Associate Director of Development Events & Corporate Sponsorship

Reports to : Sr Director of Development & Community Engagement

Work Schedule : Mon-Fri, 9 am 5 pm; event-based evening and weekend hours required. This is an in-person position.

Organization :

Literary Arts is a community-based nonprofit arts organization located in Portland, Oregon. Our mission is to engage readers, support writers, and inspire the next generation with great literature.

Our programs create opportunities for readers and writers of all ages and walks of life to engage with stories. We provide programs in concert halls, classrooms, our community space, and on the radio.

Literary Arts is committed to remaining a dynamic and responsive organization that will continue to evolve with our community’s needs and deepen our equity work across all our programs.

The Position :

The Associate Director of Development Events & Corporate Sponsorship will be the primary manager of fundraising events and event partners, identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward corporate sponsors and engage board members, staff, and volunteers as appropriate.

The Associate Director is also responsible for managing key vendor and important in-kind sponsor relationships, and for helping increase the visibility of Literary Arts among corporate partners, leading to increased support.

The Associate Director will design and implement the strategy and ongoing activities to solicit and support fundraising and programmatic event sponsors of all levels.

This position will also serve a vital role in developing new partnership and fundraising event strategies that integrate Literary Arts’ transformative identity expansion, with the opening of public-facing retail operations, our new headquarters in Portland's Central Eastside, and the Ursula K.

Le Guin Writers Residency. They will collaborate with our Marketing & Communications Director and Program Directors to ensure a cohesive engagement approach in the year ahead.

This will also support the overall development team on the creation and implementation plans that raise funds from individual donors through annual direct mail and email solicitations.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities :

Events

• In collaboration with key Director-level staff across departments, plan and manage Literary Arts’ fundraising events, including an annual gala.
• Organize and execute cultivation events and donor stewardship events.

Sponsorships

• Develop corporate support plans. Generate targeted, effective corporate support prospects and proposals. Manage relations with corporate supporters.
• Establish and maintain long-term partnerships with corporate partners that will result in funding for the immediate and long-term needs of Literary Arts, especially event sponsorships.
• Develop event sponsorship / stewardship materials and solicitation plans. Successfully implement the solicitation plans, engaging board, staff, and volunteers as appropriate.
• Serve as a key liaison between corporate event sponsors and Literary Arts, assuring supporting partner benefits are being fulfilled and needs are being met.
• Serve as internal primary point of contact with Marketing and Communications to ensure sponsors are recognized appropriately across all public-facing recognition.

Annual Appeal

• Serve as primary point of contact with external grant-writing contracted support.
• Support development team on creation of annual fund solicitations in accordance with the annual development strategic plan.
• Collaborate to support development to team on creation of solicitation lists, design segmenting, and personalization strategies.

Other / General

• Work with Senior Director of Development & Community Engagement to identify and cultivate new partners, as well as support team in donor relations at each level of giving and within each giving category (foundation, corporate, and individual).
• Represent Literary Arts at events to increase awareness of Literary Arts’ programs.
• Other duties as assigned by the Senior Director of Development & Community Engagement.

Experience & Requirements :

We will consider any combination of relevant work experience, volunteering, education, and transferable skills as qualifying, unless an item is labeled as required.

Please be clear and specific about how your background is relevant.

Minimum Qualifications / Transferable Skills

• 5 or more years of development experience with a proven track record of successful fundraising events management, and $5,000 and above corporate sponsorship.
• Demonstrated understanding of basic fundraising principles and the development cycle.
• Experience in effectively nurturing and maintaining relationships with donors, supporters, community partners, and staff.
• Ability to develop, manage, and meet budgets.
• Exceptional project management skills, including the ability to set and meet deadlines and manage multiple tasks.
• Experience using a donor database system to track contacts, or equivalent preferable.
• Demonstrated ability to appropriately manage highly confidential information.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Superb attention to detail.
• Excellent customer service skills.
• Ability to interact positively with people of diverse backgrounds.
• Creative problem-solving ability.
• Commitment to the mission of Literary Arts.

Job Conditions :

Benefits : Literary Arts currently pays for health, dental, and vision coverage for each full-time employee, and offers a 401K program with employer match.

Literary Arts also fully pays for short- and long-term disability insurance. All full-time employees begin with three weeks of paid vacation time, which increases to five weeks after five years of employment.

We also provide three additional paid personal days off, in addition to observing approximately 12 paid holidays. As a registered nonprofit, the organization qualifies for public service loan forgiveness.

Information on additional benefits is available upon request.

Office Layout is open concept, between two common spaces used for meetings, events, and workshops. Our new facility will also be open concept, with flexible meeting rooms and hoteling work stations.

Equipment Used : Mac POS, laptop, copier / printer, postage machine, and other standard office equipment. Literary Arts provides an adjustable office chair;

a standing desk can be requested.

Physical Demands : Long periods of sitting are required at the computer or in meetings. Some concentrated periods of computer keyboarding may be required throughout the work week.

However, this position does accommodate breaks from sitting as needed. Lifting and moving of boxes is required; boxes in excess of 25 pounds should be lifted with assistance.

To apply, please submit your cover letter and resume to with the subject line Associate Director of Development Events & Corporate Sponsorship.

We will be accepting applications through September 18, 2024.

After you submit your application materials, you will be invited to participate in a voluntary survey. Literary Arts is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment for our employees and volunteers, and data collected from these surveys allows us to measure and show the progress we are making in a concrete way.

We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and experiences.