The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Since its founding in 1949, the Institute has been driving change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most critical challenges facing communities in the United States and around the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

To achieve our mission of a more free, just, and equitable society, we commit to working proactively to advance the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion across our myriad endeavors such as the recruitment, compensation, training, and advancement of staff. The best people-serving institutions make this commitment, and we seek to be a leader in the ways that we do so and learn from others. Visit our website to learn more about our commitment and recent actions taken toward building and nurturing a diverse and inclusive environment.

Program Description:

The Institute’s Office of Institutional Advancement (OIA) is a central division focused on Institute-wide donor and prospect engagement. Areas of practice include principal and major gift fundraising, corporate and foundation relations, annual giving and membership programming through the Institute’s Society of Fellows, trustee engagement, major events, stewardship, research and gift accounting.

Basic Function:

The Senior Associate, Stewardship and Campaign role is an integral member of the Office of Institutional Advancement (OIA). The Senior Associate will be DC based, and with work closely with the Director, Stewardship/Campaign Manager and other OIA team members on all aspects of donor stewardship and the Institute’s upcoming fundraising campaign. These projects will include, but are not limited to, the production of annual donor and endowment reports, acknowledgement letters, donor recognition projects, donor listings in the Annual Report, developing and editing campaign materials, maintain campaign files, and administrative tasks related to the campaign including meeting management, materials drafting and preparation, and goal tracking. Strong writing skills are a key component of this role.

This position reports directly to the Director of Stewardship/Campaign Manager. The salary range for this position is $74,000 - $79,000.

In accordance with our Reimagining Work policy, the Senior Associate should be willing to be in-person with colleagues a minimum of 40% of the time while having the flexibility to work remotely for the balance. In-person consists of meaningful connections with colleagues in an office, traveling to a different office or location to meet fellow staff members, at an Aspen event, at a meeting outside the office or other opportunities to meet in person with teammates and colleagues.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Stewardship

• Work with Director, Stewardship/Campaign Manager and EVP of Institutional Advancement in the strategic planning and development of all donor stewardship across OIA and the organization.
• Have ability to handle confidential materials and records with a high degree of integrity and discretion.
• Coordinate Annual Donor Philanthropy Reports which include program and finance reports for high major donors, trustees, and endowment donors. Liaise with Director, Stewardship and Institute programs to collect relevant reporting materials. Draft scholarship, endowment and campaign donor reports, and package all documents to send. Ability to work in existing templates and work with Director, Stewardship on evolving templates and reporting platforms.
• Coordinate donor listings in the Transparency Report and Annual Report, and coordinate with the Communications department in its distribution.
• Coordinate the drafting and distribution of acknowledgement notes for the Annual Fund, fundraising campaigns, and high-level gifts, as well as maintain library of acknowledgement templates to share across the organization.
• Coordinate the mailing and e-mail of OIA’s annual holiday card; draft and distribute other holiday messages as needed.
• Research and benchmark donor stewardship and recognition practices in the field; assist Director and EVP with building a donor recognition hierarchy.
• Coordinate pledge reminders and invoices for major donors, campaigns, and trustees; ensure pledges and corresponding payments are tracked in the CRM Salesforce database.
• Assist OIA teams as needed on stewardship activities including, but not limited to, coordinate stewardship practices for annual fund donors, partner with the Society of Fellows team on annual donor recognition.
• Document all stewardship activities in the CRM Salesforce database.
• Assist with events in DC, Aspen, and NY as needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

Campaign

• Support the Director, Stewardship/Campaign Manager and EVP on campaign planning activities, tracking, and organization.
• Develop and edit materials such presentations, proposals, gift agreements, internal and external documents, among others.
• Assist with tracking campaign metrics and progress of campaign goals.
• Coordinate administrative tasks including meeting management, document preparation ahead of internal and external meetings, updating and saving all files and documentation to shared drives, and assisting with internal information sharing.
• Assist the Director and EVP, with the development and implementation of campaign donor strategies including drafting campaign proposals, acknowledgement letters, staffing donor events, etc.
• Coordinate the fulfillment of campaign benefits in collaboration with frontline teams.
• Document notes and update all internal systems including the shared drive and CRM.
• Assist with the coordination of campaign related events and engagement activities.
• Other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree.
• At least 3-4 years’ experience in fundraising, preferably in a stewardship and/or high level donor communication capacity, or an equivalent client-focused environment;
• Strong writing skills and background.
• Experience in Adobe, Canva, or other design platforms preferred.
• Professionalism with high standards, and maturity to hold confidential information with utmost discretion, inside the office and out, about the knowledge and information held.
• Strong interest in the work of the Aspen Institute, and a demonstrated ability to represent the Institute externally, and to translate the Institute’s mission effectively and persuasively to multiple audiences.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, energy, and initiative.
• Excellent communication, organizational and writing skills.
• Excellent scheduler, planner, project manager, and self-starter.
• Excellent understanding of ethics, fiduciary responsibility, and conflicts of interest.
• Creative, hard-working and intellectually curious.
• Strong ability to quickly master the CRM database and project management software (Salesforce experience preferred).
• Actively mindful of branding, representation, equity, and the presentation of the Institute’s values.
• Ability to represent the Office of Institutional Advancement in a professional and responsive manner to all high-level individuals.
• Ability to handle multiple tasks with extreme attention to detail and design.
• Ability to work well independently and as part of a team.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office.

To Apply:

Writing sample required. Please share work that shows past writing experience. Samples could include a proposal, donor report, presentation, particularly substantive memo, or anything you’ve created that would give a sense of your work. Samples shared will be kept confidential. Please feel free to remove names or other details you’re not comfortable sharing.

The Aspen Institute offers a generous benefits package including health, dental, vision, and prescription benefits, retirement benefits, and paid leave.

The Aspen Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all District and federal laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or protected veteran or disabled status and will not be discriminated against.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation regarding the accessibility of our website, a modification or adjustment of the job application or interview process due to a disability, contact HRSupport@aspeninstitute.org or call (202) 736-5800.