Job Description

About People’s Action/Institute

People’s Action Institute (501c3) and its sister organization People’s Action (501c4) are national progressive organizations supporting the mobilization and leadership of the grassroots in support of an agenda that reflects people over profits. People’s Action/Institute builds the power of poor and working people in rural, suburban, and urban areas to win change through issue campaigns and elections.

With offices in Washington, DC, and Chicago, IL, and remote staff across the country, we support and advance state-based and national fights for progressive policies on the environment, decarceration, health care, economic security, housing, education, and more. Our member organizations, nearly 40 organizations across 29 states, improve lives by running local- and state-level issue and electoral campaigns, leading statewide tables, and collectively coming together to change national policy and politics.

People’s Action/ Institute has a track record of leadership in coordinating field mobilization and advocacy in advancing an array of issues at the local, state, and federal levels. Our member organizations have won important victories at the national, state, and local levels, including health insurance for millions and the reversal of health care laws that discriminate based on citizenship, stopping Wall Street banks from selling predatory payday loans to their customers, and historic legislation like the Community Reinvestment Act to victory and the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

For more information on PAI, please visit https://peoplesaction.org/.

The Opportunity

Are you passionate about making a positive impact and shaping effective systems? Do you consider yourself a mission-focused storyteller eager to apply your talents to more meaningful causes? If you answered yes to those questions, you’ve found the perfect opportunity to channel your development abilities toward making a true difference within the social justice movement.

Overview of the Position

This position will serve as one of People’s Action and People’s Action Institute’s principal fundraisers and storytellers. They will convey the urgency and relevancy of our work, illustrate our impact, and move our core audiences to action- toward financial support and engagement.

As Senior Development Strategist, your typical day will include (but isn’t limited to): 

Strategic Writing & Communication

• Working closely with the Development Team to develop and translate People Action work into appealing messaging for a wide variety of audiences, including impact pieces, appeals, and cases for support.
• Helping to maintain and update a library of proposal content, with attention to ways to repurpose and disseminate core content for multiple uses, such as scripts, pitch documents, concept papers, presentations, and other content as needed.
• Working collaboratively with Programs and Communications colleagues to leverage existing stories, design, photos, web, video, and other materials to enhance donor communication materials and refresh web content related to fundraising.
• Developing a content calendar for development and driving written communication strategy across the development department.
• Collaborating closely with the Executive Director and Chief of External Partnerships on special campaigns and projects to drive People’s Action’s long-term agenda.

Stewardship

• Writing compelling stewardship reports to donors for individual audiences and foundation donors.
• Coordinating stewardship activities with program colleagues to strengthen funding relationships in portfolios or prospecting.
• Working closely with the Executive Director, Chief of External Partnerships, and Development Director on high-touch stewardship activities to engage funders.
• Preparing fresh, engaging content to acknowledge and update donors through acknowledgment letters, e-newsletters, stewardship mailings, and other similar content and collateral.

Fundraising

• Project management for various funder events and engagements.

• Other duties as assigned.

The ideal Senior Development Strategist should have the following experience and qualifications: 

• Strong commitment to racial, gender, and economic justice and their intersections, both inside and outside the organization.
• Ability to work with diverse people and organizations
• At least 5 years of professional writing experience, preferably for a development or advancement office and ideally in a large and/or complex, non-profit institution, social justice preferred.
• At least 1 year of previous supervisory experience.
• Superlative writing, editing, and interpersonal skills.
• Superb attention to detail, ability to manage a high volume of projects, superior organizational skills, and an ability to work under tight deadlines are essential.
• Strong computer skills and familiarity with Salesforce and internal tracking systems.
• Ability to create and manage time-intensive writing processes and prioritize multiple deadlines.
• Team player with a flexible, collaborative approach to the development team’s work.
• Demonstrated experience writing successful fundraising proposals and compelling grant reports.
• Experience writing fundraising appeals and similar content.
• Experience working with subject matter experts on a wide variety of content for diverse audiences.
• Must be able to work independently and in collaboration with multiple internal stakeholders.

Preferred but not required

• Project management
• Digital fundraising experience

Compensation and Benefits:

Status: Full-Time, Regular, Exempt, benefits-eligible

Union Position (Yes/No): Yes

Salary Range: Level E – $87,870 – $121,200, salary commensurate with experience

Location: If you live in Chicago, IL or Washington D.C., you may be required to go into the office in your respective city, but other remote locations may be considered within the continental United States.

Reports to: Development Director

Supervises: N/A

Travel Requirements (Yes/No): Yes, 4-5 times a year for staff retreats and development events as needed

Benefits include: Health Insurance, Dental Insurance, Vision Insurance, Medical, on the first day of employment, and Dependent Care Flex Spending Account after 90 days, 401(k) plan after 30 days, Long-Term Disability Insurance, Life Insurance, 4 floating holidays (Presidents Day, May Day, Indigenous People’s Day, Veterans Day, 10 paid holidays plus the last two weeks of the year that include Christmas Eve/Christmas Day as well as, New Year’s Eve, and you accrue two weeks of vacation your first year of employment.

Our Commitment to Equitable Compensation:

We believe in fair compensation for your work – no matter where you live. Our salary scale is comparable to salaries you would find in Chicago, IL, where our headquarters is based. It is based on your months/years of work experience.  While we do not determine education as a factor in whether we hire someone to work for People’s Action Institute, we do factor in any relevant higher education experience that you have. To further counter pay inequities and inequality on the team, we have a non-negotiable compensation practice and provide opportunities for advancement for full-time employees based on performance evaluation. Your starting pay reflects where you sit within our salary scale and is based on the information that you provide us on your resume. PAI continues to monitor wages through triennial compensation analysis to ensure that we continue to offer our prospective and current employees fair wages.

Commitment to Disability, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

People’s Action/Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer; womxn, people of color, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQI people are strongly encouraged to apply.

Close date: August 20, 2023

No phone calls, please.

How to Apply

Job Categories: Equal Opportunities. Job Types: Full-Time. Salaries: 80,000 - 100,000.

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