling confidential information.
• Assist in ad-hoc projects and tasks.
• Act independently on assigned tasks and exercise independent judgment based on analysis and experience.
• Coordinate a variety of complex projects, working within a defined timeline and budget.
• Ensure compliance with TNC policies and procedures, and external (donor/legal/IRS) requirements.
• Travel to Virginia or other TNC locations at least twice a year for TNC-related workshops or projects.

Skills

CRM databases

Relationship building

Data reporting

Attention to detail

Cross-team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

What We Can Achieve Together:

The Development Program Specialist will be an integral part of the Virginia Development team, whose goal is to secure funding and ensure financial sustainability for the conservation priorities of the Virginia Business Unit and beyond. This is a remote position in the Eastern Standard Time zone and expected to work 9am – 5pm EST.

The Specialist will be responsible for all aspects of gift processing to ensure that donor gifts are received and acknowledged as per TNC’s best practices and compliance. They will manage gift coding, record gifts in the donor database and work with other philanthropy and finance staff to track donor commitments and associated documentation, as well as reporting requirements. The Specialist will prepare and update fundraising dashboards and track philanthropic contributions.

The Specialist, with the Development Operations Manager, will serve as subject matter expert for data management in the donor database (Blackbaud CRM).They will create, update, and maintain constituent records and perform data entry functions for the team as needed. They will produce reports and queries from the donor database in support of fundraising efforts including events, donor mailings, and pledge reminder letters. They may assist with special initiatives.

The Specialist will conduct research on prospective and current donors and support the writing of strategic internal and external facing documents.

The Specialist must maintain advanced skills with the systems in order to execute tasks and provide support to team members. They will implement processes and practices in order to improve effectiveness based on their in-depth understanding of related policies and procedures. The Specialist will effectively communicate and collaborate widely with internal stakeholders and assist staff in making decisions, solving problems, and improving workflows. They will maintain a robust peer network to stay up to date on best practice

We’re Looking for You:

Want to help save the planet? The Nature Conservancy’s Virginia program works to create a future where people and nature thrive together. Our innovative science-based solutions are designed to secure clean water in our rivers and bays, restore healthy forests from the Appalachians to the Atlantic, protect our oceans and coasts, and foster resilient communities. We are looking for a self-driven individual who is able to work independently in a fast-paced environment. Relationship building, project coordination and intellectual curiosity will be key to this role.

Responsibilities & Scope:

• Process and manages all commitments (pledges and intentions), outright gift processing and any other contributions for Virginia Business Unit


• Create financial and non-financial adjustments for all Virginia Business Unit


• Create Grant ID requests, in collaboration with Finance


• Development support for Virginia quarterly pledge reviews


• Troubleshooting of delayed processing and uncommitted batches, in collaboration with Director of Development Operations


• Ensure that all revenue coding adheres to SOP requirements and provides advice to team


• Manage database maintenance


• Conduct research on prospective and current donors, creating briefings and updating donor profiles in the database


• Demonstrate sensitivity in handling confidential information


• Assist in ad-hoc projects and tasks


• Act independently on assigned tasks and exercise independent judgment based on analysis and experience


• Coordinate a variety of complex projects, working within a defined timeline and budget


• Ensure compliance with TNC policies and procedures, and external (donor/legal/IRS) requirements


• Travel to Virginia or other TNC locations at least twice a year for TNC-related workshops or projects

What You’ll Bring:

• Bachelor’s degree and 2 years of experience in gift coding or database management or equivalent combination.


• Experience working with CRM relational databases, including managing and tracking data.


• Experience building relationships with staff, customers, or similar.


• Strong organization skills, accuracy, and attention to detail.


• Experience generating reports and interpreting data.


• Experience in business writing, editing, and proofreading.


• Experience working across teams.
  

Desired Qualifications:

• Multi-lingual skills and multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience are appreciated.


• Ability to analyze information for the purpose of coordinating or planning activities and solving problems.


• Ability to work under pressure and perform repetitive data entry tasks.


• Experience interpreting guidelines to achieve desired results.

• Ability to communicate clearly about a variety of complex topics, verbally and in writing.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office