Associate Director/Director, Client Services
About the role
The Associate Director/Director, Client Services serves as a leader in the nonprofit community, inspiring and supporting nonprofits to realize their full fundraising potential. About 80% of the Associate Director/Director’s time is spent supporting a portfolio of clients, in partnership with other Aperio team members. About 20% of time is spent on business development, serving as a thought leader in the community and proactively building relationships with a portfolio of prospective clients, referral sources, and other nonprofit leaders and fundraisers.
Client services responsibilities (80%)
The Associate Director/Director, Client Services provides thought partnership and hands-on support to a portfolio of nonprofit clients, in collaboration with other members of the Aperio team. In every project, the Associate Director/Director will position clients for sustainable revenue growth and fulfill client objectives. To that end, the Associate Director/Director will:
Adopt a client-centric approach
Continually seek to understand each client’s values, objectives, and expectations
Leverage the Aperio approach of results-orientation, creativity, simplicity, and authenticity to create value for clients
Cast a bold vision for each client’s fundraising potential, drawing attention to the full value of the client’s assets—mission impact, future vision, team strength, volunteer community, database potential, etc.
Partner with clients to develop and articulate their strategy for realizing their fundraising potential
Serve as a thought leader and subject-matter expert on the Aperio roadmap for revenue growth
Translate strategies into concrete, actionable plans
Convert plans into detailed project plans with clearly stated objectives, deliverables, timelines, stakeholders, and dependencies
Project-manage the implementation of project plans, combining client-centric leadership with hands-on support to achieve objectives and complete deliverables in the expected timeframe
Complete substantive portions of projects for clients to lessen the burden on staff
Partner with the staff to build internal capacity for efficient and effective fundraising
Seamlessly blend into the culture and workstyle of the client, building trust and working partnerships with a variety of stakeholders
Use all available Aperio resources—expertise, experience, templates, tools, etc.—to seamlessly and efficiently advance project plans
Contribute resources to the Aperio library through client work
Contribute to Aperio’s efforts to fight racism and discrimination through client services
Leverage the time, expertise, and experience of Aperio’s Expert Network to increase value for clients and accelerate service delivery
Communicate progress against project plans to clients on a weekly basis
Communicate results achieved to clients on a monthly basis
Direct project support varies by client. It can include, but is not limited to:
Conducting assessments
Producing reports summarizing assessment findings, recommendations, and strategies
Interpreting data analyses
Creating major gift, foundation, and corporate portfolios
Supporting clean-up and SOP-development for databases and operational processes
Creating governance models, dashboards, and trainings to implement/enhance metrics management
Conducting moves management strategy sessions
Preparing plans and materials for donor calls, meetings, and solicitations
Creating fundraising toolkits
Engaging leadership and boards in philanthropy
Conducting qualification outreach to donors (emails, phone calls, meetings, etc.) for ad hoc donor lists or a defined qualification portfolio
Developing and writing collateral
Developing and writing custom proposals and stewardship reports
Facilitating workshops
Providing 1:1 coaching
Business development responsibilities (20%)
The Associate Director/Director, Client Services serves as an ambassador for Aperio in the community to grow Aperio’s client portfolio and support nonprofits broadly in their efforts to thrive. The Associate Director/Director builds and engages a targeted portfolio of prospective clients, referral sources, and other key relationships. In addition, the Associate Director/Director educates, equips, and inspires other nonprofit leaders and fundraisers about what it takes to thrive. To fulfill this role, the Associate Director/Director will:
Build and engage a portfolio of 50-100 strategic relationships, sourced from personal networks and cold outreach
Actively network to grow and strengthen the portfolio, achieving monthly activity metrics
Leverage portfolio engagement resources provided, such as templates, scripts, segmented lists, and cold outreach prospect lists
Approach conversations with curiosity to learn from experience on the ground
Contribute to Aperio’s efforts to fight racism and discrimination, especially in nonprofits, fundraising, and philanthropy
Present/facilitate and participate in conferences, workshops, and webinars hosted by Aperio and other industry groups
Create articles and videos that educate, equip, and inspire nonprofit leaders and fundraisers
Promote and engage with Aperio content across social media channels
Qualifications
5+ years’ experience in relationship-based fundraising (major gifts, foundations, or corporate partnerships), including 3+ years’ experience focusing full-time on generating philanthropic revenue from a portfolio of individuals, foundations, and/or companies
Demonstrated ability to efficiently manage a portfolio of relationships and grow revenue from that portfolio year-over-year
Experience soliciting $100,000+ gifts
Experience managing complex projects to successful completion
Outstanding organizational and time-management skills and ability
Ability to inspire and hold accountable diverse internal and external stakeholders
Experience partnering with volunteer and staff leadership on donor relationships and/or projects
Ability to analyze and interpret data and apply insights to strategy
Demonstrated ability to leverage metrics to improve the donor experience and fundraiser performance
Superb relationship management, interpersonal, and communication (written and oral) skills
Strong storytelling and public speaking skills
Strong understanding of technology systems pertinent to major gifts (Salesforce and Raiser’s Edge a plus)
Openness to the ever-changing, dynamic environment of a start-up company
Eagerness to learn new knowledge and skills
Ability to travel for assignments, as needed, up to 50% of time
Location
This role combines remote work-from-home and on-site client support requirements, which can vary by project from no onsite support to daily support.
To facilitate work-from-home, Aperio provides essential technology equipment and a monthly mobile phone reimbursement of $75 per month.
Compensation
Aperio is pleased to offer competitive compensation and benefits, as well as accelerated career development opportunities.
Base compensation for this role is $75,000 - $120,000 commensurate with experience in portfolio-focused, relationship-based fundraising. Bonus and promotion opportunities available.
Benefits include:
Flexible scheduling
Paid time off (PTO) starting at 4 weeks per year, which includes 10 days of sick time and 10 days of vacation time
10-18 holidays per year, including closure over the year-end holidays
Summer Fridays observed between the Friday before Memorial Day and the Friday before Labor Day
Medical, dental, and vision insurance
401K with company matching of 100% of employee contributions up to the first 3% of pay and then 50% of employee contributions on the next 2% of pay
Application
To apply for this role, complete an application at this link. Please include:
Your resume
A brief cover letter describing why you’re interested in Aperio
A sample of a donor-facing piece that you’ve written
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At Aperio Philanthropy, we practice evergreen recruiting, which means we accept and review applications on a rolling basis all throughout the year, even if we don’t have a specific role open at the moment. This approach allows us to build relationships with talented candidates in advance, so we can move quickly when the right opportunity becomes available. Our hiring team reviews applications on a monthly basis. If your skills and experience align with a current or anticipated need, someone from our team will reach out to schedule an initial conversation. While we may not have an immediate opening, we encourage you to apply if you're interested in working with us. Your application helps us keep you in mind for future roles.
