ACLS Mission and Overview
Formed a century ago, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 80 scholarly organizations. As the leading representative of American scholarship in the humanities and related social sciences, ACLS holds a core belief that knowledge is a public good. As such, ACLS strives to promote the circulation of humanistic knowledge throughout society. In addition to stewarding and representing its member organizations, ACLS employs its endowment and $35 million annual operating budget to support scholarship in the humanities and social sciences and to advocate for the centrality of the humanities in the modern world.
Overview of Department
The Development Department’s role is to develop and secure funding from a wide range of sources, including individual donors, small and major foundations and institutional members. Formed in 2016, the department is charged with planning and executing activities that will expand the scope of ACLS’s individual giving program, foundation support and institutional memberships. Activities include organizing engaging public programs (mostly online) and in-person events, identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding major gift prospects; supporting the efforts of ACLS leadership to raise major gifts; enhancing a planned giving program; and partnering with the President’s Office on the ACLS Research University Consortium and Associate Membership networks.
Job Summary
ACLS is expanding its individual giving and Associate Membership programs, and we are looking for a careful, attentive Development Intern to help us conduct high-quality outreach campaigns, in large part by ensuring our data is reliable and up to date.
More than 200 colleges, universities, research libraries, and other scholarly institutions are members of ACLS at an Associate level. Associate dues are a key part of the ACLS financial structure, and we’ve identified an opportunity to expand membership by conducting an outreach campaign to new institutions of higher learning. We also maintain a network of thousands of scholars, fellowship recipients, and donors whose information is stored in our Customer Relations Management (CRM) system. It is essential that we have up-to-date contact details for our constituents so we can direct fundraising messages to the appropriate addresses, gaining new supporters and maintaining contact with current ones.
The Development intern will be responsible for establishing good data hygiene within our CRM and for helping build outreach lists to recruit new ACLS Associate members.
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Cleaning and updating CRM records with accurate biographical, employment and contact information for donors and fellowship recipients
- Validating and updating existing Associate outreach lists
- Researching new contacts for Associate outreach at non-member institutions with a strong humanities focus including, but not limited to, those with humanities PhD programs and humanities centers
- Supporting direct mail activities
Desired Qualifications:
- Currently enrolled in a degree program in a related field
- Interested in learning about the higher education landscape and fundraising
- Excellent written and oral communication skills; strong interpersonal skills
- Committed to data fidelity and accuracy
- Superior organizational skills with strong attention to detail when managing a high volume of information
- Self-motivated; able to manage their time independently but comfortable reaching out for clarity or guidance when needed
- Willingness to try new tasks and learn skills on the job
- Proficiency in MS Office, particularly Word, Outlook, and Excel
- Experience with Mailchimp and CMS systems desired but not required
Compensation:
- Salary: $25/hour
- 10 hours a week for a term of four months