Are you early in your career in fundraising and looking for an opportunity to grow your skills while putting your talents to work to help protect the environment? Then your career could prosper at the Environmental Law Institute as our Development & Board Associate.

What Would You Be Doing Exactly?

As a part of ELI’s Development team, your primary objective will be to help raise funds and support the Board of Directors in order to contribute to ELI’s overall mission to foster innovative, just, and practical law and policy solutions to enable leaders across borders and sectors to make environmental, economic, and social progress.  Together, ELI’s staff aims to:

• Build the skills and capacity of tomorrow’s leaders and institutions
• Research and analyze complex and pressing environmental challenges
• Promote and disseminate the best thinking through print and electronic media
• Convene people with diverse perspectives to build understanding through robust debate

More specifically, the Development & Board Associate will:

• Assist the Vice President for Development and the Manager for Foundations and Donor Relationships in achieving ELI fund-raising goals, including in the areas of unrestricted giving and foundation philanthropy.
• Manage the donor database and donor acknowledgement process.
• Assist with the preparation of donor prospect profiles and setting up potential donor meetings.
• Coordinate mailings of event invitations, fundraising appeals, and the annual report; keeps donor recognition programs up-to-date.
• Handle payment processing and/or invoicing for unrestricted and restricted support.
• Handle logistics for all board meetings including setting up meetings, updating board contact information, notetaking and material preparation.
• Serve as ELI’s representative to EarthShare giving programs and submits applications and materials to maintain and increase EarthShare contributions.
• Collaborate with finance staff to ensure accurate tracking and reconciliation of fundraising revenue in budgeting
• Assist the Foundations and Donor Relations Manager in researching and identifying grant opportunities and prospective foundations, tracking upcoming deadlines, preparing grant proposals, and coordinating the grant submission process
• Maintain grant-related reference resources and attachment materials including ELI’s organizational information
• Other duties as assigned within the scope of responsibility and requirements of the job.

What do you need to thrive in this role?

Having a Bachelor’s or equivalent degree will be essential in thriving in this position. You should also have at least 1 year of experience in fundraising, customer relations, or finance. Basic training in CRMs and databases such as Raiser’s Edge and CiviCRM would be an asset to you in learning this role quickly. Having knowledge of donor acknowledgement and finance reconciliation would also be beneficial.

The Development & Membership department is collaborative by nature and the Development & Board Associate must be able to interact in a professional manner with people from diverse racial, ethnic, political, and socioeconomic backgrounds. We employ anti-racist practices and principles while striving to support ELI’s culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. Other skills needed but not limited to include:

• Knowledge and experience in: fundraising, events, customer service, communications, and board relations
• Excellent skills in: Written and verbal interpersonal communications, organization, attention to detail, time management, internet research, and problem solving
• Knowledge and experience in database management and Customer Relationship Management platforms, word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software, and email marketing
• Demonstrated ability to: Manage multiple tasks at once, work in a fast-paced event environment, collaborate, and respond to problems quickly and efficiently
• Willingness and ability to learn new skills
• Superb attention to detail and ability to reliably adhere to deadlines
• Accurate and reliable data entry skills

Who is ELI?

The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is a research and education “think and do” tank that makes law work for people, places, and the planet. We envision a healthy environment, prosperous economies, and vibrant communities founded on the rule of law.  Our mission is to foster innovative, just, and practical law and policy solutions to enable leaders across borders and sectors to make environmental, economic, and social progress. 

What can you expect from ELI?

The annual salary for this position is $50,000 annually and is commensurate with experience. ELI’s total compensation includes excellent benefits including: 

• Health/Dental/Vision insurance 
• Flexible Spending Account 
• Employer-paid life insurance & disability insurance 
• Long Term Care insurance 
• Pre-tax transportation benefit 
• Fitness Incentive 
• 403(b) Retirement Savings Account with employer match 
• Paid time off
•  

Ready to apply? Here’s how…

Submit an application package via ELI's online application system. Simply visit https://www.eli.org/employment to get started. Note that your submission must contain the following uploaded documents (Word or PDF format), as follows: 

Cover letter, addressing your personal goals and interests, as well as your experience and interest in carrying out the duties outlined above. 
Current resume. 

Candidates passing the initial applicant screening process will be requested to provide references.

ELI will accept applications for this position until 11:59 pm EST Friday, April 22, 2022. However, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the post may be filled prior to the closing deadline. You must use ELI’s online application system; ELI cannot accept applications submitted by email, USPS or other shipping service, or hand delivery.

Please note that to ensure the health and safety of the ELI workforce, any offer of employment from ELI is contingent on candidates providing proof of full vaccination against COVID-19.  ELI management will consider requests for religious or medical exceptions, consistent with applicable law.   

ELI is an equal opportunity employer firmly committed to achieving an inclusive, diverse workforce that values every individual. We firmly believe that hiring individuals with varying perspectives and backgrounds contributes to our success as an organization, and we strive to create an environment that fosters inclusiveness. As such, minority candidates and candidates from traditionally underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.