Development Associate

DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE JOB DESCRIPTION 

POSITION OVERVIEW 

The ACLU of Montana is hiring a full-time Development Associate to enhance and support a growing major gifts program. This position reports to the Director of Philanthropy and is ideal for someone who thinks critically, thrives on working with data and systems to inform strategy, and has a strong eye for detail. An interest in equity-informed fundraising practices, a love of learning, and an ability to operate within a high-performing team environment are keys for success in this role. 

The Development Associate will handle the day-to-day operations for the development team, helping to streamline processes and boost the department's effectiveness and precision. Core responsibilities include managing and optimizing the donor database, processing contributions, ensuring prompt and accurate donor acknowledgments, assisting with donor research, and contributing to revenue tracking and planning. 

This role also acts as the lead coordinator for system improvements and special projects such as donor mailings, smaller-scale events, and data analysis initiatives. Top candidates will be highly organized, strong communicators with excellent interpersonal and project management skills, and capable of managing multiple priorities independently and collaboratively. A proactive, solution-oriented mindset is essential to support both team cohesion and long-term development objectives.  

We recognize that potential candidates with identities that have been historically excluded from the fundraising field may be less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every one of the qualifications described in the job description. If you believe that you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. 

ABOUT THE ACLU OF MONTANA 

The ACLU of Montana Foundation “ACLU of Montana” (founded in 1972) is an affiliate of the national ACLU (founded in 1920) and operates as a private, non-profit organization. We are the state’s largest and most influential civil rights organization. Our current top priorities are Indigenous Justice, criminal legal reform, 2S-LGBTQIA+ rights, and voting rights. We work on a range of additional issues including reproductive justice, immigrants’ rights, freedom of speech and religion, and informational and digital privacy. The ACLU of Montana envisions a fair, equitable, and free Montana that welcomes and celebrates diversity of all kinds. In our Montana, everybody is treated with dignity and respect and has equal access to rights and freedoms. 

The ACLU of Montana maintains a friendly work environment, with a current staff of 11 distributed across the state. We co-create a supportive organizational culture, with flexibility and consideration of personal needs and circumstances. To learn more about the staff and work of the ACLU of Montana, please visit http://aclumontana.org.     

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 

Database Administration, Gift Processing, and Data Analysis 

Oversee all tasks related to data quality and integrity, and the maintenance of accurate constituent records in the donor database. 

Ensure timely gift processing and acknowledgments on a weekly basis, including communication with donors, finance team, and donor database. 

Prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual reports that use data to evaluate development department progress toward goals.  

Collaborate on monthly, quarterly, and annual income reconciliation between Salesforce (donor database) and QuickBooks (accounting software) with the finance team. 

Play a leadership role with annual income reconciliation with National ACLU, finance team, and annual audit requests. 

Assist with any donor database needs to support all stewardship, event, and solicitation mailings done within the affiliate. 

Participate in weekly and monthly National ACLU development learning communities and ad hoc training opportunities to keep informed of best practices, trends, and opportunities for program improvements. 

Portfolio Management 

Execute strong project management of quarterly portfolio strategy meetings, including leading process of organizing a high volume of tasks for roughly 125 donors across three portfolios. 

Serve as the department point-person for annual portfolio reset process with National ACLU, and portfolio assignment decisions on a quarterly basis following department strategy meetings.  

Run and analyze monthly task reports for out-the-door fundraisers (Director of Philanthropy and Executive Director).