Strategic Partnerships Development Associate
About Catchafire
Catchafire is a full service, on-demand solution designed to address the wide-ranging and complex needs of nonprofits by connecting them with talented pro bono professionals. We partner with major funders (read more here) to provide unlimited access to Catchafire to tens of thousands of nonprofits ready to invest in the growth of their organizations and the impact of their service.
Our mission is simple: catalyze positive social change by building a stronger nonprofit sector fueled by talent abundance. Here are some ways to get to know us better:
About Role and the Department
As the Strategic Partnerships Development Associate, you are the hub between cutting edge industry research and our Strategic Partnerships team, who build some of our most innovative and impactful client partnerships with grantmaking foundations. You will use your research and expert synthesis skills to support senior members of the team, as they forge new relationships within the philanthropy sector and hone Catchafire’s value propositions. You are hungry for hands-on learning and the opportunity to gain industry expertise to inform our partnerships strategy across the Partnerships function.
This is the perfect opportunity for a resourceful professional who wants to join a fast growing team, and wants to learn more about how to drive impact-building partnerships and thought leadership in the social sector. While there are many growth paths available to this individual, we are specifically looking for someone who would one day like to lead and build partnerships themselves between Catchafire and foundation leaders. You will report to the Sales Development Manager and the opportunity to work closely with and be mentored by our senior partnership builders.
Attributes
- Resourceful problem solver: No obstacle is too large or arduous if it stops you from reaching your goals. You are hungry to solve problems of any size, and enjoy taking on challenges that have previously stumped others.
- Ability to synthesize and structure complex information: Your ability to break down complex and often dense industry information to the most important things is one of your super powers. You are a clear and precise communicator and use your learnings to elevate the work across the teams you touch.
- Flexible collaborator: You love to work closely with a small and evolving team where you are able to both create new systems and adapt to suit quickly-changing needs. You understand the nuances of working with different types of people, and know how to leverage your own learning and communication styles to you and your team’s success.
- Quick to learn and adjust: You thrive on being able to process large amounts of information quickly and learning from every experience. You are not afraid to try something new and are constantly thinking about what we can do better based on what we have learned so far.
- Unwavering commitment to learning & growth: You hold yourself to a high bar of delivery, and you strive to ensure that every piece of work that is produced under your watch is better than the one before. You are meticulously focused on your development and crave opportunities for growth as an individual and in the quality of your work product.
Responsibilities of the Strategic Partnerships Development Associate
- Research leads, and help build deliverables for the Strategic Partnerships team with increasing ownership in crafting the approach for each lead or prospective client.
- Translate industry knowledge and a keen understanding of sector challenges into opportunities and strategic new initiatives for Catchafire
- Provide strategic insights and prep for the Strategic Partnerships team across the sales pipeline through your growing knowledge of the Philanthropic sector and current events (and how Catchafire fits within the space).
- Support and eventually own the development of presentations and proposals with both high-quality content and preferably a strong design lens.
- Build strong knowledge of Catchafire’s target market specifically in key regions that our Strategic Partnerships team is working on.
- Understand and update our CRM while also seeking new opportunities to build and implement new ways of working that support the agility and effectiveness of the team.
- Manage your desk and utilize strong project management skills, staying on top of multiple, changing, and sometimes competing priorities without errors.
Experience / Background
In order to be successful in this role you must meet most, if not all, of the following needs:
- Progressive experience (likely 2-4+ years) of full-time work experience supporting teams in areas such as business development, fundraising, sales operations, or strategy/management consulting
- For candidates on the upper range of experience, we are also open to considering a Sr. Associate role
- Experience in an external-facing role
- Experience supporting or partnering closely with senior team members (roughly, Director level and above)
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Superb creative problem solving skills, and critical thinking ability
- Demonstrated project management skills
- Using a sense of humor and objectivity to guide your work and collaboration
- Curiosity and a commitment to growth
- Experience in Fundraising OR Business Development
- Experience in philanthropy OR startup life
- A strong connection to or desire to learn more about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and a willingness to invest deeply in this work within a professional setting
- We are open to a broad range of ways a candidate may have developed this interest or had exposure to these concepts including but not limited to experience with organizationational DEI in a prior role (professional, volunteer, or other), participating in DEI work and/or related trainings, etc.
- A passionate commitment to make the world a better place, however you choose to define that
How to Apply
If our values resonate with you, email your resume to [email protected]. Please specify "Strategic Partnerships Development Associate"in the subject, and include short answers (150 words or less) to the following questions in lieu of a formal cover letter:
- Why do you want to work at Catchafire?
- What is your personal philosophy toward work and self-development?
Catchafire’s office is based in New York City. We are open to candidates who are not located in New York City, but are located near a major airport and willing to travel to New York at least a few times a year (once it is safe to do so).
We will be working remotely until as long as COVID-19 persists, and do provide accommodations to help with home office set up. We will continue to assess our return date and when we will resume work travel as the situation progresses, and consider our employees’ safety as a top priority.
Catchafire is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. We are also welcoming to any reasonable accommodations that can be made for candidates in our hiring process.
Apply here