With Who: Empower Schools
Location: Boston, MA
Type of Employment: Full-time
Position Summary:
As the Development and Communications Manager, Higher Education for Empower Schools, you will partner closely with organizational leadership to support work in the post-K-12 education sphere. You will play a key role in project management and the development and execution of philanthropic and communications strategies to advance a high-priority higher education agenda. Through this position, you will positively impact students who traditionally have been under served or discounted within higher education.
This position is based in Boston, MA and may require very occasional travel.
Who We Are:
Empower Schools’ primary focus is to partner with communities to help them get the schools they want with the results students need. We develop solutions that combine the autonomies and energetic innovation of charters with the critical commitment to universal service and local voice that have been hallmarks of districts. Empower works with policymakers, district and community leaders, and educators to fundamentally re-engineer traditional school systems into diverse education ecosystems centered on empowered and accountable schools. Empower has partnered with communities to design and launch ten Zones.
Additionally, Empower Schools separately houses non-profit policy work in higher education primarily associated with its co-founder and CEO and led by Erika Giampietro, Senior Advisor for Higher Education. The Development and Communications Manager will support this work.
Visit us at www.empowerschools.org.
Who You Are:
You are a fast learner with a thirst for knowledge and are excited by developing creative solutions to challenges encountered in education and opportunity, especially for under served populations. You are eager to apply your analytical and creative problem-solving skills to address challenges facing higher education. Your strong project management skills allow you to develop and implement complex projects involving multiple stakeholders and tight deadlines to high standards and your strong communication and writing skills enable you to effectively share relevant and compelling messaging with philanthropic partners and other stakeholders.
You enjoy working individually and as part of a team and are able to build strong relationships with others.You thrive in a rapidly-evolving environment and recognize that resourcefulness and effective communication skills are key to success. You are able to take ideas and solutions from brainstorms to fruition, while engaging and incorporating the perspectives of others. You make time to reflect on your work in order to continually improve your effectiveness, you know how to self-advocate in order to get the support that you need, and you can keep it all in perspective with a strong sense of humor.
How You’ll Help:
Your work will vary based on your interests and organizational needs. Responsibilities may include:
- Develop and implement a long-term higher education fundraising strategy
- Develop and execute a fundraising strategy that includes individual giving campaigns, private philanthropy, and corporate giving
- Identify and secure sustainable long-term funding sources
- Write and manage relevant grants
- Project manage multiple higher education initiatives
- Plan and design approaches to support various higher education work and agendas
- Manage multiple projects relevant to higher education agenda, including those related to fundraising, advocacy, increased impact, and inclusivity
- Develop and implement outreach efforts to foster networks of allies across the state
- Develop and execute a compelling higher education communications strategy
- Develop and implement communications efforts for higher education initiatives
- Produce communications for multiple channels that support relevant goals
- Represent higher education agenda in meetings and in conversations with key stakeholders
Qualifications:
- At least 2 – 4 years of work experience
- Advocacy/organizing, policy, and development experience strongly preferred
- Higher education expertise valued, but not required
- Demonstrated interest in education, policy, and innovation and alignment on goals and values
- Ability to manage complex projects involving multiple components
- Ability to build successful relationships with partners, external organizations, policy makers, and education leaders
- Possession of a flexible, resourceful, and creative mindset and deep motivation to drive toward high-quality outcomes with a consistently positive attitude
- Excellent written and oral communications skills, including the ability to translate ideas into clear, compelling documents (e.g., in PowerPoint and Word formats)
- Dedication to continuous improvement (both personal and organizational) and interest in incorporating feedback from others
- BA/BS or advanced degree preferred
Salary: $65,000
Apply (or see more job posting information): See more information on this posting today via the CofC Alumni Career Center! Interested and qualified applicants should send a cover letter and resume to careers@empowerschools.org. Please note Manager, Higher Education in the subject line of your email. Please save your attachments using the following convention: LastName_FirstName_CoverLetter and LastName_FirstName_Resume.