Senior Manager, Development Operations

About Read Ahead

Read Ahead is dedicated to helping New York City youth
strengthen the literacy and social-emotional skills they need to
thrive in school and beyond. Read Ahead’s vision is that our
students have the opportunity to unlock their full potential
through mentoring relationships based on a love of reading.

Since 1991, Read Ahead has connected public elementary school
students with caring mentors from leading corporate and community
partners. During weekly virtual sessions, mentors and mentees read
together, discuss books and their lives, and engage in fun and
educational games and activities. Read Ahead sessions are designed
to help children grow their confidence, love of reading, literacy
skills, and other skills essential for success. For more
information, please visit readahead.org.

With the development of our new virtual program in 2020, and our
anti-racism and anti-oppression commitments,
Read Ahead has an opportunity to deepen our impact for students. We
are committed to ongoing improvement as an organization, and are
eager to take bold new steps to create better outcomes for the
students, families, and schools we serve.

About the Senior Manager, Development
Operations 

Read Ahead is seeking a full-time Senior Manager, Development
Operations (SMDO) to play a vital, capacity-building role on our
small and results-oriented fundraising team. This SMDO position may
be a great fit for you if you:

Have experience with donor database
management, donor stewardship, and development operations, and are
ready to take on more responsibility as part of a high-growth
team 
Love creating organizational systems,
improving efficiency, and being the go-to person when someone on
your team has a question about a donation or process
Get excited when you have the
opportunity to dive into a dataset and seek out new information or
understanding to help drive results
Bring a high level of dedication and
excellence to tasks and projects, regardless of whether you are
playing a lead or supporting role
Are passionate about equity in
education and want to contribute to an organization focused on
supporting New York City students and public schools

This is a new position that will report directly to the Managing
Director, Development & Communications. This is a hybrid
position, with some in-person work required, primarily in
Manhattan.

Responsibilities

Donor Database Management and Gift
Processing

Responsible for the gift entry
process from start to finish ensuring accurate and timely data
entry and gift processing
Develop processes to maintain
accurate donor records in accordance with donor’s intent and
related best practices
Perform regular database maintenance
to ensure data accuracy (e.g. resolve  duplicate entries,
connect household members, capture contact information from other
sources, etc.) 
Prepare and submit all paperwork
related to matching gifts, create invoices, and send donor
acknowledgements in a timely manner
Manage data and integrations across
various platforms (e.g. Mailchimp, Kindful, Classy) and develop
expertise to troubleshoot issues as they arise

Reporting and Analytics

Track progress towards revenue goals,
including monthly reports, real-time reports during campaigns, and
provide other reporting as-needed (e.g. monthly volunteer hours
reporting, donor engagement reports, etc.)
Review monthly revenue reports
prepared by our external accounting firm, and reconcile donation
information with internal tracking
Create segmented donor lists in the
database and related systems (e.g. Mailchimp), and leverage
built-in reporting to help drive data-informed decisions
Maintain or create dashboards to
track key supporter information such as board and Junior Board give
/ get tracking, peer-to-peer campaign performance, and other data
needs developed in collaboration with the Development &
Communications team
Collaborate with other team members
to create and analyze supporter surveys 
Build visual dashboards to
communicate donation trends to leadership, board members, and other
team members

Team Operations and Collaboration

Serve in a key support role during
Read Ahead’s annual gala, including overseeing attendee
registration, the live pledge process, and supporting corporate and
individual donor engagement
Provide operations and logistics
support for fundraising and volunteer engagement events, including
purchasing supplies, liaising with vendors and venues, coordinating
shipments or messenger service, and providing day-of event
support
Participate in the annual audit
process by providing revenue documentation and responding to
inquiries from the external auditors
Be a collaborator and thought-partner
to the Development & Communications team and to organizational
leadership by sharing operational insights, expertise, and
perspective
Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

Position-specific Qualifications

At least 3-5 years of donor data
management and analysis experience in a nonprofit organization
required; experience with Kindful, Classy, & Mailchimp a strong
plus
Expertise with generating donor
segmentation lists including data manipulation and pivot table
skills in Excel and Google Sheets required
At least 3-5 years of experience with
donor acknowledgements and stewardship
Highly organized individual with
strong attention to detail, the ability to manage multiple systems,
and project-management skills
Ability to learn & leverage
technology to support team collaboration required
Prior experience with Google Suite
and fundraising CRM databases (Salesforce, Raiser’s Edge, Kindful,
etc.) required
Prior experience with online
fundraising tools (e.g. Classy), survey tools (e.g. SurveyMonkey),
and project management tools (monday.com, Asana) a strong plus
Familiarity with Community-Centric
Fundraising principles a strong plus

Read Ahead General Qualifications

Passion for Read Ahead’s mission
Experience with and committed
allyship to communities and students of color
Ability to think strategically,
understand the big picture, collaborate effectively with internal
and external stakeholders, and implement vision
Highly self-aware and reflective with
the ability to give and receive feedback
Familiarity, comfort, and ability to
thrive within a small, dynamic team

Hybrid Work Policy

As an organization that partners with New York City public
schools, afterschool service providers, families, corporate
partners, and other stakeholders, Read Ahead recognizes that
in-person work is required to achieve our mission moving forward.
We have adopted a hybrid work policy to allow us to continue our
work with students and schools as safely as possible.

The Development Manager will typically work approximately 2-3
days/ week in-person to perform essential job responsibilities, but
may work up to 5 days/ week in-person during busy times of the
year, with a schedule determined by organizational needs and
approved by the Managing Director. Essential in-person
responsibilities for this role include, but are not limited to:
meetings, regularly scheduled in-office days, and events.

In addition to the essential in-person job responsibilities
described above, this role also includes other essential functions
which may be performed remotely.

Salary and Benefits 

$80,000 – $85,000 / year. Competitive benefits package:

90% health and 100% dental care
coverage
$3,000 annual employer-funded
HRA
Eligibility to contribute to 403(b)
with up to a 3% match by Read Ahead for all employees who are
employed on the last day of the calendar year (e.g.
12/31/2023)
Eligibility to participate in pre-tax
My Commuter Check program
Pre-tax FSA and Vision Plans
offered
Vacation day accrual based upon
employment anniversary date; during the first year employees accrue
15 days per year and after the first year accrue 20 days per
year
10 sick days and 3 personal days per
year
The Read Ahead office is closed
between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day each year, and for all
federal holidays

How to Apply

Please submit a resume and cover letter to Ariel Grace (Managing
Director, Development & Communications) at www.readahead.org/join-our-team/apply.
In your cover letter, include why you are interested in working for
Read Ahead and why the Senior Manager, Development Operations role
is a good fit for you.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the
position is filled. No phone calls please.

Read Ahead provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to
all employees and applicants without regard to race, color,
ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity,
national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran
status or any other protected characteristic as established by
applicable law. We seek to build a diverse staff representative of
the communities we serve. All qualified applicants are strongly
encouraged to apply.

Read Ahead is an Equal Opportunity Employer.