POSITION SUMMARY:

The Office of Development assists parishes and the diocese in programs that encourage and teach financial stewardship to parishioners. The office also helps design and implement comprehensive development programs to encourage financial giving by parishioners that provides financial resources for the ministries, programs and services of the diocese and parishes. The Bishop’s Lenten Appeal (BLA) provides annual funds for diocesan programs and ministries. The Offertory Program is offered to parishes to help increase their offertory revenue and encourage stewardship of parishioners.

This position advises and assists the Director of Annual Appeals for three major program revenue areas that support the diocese, parishes and schools: 1) the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal, 2) the Parish Offertory Program, and 3) the Diocese of Arlington Scholarship Foundation. This includes direct support to parish staff and donors via in-person, telephone and written communication.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES:

• Advises and assists the Director of Annual Appeals, with all development activities related to the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal (BLA), Parish Offertory Program and Diocese of Arlington Scholarship Foundation (DASF) including the creation, organization and preparation of materials and assisting with outside vendors and mail houses.

• Manages donor inquiry processes to effectively and resolve request or route to team member.

• Drafts, proofs, and edits materials for BLA events

• Responsible for preparing and sending monthly BLA acknowledgments; coordinates with outside mail house vendor to accomplish these communications.

• Assists Director of Annual Appeals with BLA and DASF mailings, to include copywriting, data querying, and collaboration with freelance graphic artist on BLA materials.

• Updates and maintains BLA information on the diocesan Development page website, both for public view and internal (parish) view. Upon request, uploads materials for other Development Office program directors on the Development website page.

• Provides communications support for various program areas in the Office of Development such as creating BLA and DASF ads (banner and print) for the Arlington Catholic Herald (ACH), and producing the DASF Annual Report. Works directly with ACH staff with creating a monthly series of BLA ads during March – June.

• Develops and manages BLA campaign emails using Mail Chimp software to designated BLA donors. This includes running query in database for email recipients. Further, works directly with Office of Communications to develop ads and write content for the BLA social media campaigns.

• Works directly with parish staff and volunteers to train them on processing BLA in-pew pledges during the BLA workshops and throughout the BLA campaign. Helps writes training materials and announcements to guide them in their efforts to support the BLA.
• Drafts responses to various donor correspondence for the Director of Annual Appeal’s review. Provides investigative research for donor pledges and/or donations when required.

• Reviews, analyzes and generates reports from fundraising financial data for various campaigns in the Office of Development. Prepares special reports as needed for parishes, mailings, auditors or other needs when requested.

• Coordinates multiple Donor Appreciation special events with regard to the BLA. This includes securing locations for events, and helping to coordinate all aspects of the events from planning stages to the day of event. Attendance at events, which occasionally occur on weekends or evenings, is required. During BLA events, gives direction to donors and manages duties of on-site development staff assisting at the event.

• Manages donor inquiry processes to effectively and resolve request or route to team member.
• Presents at BLA training meetings (parish staff and volunteers). This includes securing locations or arranging Zoom Training Meetings and helping to coordinate various aspects of the meetings. Also this position attends the Training meetings and acts as a staff liaison to parishes.

• Assists in preparation of reports or presentations for various meetings that may include the Diocesan Finance Council, Pastors’ Meetings and other diocesan meetings or events.

• Attends meetings and acts as a scribe for Stewardship and Development Advisory Committee (SDAC) quarterly Meetings. After these meetings, prepares notes of all comments made at the meeting and works with Appeal Director to synopsize.

• Coordinates email invitation to members of St. Paul Leadership Forum (~90% are BLA donors). Develops invitation, response form, drafts email for approval, sends emails, manages RSVP’s to this event and assists in person at these four events with the Bishop.

• Assembles and prepares information or data from the iMIS BLA reporting module. Assists in creating weekly flash report and parish summary report to parishes during the peak months of the BLA campaign.

• Collaborates directly with graphic artist to write, design and create materials including text for the annual appeal table cards, PowerPoint slides and posters presented at BLA donor events.

• During BLA campaign, assists with processing BLA in-pew pledges (typically Feb.- April).

• During the BLA campaign, oversees management of BLA staff with the in-pew processing and shipping of BLA materials to parishes. Trains and directs other Development office staff working on the BLA in-pew pledges, if BLA is not their primary task area.

• For the DASF, oversees the management of the DASF Inbox to respond to donors in a timely matter. This includes obtaining pre-approval for donations on behalf of DASF donors, and providing guidance to Development Admin Assistant in the processing of donations and providing time-sensitive required documentation to the Director of Annual Appeals for upload to the VA DOE portal.

• Collaborates with the Development Admin Assistant in supporting the DASF processing with check deposits and donor acknowledgement letters, when needed.

• Posts stewardship messages on parish bulletin portal on a quarterly basis. Also posts timely messages for parishes regarding specific second collections or other specified development efforts.

• Creates flyer for use at parishes and insertion in the Herald for the Retired diocesan priests Second Collection.

• Assists Exec. Director with weekly parish update reports that are used in conjunction with visits/events by the Bishop to identified parishes.

• Provides additional support to Director of the Office of Development when needed by assisting with Development programs and projects within the scope of the position.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Knowledge/Skills: Must be fully proficient in the MS Office suite of applications; intermediate proficiency at a minimum in Excel is required. Strong knowledge of Adobe Acrobat Pro, In-Design and Email Marketing software highly desirable. Must have the ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, and have an engaging and empathetic phone voice. Must have exceptional interpersonal and negotiation skills with a service orientation. Must be accurate, detail oriented and be able to problem solve. The ability to work with confidential information and use discretion is required. Must be able to prioritize projects and work as a team player. Must be a self-starter, able to work with minimal supervision and handle multiple projects/priorities.

• Education Required: BS/BA in Communications, Business or equivalent degree and experience
• Years and Types of Experience: Three or more years of development experience in a non-profit organization preferred. Experience with event planning and working with a contact relationship management (CRM) database for fundraising required
• Education Required: BS/BA in Communications, Business or equivalent degree and experience