External Relations Associate

Summary

Join Ballotpedia's External Relations team as a 100% remote External Relations Associate! Reporting to the Director, you will focus on connecting prospective individual and foundation donors with Ballotpedia's programs. You'll manage all aspects of the donor experience, from identification and research to developing outreach strategies and setting up solicitation meetings. This role is ideal for someone enthusiastic about relationship building, possessing excellent judgment, and high motivation. You will identify, research, engage, and secure meetings with prospective donors capable of significant contributions. If you are a creative problem-solver, organized, persistent, and comfortable with proactive outreach, including cold calling, and possess excellent communication skills, we encourage you to apply.

Requirements

• Have 1-3 years of experience in nonprofit development and fundraising
• Be a true believer in Ballotpedia’s mission to provide neutral, fact-based information to American voters
• Possess a strong customer service orientation and enthusiasm for connecting new donors to Ballotpedia
• Demonstrate curiosity as a highly motivated self-starter and be eager to get to know our donors, discover what makes them tick, identify why they like Ballotpedia, and learn how we can get them to like Ballotpedia even more
• Exemplify “organized persistence” in working with people to close meeting requests
• Have the ability to handle rejection gracefully
• Be effective at managing multiple projects with moving parts simultaneously
• Have strong research, written, and verbal communication skills

Responsibilities

• Execute and optimize Ballotpedia’s prospecting plan to build relationships and secure meetings with major donors to meet annual fundraising goals
• Conduct in-depth research on major donor prospects to determine the most effective approach for funding requests
• Engage with prospects through emails, handwritten notes, phone calls, and limited in-person meetings, utilizing an effective moves management strategy
• Qualify donor prospects to support Ballotpedia’s strategic and operational goals
• Maintain an active portfolio of top prospective donors, with donors in the prospecting pipeline
• Develop strategies to convert leads into prospects and prepare them for solicitation meetings with senior staff
• Create regular reports and analyses on prospecting progress, recommending growth opportunities
• Manage the organization’s Ballotpedia Society campaigns
• Maintain the prospect database in Salesforce
• Identify opportunities to pitch and sell Ballotpedia products and capabilities to new prospects
• Develop and disseminate collateral materials
• Conduct research on policy issues to produce well-informed pitches and proposals

Preferred Qualifications

• Be highly proficient with Salesforce (preferred) or other donor databases
• Working familiarity and/or experience with these or similar platforms is highly desirable

Benefits

• 100% remote work
• Flexible work environment, BP Flex, in which every employee enjoys unlimited vacation and flexibility in scheduling
• Performance bonuses
• An $8,000 annual benefits stipend, which can be used to pay for a full benefits package, including health, vision, and dental insurance; retirement accounts; and more