Development Associate

Position Type: Full-Time
Application Due: 02/07/2022
Categories: Development, Fundraising

Job Purpose: Assist with coordinating and managing stewardship activities and events associated with expanding and maintaining the donor relationship programs for the WFVZ. Provide administrative support to the Bookkeeping department.

Essential Duties:

• Assist the Finances Manager and Executive Director in a full range of activities associated with small individual donor cultivation/retention, membership tracking, and recognition events.
• Participate in event planning and execution, and conduct post-event evaluations.

• Assist with funding research and writing applications.
• Collaborate in the creation of advertising and educational materials.

• Provide record-keeping, file maintenance, bookkeeping, and communications support.
• Assist with procuring and supervising volunteers to help with development/fundraising events.

The successful candidate for this position will have the following qualifications:

• Working knowledge of research techniques for fundraising and prospect cultivation/retention
• At least 2 years prior experience working with a non-profit organization in a fundraising capacity
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with attention to detail.
• Personable, outgoing and enthusiastic personality
• Proven ability to meet fundraising deadlines with a record of doing so
• Experience with administrating social media software
• Ability to and experience with virtual, hybrid and online platforms for webinars, meetings, promotions, auctions, ticketing, and scheduling.
• Experience with other standard software, e.g., Microsoft Excel, Word, Publisher, Outlook; scheduling software/platforms; Photo Shop or other photo software; Zoom; Square or other sales management software.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills; strong organizational and time management skills; ability to manage priorities and workflow.

Highly desirable experience and skills include:

• Bookkeeping/accounting experience, including experience with bookkeeping/accounting software, such as Quickbooks, PeachTree, etc
• Retail experience
• Knowledge of Gift Store operations and promotion
• Spanish language fluency +

The salary for this position will be $42,000 per year; a health insurance stiped will also be provided. A portion of the work for this position may be conducted remotely. To apply, please send a CV, and letter detailing your experience and the names and contact information for at least three recent references to Jennifer@wfvz.org and Linnea@wfvz.org by 2 February 2022.

About the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology (WFVZ) Bird Museum and Research Center: The WFVZ is located north of Los Angeles in Camarillo, California, and is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity (https://www.wfvz.org). It is a research and education institution dedicated to investigating and teaching about birds with a special emphasis on conservation, as well as a natural history museum with specialized collections of birds’ eggs and nests from all around the world. The Foundation’s collections are among the largest in the world. The bird egg, nest, and study skin collections and their data are invaluable to researchers and educators, as well as to students and the public. Since its inception in 1956, the WFVZ’s materials have played key roles in studying diverse topics such as avian systematics and evolution; the effects of environmental contamination; and changes in bird numbers, distributions, and habitat use. Now that more than 90% of the collection is digitized due to a National Science Foundation grant, many new studies using the data and the materials are possible, and the museum is excited about the future for the collections. Our staff also conduct field research projects locally on the Channel Islands, in the Santa Monica Mountains, and along the Santa Clara River specifically to monitor and study protected and sensitive bird species, and to assist in the recreation of habitat in these locations. We collaborate actively with several federal and state agencies, universities, and large and small non-profit conservation organizations to implement our bird field conservation program. In addition to managing the collections, the WFVZ provides education about the natural history sciences and the importance of the conservation and restoration of nature and declining bird species to a diverse human community in Ventura County, through museum and field classes, seminars, tutoring, and events.

In 2019, Ventura County had a population of >850,000 people with a relatively high median income. However, 9.1% of the people of the county live in poverty, and more than 4,000 households receive food assistance. The largest ethnic groups are White (44.7%) and Latino or Hispanic (43.2%). Asian Americans (7.9), Black and African Americans (2.4%), and Native Americans (1.9%) also are part of our diverse community. One-third (33%) of the people in the county speak a non-English, non-European language, primarily Spanish. The WFVZ is committed to the active participation of all people in the sciences, and we offer our education programs to directly create participation opportunities for our county’s underrepresented constituents. We thus desire to hire a person who is interested in the mission, goals, and community of the WFVZ, who is passionate about educating the public about the conservation and restoration of nature and of imperiled bird species, and who is committed to seeing diverse humans be a part of this important work.

The WFVZ is an equal opportunity employer.  We do not discriminate on the ground of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability or national origin in the hiring, retention, or promotion of employees; nor in determining their rank, or the compensation or fringe benefits paid them. This Organization also practices equal treatment of clients. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, disability, age or national origin in services or accommodations offered or provided to our employees, clients or guests.