Manager, Digital Fundraising and Donor Communications

Job Description

Reporting to the Director of Major Giving and Donor Engagement, the Development Associate will support the strengthening and expanding of the organization’s frontline fundraising program, which builds, maintains, and grows mutually beneficial relationships with individual donors.

The Manager of Digital Fundraising and Donor Communications plays a pivotal role in The Legal Aid Society’s Development Department, as the team works to expand its private donor base and to launch a 150th anniversary fundraising campaign. The Manager oversees the organization's external email program, working closely with partners in the Communications Team to optimize the user journey and convert supporters to donors.

The Manager develops and implements fundraising campaigns that maximize donor value and focus on strong retention and file growth of supporters and donors under $1K. The Manager brings marketing and donor experience expertise to elevate performance and overall donor value.

Additionally, the Manager oversees the Senior Development Associate, Marketing & Communications, and together this team will pitch in to support Development colleagues with designed, donor-facing collateral materials, and provide technical support for email outreach to institutional, mid-level, and major donors.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Oversight of the Direct Marketing Fundraising Program

• Plan and execute donor-centric communications to individual donors under $1000 and prospective donors/sponsors with a goal of converting supporters to donors and moving them through the donor pipeline
• Increase donor loyalty through segmentation, marketing clusters and donor journeys up the pipeline, including strategy development, supervising the design of emails, welcome series, loyalty & cultivation content, and upgrade strategies
• Serve as the point person and subject matter expert of file health reporting, identifying trends and opportunities up the donor pipeline
• Develop relevant actionable metrics and analysis for online and offline donors under $1000, in collaboration with the Director of Development Operations.
• Draft newsletter and email copy for audience segments and send via multiple platforms (Luminate online and donor Spring)
• Draft copy for quarterly direct mail pieces, working with the Development Operations Team on criteria for mailing lists and coordinating with printing vendor
• Create growth opportunities such as marketing for and promotion of monthly giving pledges, and work with vendor partner on acquisition series
• Leverage the organization’s 150th anniversary in 2026 as an opportunity to engage existing donors and prospective supporters

Marketing

• Collaborate with the Legal Aid Communications (“Comms”) team and Vendors, work on acquisition campaigns to drive email sign ups, represent Development’s perspective in planning and execution
• Partner with Comms team to develop a content calendar, aligning the design elements of emails with planned social media posts where applicable
• Determine protocols and bandwidth for email programs to new non-donor audiences in collaboration with the comms and HR teams

Donor Communications

• Oversee the Senior Development Associate in providing Development colleagues with requested collateral materials, acknowledgements, event invites, and other designed materials
• Partner with the Manager of Individual Giving to support mass Communications to donors of $1k - $2,499, while the Major Gifts Teams mines this segment for major gift prospects
• Collaborate with the Institutional Giving Team and Major Gifts Teams on upcoming emails for the Direct Marketing audience
• Develop and manage the department-wide email calendar, providing technical support for emails to select audiences regarding specific opportunities

Team Development and Supervision

• Supervise the Senior Development Associate Marketing and Communications.
• Schedule employee hours, assign work, approve time off, and manage staffing changes
• Attends management meetings, participates in training, and utilizes current employment policies and practices
• Conduct management and supervision practices that support equity and inclusion

Professional Development and other duties as assigned

• Participate in continuous professional development
• Continuously learn about forms of bias in the workplace and demonstrate affirmative behaviors that support an inclusive work environment
• Other duties as assigned

Requirements

Required qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in business administration, Management, or a related field and four years of experience in fundraising, advocacy, or related commercial enterprise with direct experience with online fundraising; or an equivalent combination of education and experience

Preferred qualifications:

• 3+ years supervisory experience
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, written, and organizational skills are required Excellent organizational and multitasking abilities

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

Position Based Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• High-level written and verbal communication skills necessary to produce email copy
• Strong reporting and analytical skills and attention to detail
• Strong understanding of fundraising platforms and databases. Knowledge of Blackbaud products is a plus
• Proficiency with standard fundraising data metrics and reporting processes
• Proficiency in Microsoft/Google documents, presentations, and spreadsheets

Supervision Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to schedule, assign, and manage work and resolve problems as needed
• Ability to manage the work including assessment of work process and outcomes, gathering relevant information about the work, recommending alternatives, or elevate issues as needed
• Ability to clearly identify roles, responsibilities, delegate tasks and hold people accountable
• Ability to create and implement effective communication plans
• Ability to provide meaningful performance feedback for professional development including having difficult conversations and resolving sensitive employee issues
• Pursue continuous learning on forms of systemic oppression of marginalized identities and establish team norms and management practices using an equity mindset and informed by inclusive practices

Organizational Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Commitment to Legal Aid Society’s mission to secure equal justice before the law for all New Yorkers
• Interpersonal and communication skills that enable healthy and productive working relationships
• Ability to perform duties with the highest regard for confidentiality, integrity, and respect Commitment to Legal Aid Society’s mission and values

Physical, environment, travel, and other duties required:

• Mostly sedentary, significant time using a computer and monitor; communicating and meeting using video
• May or will require travel within NYC, across the five-borough region

SALARY AND BENEFITS

The leadership of The Legal Aid Society believes in attracting and retaining exceptional talent committed to serving our clients. We offer a generous benefits package, including health insurance, paid vacation, disability, and life insurance, and more. Salaries for our unionized jobs are governed by our Collective Bargaining Agreement. Please visit our Careers page for additional information. Salary and benefits information will be available to applicants, when and if, an offer is made.

The posting reflects the range of potential salaries for the role. The specific salary offers will be dependent on candidate qualifications, including collectively bargained salary steps for unionized roles.

Salary Range: $97,000 - $105,000

HIGHER EDUCATION AND LOAN FORGIVENESS

The Legal Aid Society is a qualified employer for the purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This position allows an employee to take advantage of PSLF and other State and Federal loan forgiveness programs.

Additionally, employees who are New York residents may be eligible for assistance from New York state to assist with loan repayments, depending on years of practice. To learn more, click the links below.

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

The leadership of The Legal Aid Society is committed to a work culture of zealous advocacy, respect, diversity and inclusion, client-oriented defense, access to justice and excellent representation. We are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each of our clients, to understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs. Our ability to achieve these goals depends on the efforts of all of us.

WORK AUTHORIZATION

All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship for a work visa or permit. We are currently unable to sponsor employment visas or permits. (However, for citizens of Canada and Mexico, LAS will provide a letter documenting employment status that is needed to obtain a TN visa.)

HOW TO APPLY

All applications must be completed online. We do not accept paper submissions. Please visit our Careers Page to review all current job postings, and instructions on the application process. For technical difficulties or questions regarding this posting, please email .

As an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer, The Legal Aid Society prohibits discriminatory employment actions against and treatment of its employees and applicants for employment based on actual or perceived race or color, size (including bone structure, body size, height, shape, and weight), religion or creed, alienage or citizenship status, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity (one’s internal deeply-held sense of one’s gender which may be the same or different from one’s sex assigned at birth); gender expression (the representation of gender as expressed through, for example, one’s name, choice of pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, or body characteristics; gender expression may not conform to traditional gender-based stereotypes assigned to specific gender identities), disability, marital status, relationship and family structure (including domestic partnerships, polyamorous families and individuals, chosen family, platonic co-parents, and multigenerational families), genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, domestic violence victim status, arrest or pre-employment conviction record, credit history, unemployment status, caregiver status, salary history, or any other characteristic protected by law.