The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (ACLU-VA) seeks a Development Associate who supports the organization’s philanthropic goals to grow and diversify our operating revenue and deepen relationships with our network of staff, board, members and supporters in our mission and impact. The Associate provides essential support to the Chief Development Officer and the rest of the Development team, guaranteeing all development data is accurate so that the team can use it to inform strategy and track progress; performing research and data analysis on donors and prospects to expand our base of support; providing excellent communications to inspire donors about our work; and maintaining efficient systems to enable the team to effectively manage donor relationships, grants, activities, and communications.

The ACLU-VA strives to be Virginia's premier guardian of civil liberties and a recognized champion of civil rights for all Virginians. For over a hundred years (59 in Virginia), the ACLU has made a profound difference in the lives of clients and community members, as well as historic contributions to our country and state. Now, more people than ever before have turned to the ACLU to fight back against unprecedented new attacks on civil rights and liberties. We are also committed to pursuing impactful policy changes at the local and statewide levels to achieve racial equity and advance civil liberties and civil rights for everyone. The ACLU-VA is committed to ending racist policing, cutting the number of people incarcerated in Virginia, increasing access to quality mental and medical care, ending sex and gender-based discrimination at work and in schools, and securing a constitutional right to vote for everyone.

To help us protect and advance the ACLU's mission, the Development Associate will:

Provide General Donor & Development Support

• Assist the Chief Development Officer in developing and implementing an annual comprehensive fundraising strategy that includes prospects, individual donors, and foundations;
• Assist the Chief Development Officer with scheduling donor meetings for the Chief Development Officer, the Executive Director, other affiliate staff and board members;
• Aid in stewarding a portfolio of donors through in-person, soft-ask meetings when appropriate;
• Provide superior customer service to current and potential donors, supporters and members, responding to inquiries related to giving and other ACLU-VA engagement opportunities;
• Work with National ACLU to conduct research and create reports on prospects, specifically looking for evidence of mission alignment, capacity to contribute and existing connections we can leverage;
• Participate in development team donor strategy sessions and coordinate next steps for stewardship of and communication with donors;
• Coordinate fundraising and cultivation events. Manage invitations, food, and other logistics of the event; work with programmatic teams to ensure other events incorporate a donor perspective;
• Help draft funding proposals for individuals and foundations, where appropriate, track and meet any submission reporting deadlines;
• Track all solicitor and donor communication, progress and commitments, maintain up-to-date donor records, and provide team with progress to goal and benchmark information;
• Manage grants calendar, ensuring deadlines, submissions, and reports are completed in a timely manner;
• Assist Development team with creating a culture of philanthropy for staff and board. Create and maintain an internal communications system that encourages staff learning and transparency around development work;
• Utilize a donor-centric and community-centric approach and demonstrate a willingness to encourage this in others; and
• Remain up to date on best practices for fundraising efforts, guidelines, and procedures used in the nonprofit sector to guide and inform the organization’s development strategic goals.

Manage Donor Communications

• Work with program teams to translate programmatic updates into donor-centric communications; produce high quality written donor communications that maximize fundraising opportunities by drafting, proofreading and editing direct mail solicitations, acknowledgement letters, email updates, website content, and personalized donor cultivation materials;
• Review monthly donor emails in Constant Contact and update the contact list as needed;
• Support the organizational editorial calendar in collaboration with the communications team and work to help produce the annual report and other donor-centric collateral; and
• Prepare tailored print and supplemental materials for solicitor meetings that collect and synthesize relevant stories, testimonials, and data that reinforces the impact of philanthropy.

Manage Donor Database

• Oversee the gift and pledge processing, gift tracking, and gift acknowledgement processes for member and donor support;
• Serve as the primary development liaison with the operations team to verify the integrity and accuracy of gift information shared between the donor database and general ledger through regular monthly audits and reconciling discrepancies and errors with National organization annually;
• Maintain a comprehensive database and hold primary responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of all donor information; ensuring accountability and consistency while sharing data with the National ACLU;
• Manage all data reporting structures and systems including CRM and Tableau; create queries and produce database reports including donor listings, contact record reports, financial reports, prospect management reports and overall gift analyses. Prepare regular donor recognition and mailing lists;
• Prepare the quarterly development report for the Board of Directors meetings;
• Prepare regular reports and compelling visualizations for board and staff;
• Utilize the business intelligence tools to perform analysis on development performance and trends; use data to help inform development planning and decision making; and
• Record all interactions and post-meeting reports promptly in database for Chief Development Officer and Executive Director.

Participate in Grants Management

• Research new private and corporate funding possibilities, both in Virginia and across our region;
• Manage the grant process in the grant management software tool – applications and reporting deadlines;
• Ensure grant regulation compliance, following the grantor's guidelines, liaising with the grantor and evaluating the performance of assigned programs and projects in collaboration with the Chief Development Officer;
• Collaborate with the Program teams to identify opportunities for funding – both programmatic and general capacity; and
• Help draft funding proposals for individuals and foundations, where appropriate, track and meet any submission reporting deadlines.

See the full job description here.

Our "Must Have's"

Minimum Requirements

• Proficiency with office technology and information systems, including online communications and tools such as Constant Contact, word processing, and CRM software such as Salesforce.
• A commitment to maintaining strong donor relations, confidentiality, and accurate records.
• One year of experience in nonprofits, foundation, and/or funder sector.
• Possess excellent written communication skills and the ability to draft compelling email, proposal, grant, and other types of funding requests.
• Experience with databases, preferably in the development department of a nonprofit organization, and an analytical mindset that can take complex data and funding trends and turn that information into actionable steps and turn the data into high level takeaways for other staff.
• A commitment to the mission and values of the ACLU of Virginia, and to racial justice and civil rights issues and an understanding that these issues are central to overall protection of civil liberties.
• A commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, to refrain from unlawful discrimination and to comply fully with all applicable laws; a personal approach that values the individual and respects differences of race, ethnicity and national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ability and socio-economic circumstance, and able to work with diverse individuals within the organization and broader community.
• Willingness and availability to work occasional evenings, weekends, and/or overtime as necessary.
• Willingness to travel throughout Virginia, and occasionally to other states for conferences and training.

The ACLU of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, bi- or multi-lingual (including Indigenous languages) speakers, multi-cultural individuals, members of the LGBTQ community, those who have been formerly incarcerated or are currently under supervision, and other people from underrepresented and historically marginalized groups. We seek to build a diverse team and an inclusive organizational culture. All qualified applicants who share our vision and who have a desire to contribute to our mission are encouraged to apply.

The salary range for this position is $56,000 to $70,000, with a midpoint of $63,000. Compensation offers will generally be somewhere between the starting point and the midpoint of the range and are based on a candidate's specific experience and current market factors at the time of the offer. To preserve the opportunity for advancement, we do not typically hire above the midpoint of the range. The ACLU of Virginia is a unionized workplace, and the Development Associate is part of the bargaining unit.

In addition, we offer excellent benefits including paid time off, generous paid holidays, a 401k plan with employer contribution, flexible spending account, paid medical, dental, and vision insurance, 50% employer-paid dependent medical coverage, life insurance, wi-fi stipend, wellness stipend, student loan assistance, annual sick leave, short-term and long-term disability insurance, and professional development allowances.

Due to COVID-19 and our desire to keep our employees safe, our organization is currently following a long-term hybrid work policy. This position will require a presence in the downtown Richmond. All ACLU-VA staff members must reside within Virginia or within a 150-mile radius of our downtown Richmond office.

Please review the complete job description on our Careers page and apply from our career site. A resume and cover letter are required. Our HR team will review applications on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Submit your application as soon as possible. We will begin reviewing applications on a rolling basis through May 21, 2026.

The ACLU of Virginia is a unionized workplace.