Now Hiring: Executive Assistant to the CEO & Development Manager

The Empower Mississippi team is making a difference in the lives of Mississippians by advocating for public policy changes that remove barriers to opportunity so all Mississippians can rise. We have led the fight for school choice, criminal justice reform, and occupational licensing reform in Mississippi, and have demonstrated our ability to achieve results. Life-changing doors of opportunity have been opened to thousands of Mississippi children who now have the freedom to choose their school and to incarcerated individuals who may now be considered for parole, and we still have much work to do. Our newest initiative is focused on removing barriers to entry into the workforce so all Mississippians have the opportunity to find meaningful work and contribute to their families and communities.

We are in search of a full-time Executive Assistant to the CEO and Development Manager who will support the CEO at a high level, work with him to maintain and improve our strategic fundraising plan, help connect him with new donors, and manage cultivation for existing donors.

The position will be a critical part of the development team, managing the back office systems and processes to ensure all contributions are processed, donors are thanked, and the relationships are stewarded. They will be able to put their best ideas to the test for how to generate promising donor leads, research potential donors, leverage existing relationships to create referrals, and assist the CEO in converting them into long-term financial partners. They will also have the goal of maintaining, and where necessary, improving the existing cultivation process to ensure world-class communications with donors. Lastly, they will provide high-level support to the CEO by managing his communications, scheduling, and other tasks as necessary.

Empower Mississippi offers competitive compensation, a generous health insurance package, paid time off, paid holidays, and a retirement matching contribution.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and improve systems and processes for sophisticated donor prospecting pipeline
• Keep projects and commitments on track
• Coordinate the CEO’s schedule and travel/meeting arrangements
• Help manage CEO’s communications
• Maintain contacts and files
• Create and prepare metrics reports
• Lead prospect research on new donor prospects and schedule initial meetings for the CEO
• Oversee “onboarding” of new donors and cultivation of existing donors through timely, world-class communications
• Manage donor database and ensure its accuracy and consistency
• Track proposals and follow up with grant prospects

Ideal Candidate Will Have

• Entrepreneurial spirit and self-starter work style
• Forward-thinking, strategic mindset
• Solid writing and communication skills
• Professional manner and ability to extend hospitality to donors and other high-level individuals who may interact with Empower Mississippi
• Ability to multi-task, organize numerous moving parts of a project, and meet deadlines
• Highly organized style with an appreciation for systems, processes, and checklists
• Superior research skills with no fear of making introductory calls
• Relentless approach to generating new donor relationships for the CEO and to following up with CEO to ensure that tasks stay on track

How to Apply          

Qualified candidates should submit the following application materials:

• Résumé
• Cover letter detailing:
  • Interest in the position and a compelling case for why the applicant is a good fit for Empower
  • Salary requirements

Materials should be emailed in one PDF document to Gina Metzger at gina@empowerms.org.