Special Events & Development Associate

Job Description

Title: Special Events & Development Associate

Department: Development

FLSA Classification: Exempt

Reports to: Executive Director

Summary: The Special Events & Development Associate supports logistics, planning, and event management for Madison's fundraising events to maintain and increase overall support. Madison’s special events are a major opportunity to engage and delight our current donors and recruit new supporters. The position’s responsibilities include implementation of key event logistics and timetable management, and providing administrative support to the development team.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Coordinate and manage event timelines, pre and post-event and day-of logistics for Madison’s signature special events.

Carefully track event costs, budgets and financial records for each event.

Conduct research on vendors, venues, and other event aspects as needed. Source venues and necessary vendors as needed and maintain positive vendor relationships.

Coordinate the solicitation, organization, and presentation of silent and live auction items and manage silent auction online platform.

Assist in tracking attendance, guest lists, and seating assignments.

Work closely with Communications Coordinator to draft and create invitations, program journal, event signage and design online event engagement platforms.

Support the research, identification, cultivation and solicitation of event chair, committee members and honorees.

Ensure event fundraising actions are tracked and recorded in the donor database.

Evaluate overall results of special events campaigns; provide recommendations, modifications and new approaches to support successful achievement of department and organizational goals.

Conduct strategic prospect and donor qualification research using various research tools and resources.

Assist and lead other projects and development tasks as assigned by Executive Director.

Required Skills/Knowledge:

Bachelor’s degree in relevant field.

Three to five years of experience in fundraising and/or event planning.

Ability to work independently and as part of a team.

Skilled at working with diverse groups of people.

Experience in managing grassroots fundraising events.

Excellent organizational and time management skills.

Experience working with a fast-paced, mission-focused nonprofit environment.

Demonstrated ability to work as part of a collaborative team showing both strong initiatives to reach individual goals as well as supports the overall team goals

Ability to prioritize tasks and work on multiple projects and events simultaneously.

Ability to ‘manage up’ and support senior staff/Board members and ‘manage across’ to colleagues in achieving projects on deadline

Excellent written and verbal communication skills and superior attention to detail

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with club staff, board members, volunteers, community groups and third party representatives

Comfort using donor databases and Microsoft Office Suite

Ability to have flexibility with work schedules to attend evening events and ability to lift boxes etc. as needed

Supervisory Responsibility

This position does not supervise any employees.

Work Environment

This job operates in a professional office environment and hybrid work-from-home/in-office model. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers and filing cabinets.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; and talk or hear. The employee must occasionally lift or move up to 20 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work

This is a full time position and hours of work and days are Monday through Friday 9:00am to 5:00pm. Occasional evening and weekend work may be required as job duties demand.

Travel

Work may require some local travel and may require occasional weekend and/or evening work.

AAP/EEO Statement

It is, has been, and will continue to be the policy of Madison, to provide equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status. Further, it is the policy of Madison to undertake affirmative action in compliance with all federal, state, and local requirements to recruit a diverse pool of applicants and to ensure that our employment practices are, in fact, non-discriminatory. Such affirmative action shall apply to all employment practices, but not limited to hiring, promotion, transfer, recruitment advertising, layoff or termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation, and selection for training, including apprenticeship and on-the-job training. Decisions relating to personnel policies and practices shall be made on the basis of an individual’s capacity to perform a particular job and the feasibility of any necessary job accommodation.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Full-time

Hybrid remote