Development Associate

CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS FOUNDATION•San Francisco, CA

22h•$32 - $36•Hybrid

About The Position

With a rich history spanning more than five decades, California State Parks Foundation champions the cause of California state parks, ensuring their protection and preservation for the greater good. By collaborating with park partners and dedicated park staff, as well as engaging policymakers in Sacramento, we actively address the challenges faced by our beloved parks. It is an exciting time for the organization as we recently released our 2024-2027 strategic plan, setting the path for continued growth. We are guided by our Justice, Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (JEID) commitments as well as our core organization values: A Bigger Tent, Future Forward, Connections Create Results, Celebrate California. The Development Associate is a critical team member that supports the execution of the development team’s strategy and goals to inspire renewed, upgraded, and new funding from major individual and institutional donors. This role aligns with California State Parks Foundation’s mission by providing administrative support to raise resources to fund parks, build climate resiliency, expand access to parks, enhance visitor experience, preserve history and culture, and protect wildlife and nature.

Requirements

Ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced, multi-task team environment
Minimum of 2 years of relevant experience
Interested in learning more about the California state park system, environmental, and/or conservation practices
Familiarity with tools such as Salesforce, Asana, Slack, SharePoint, iWave, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Expensify, Zoom preferred
Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite
Strong written and oral communication skills
Extremely organized with exceptional attention to detail
Committed to maintaining data integrity
Ability to work well independently and in a team-based environment
Willingness to pitch in and perform other tasks as needed
Ability and willingness to travel across California to state parks as needed (approximately 5% of time), occasionally engaging in vigorous outdoor activities, is required
Commitment to California State Parks Foundation’s mission
At California State Parks Foundation, our mission is protecting and preserving the California state park system, for the benefit of all. We believe that California’s state parks are essential to the health, happiness, and quality of life for all Californians. If we truly are to benefit all, we must address justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity (JEID) in our work. While the process of integrating JEID may not be easy, we are full of hope regarding our vision for a future California state park system that engages a broad audience and is welcoming and accessible to all. We commit to fostering an organizational culture that celebrates learning and growth, leans into difficult conversations and feedback, values connection to each other, and sustains staff and board members’ well-being and sense of belonging.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with tools such as Salesforce, Asana, Slack, SharePoint, iWave, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Expensify, Zoom

Responsibilities

Maintain major individual, institutional, and planned giving moves management systems in Salesforce by entering and updating funding opportunities in the database, and maintaining database accuracy through weekly and monthly audits.
Support consistency between development and membership operations, including tasks such as fulfillment audits.
Manage the development email inbox.
Provide back-up support to the Institutional Giving Coordinator and Corporate Volunteer Coordinator as needed for year-round and Earth Month volunteer events.
Collaborate with the Executive Liaison to maintain accurate board information (biographies, roster, website) and provide communications on give/get commitment.
Compile agenda items and take notes for weekly Development Team meetings.
Keep Development Manual up-to-date with current and new procedures.
Ensure planned giving tasks related to Stelter campaigns and/or new leads are captured in Asana and Salesforce.
Maintain development collateral in the SF office, prompting supply re-orders as needed.
Other duties as assigned.
Log all donor interactions and communications to the Salesforce database.
Draft and send all major donor (individual, planned giving, and institutional) acknowledgment letters using templates in Salesforce.
Provide scheduling and logistical support for donor meetings, site visits, and fundraising campaign activities, including preparing meeting packets.
Provide donor research briefs for Insider Tours and other California State Parks Foundation events.
Provide support for event planning and logistics, including Insider Tours and multi-day donor events.
Assist with logistics for mass donor mailings (i.e., Annual Reports) and Outlook emails (DataLoad) as needed.
Secure and process in-kind donations as needed.
Represent the organization at events and tabling opportunities as needed, including Earth Month Climate Action.
Respond to inquiries about planned giving and coordinate with finance to appropriately file and respond to legal documents.
Collaborate with the Major Gifts Officers and Executive Liaison to plan and coordinate Month of Gratitude, reach out to participating Board members, and log all communication between board members and donors upon completion of project.
Support ongoing Mott Member outreach (postcards, mail merge emails, phone calls).
Maintain tracking systems for prospects in Salesforce.
Lead on researching and portfolio building for prospective major individual donors – both on an ongoing basis and for quarterly portfolio review meetings.
Continually build out donor bios in Salesforce.
Leverage Stelter Intelligence Center to identify and document planned giving leads.