Program Officer - Development & Communications

LISC Massachusetts

LISC Massachusetts is one of the state's leading community development financial institutions (CDFI). Today, we're focused on impact across the state, working to tackle some of our most pressing community development challenges: Building more affordable housing, growing an opportunity economy for all small business owners, and preparing housing developers for a sustainable and resilient energy future. Our Strategic Priorities include:

• Affordable Housing: Financing the production and preservation of affordable housing across Massachusetts to drive down costs and increase access to stable, healthy homes.
  
  
• Green Homes & Green Jobs: Helping affordable housing owners and developers' lower energy use, reduce operating costs, and build healthy homes while also building pathways to careers in the new energy economy through workforce training.
  
  
• Economic Opportunity: Supporting under-resourced entrepreneurs grow their small businesses and build wealth in order to build an opportunity economy for all.
  
  
• Capacity Building: Growing the power, capacity, and resources of the state's community development sector to support local solutions to pressing challenges.

Founded in 1979, LISC and its affiliates have invested approximately $29.7 billion nationally in businesses, affordable housing, health, educational mobility, community and recreational facilities, public safety, employment, and other projects that help to revitalize and stabilize underinvested communities.

Since 1981, the LISC Massachusetts office has directed over $600M in grants, lending, and other wealth gap investments across the state to support affordable housing, small businesses, and other community economic development activity -- unlocking close to $3 billion in total development costs. More at www.lisc.org/massachusetts.

Position Description

LISC Massachusetts seeks a dynamic, detail-oriented, and motivated professional to serve as Program Officer for Development and Communications. The Program Officer will help lead efforts to grow and diversify our funding from private and public sources, and bolster those efforts by elevating our office's visibility and voice in the market through compelling digital communications and storytelling practices.

The Program Officer will work directly with the Executive Director to spearhead fund development strategies, cultivate new and existing donors, and manage grant submissions and reporting. They will work to communicate our mission, impact, and value to funders, partners, and community members across online platforms and through donor engagement content. Additionally, the Program Officer will play a lead role in planning and executing the organization's annual fundraiser event, Story Slam, overseeing the work of an event planning consultant and other vendors.

Responsibilities

Fundraising & Development (60% of time)

• Strategic Fundraising: Collaborate with Executive Director to develop and implement comprehensive fundraising strategies targeting foundations, corporations, and government funding sources, among others for grant funding as well as creative approaches to sponsorship funding tied to the annual Story Slam event.
• Grant Management: Lead identification, writing, and submission of grant proposals; manage timely grant reporting requirements in collaboration with program staff.
• Donor Cultivation: Identify, research, and cultivate new funding prospects, particularly in corporate and major donor segments; and produce funder "briefs" to support Executive Director ahead of meetings with funders.
• Donor Stewardship: Oversee the donation acknowledgment process, collaborating with the key staff to ensure timely, accurate donor recognition.
• Revenue Diversification: Lead efforts to expand beyond traditional grant funding to include corporate partnerships, individual donors leveraging the state's community investment tax credit (CITC), and other innovative funding mechanisms.
• Database Management: Maintain accurate donor database records in Salesforce, tracking interactions, giving history, and prospect development activities.
• Fundraising Analytics: Monitor and analyze fundraising metrics, prepare regular reports on development activities and outcomes.

Communications (20% of time)

• Strategic Communications: Work with Executive Director to develop communications strategies that support fundraising objectives, enhance organizational visibility, increase thought leadership position, and promote the programmatic impact of LISC's work.
• Relationship Management: Cultivate and steward local media contacts, community partners, and stakeholder relationships that require face-to-face interaction.
• Content Planning: Work with program staff and LISC Communications to draft content, schedule, and manage organizational social media presence, website updates, email newsletters, and donor communications that effectively communicate LISC's impact and mission to engage stakeholders and attract new supporters.
• Annual Report: Lead production of LISC Massachusetts' annual report, offering an engaging, inspiring, and concise review of impact highlights from the previous year.
• Operations: Serve as the local communications contact point that feeds information to and receives guidance from LISC Communications.

Annual Event Management (20% of time)

• Story Slam Event Planning: Collaborate with the Executive Director to plan the organization's annual Story Slam fundraising event and serve as primary internal coordinator of relationships with event planning consultants and other vendors, ensuring seamless execution and budget compliance.
• Event Sponsorship: Work with Executive Director and event planning consultant to develop creative event sponsorship ideas that help increase the event's gross fundraising total from existing and new funders.
• Event Marketing & Promotion: Develop and implement comprehensive Story Slam marketing strategy to drive attendance and ticket sales, sponsorship, and public relations for annual event.
• Post-Event Follow-up: Coordinate post-event follow up tasks, including thank you communications to donors and guests, compiling impact summary report, and supporting internal event evaluation.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university, or relevant requisite work experience.
• Minimum 5-6 years of professional relevant experience in non-profit fund development and communications.
• Demonstrated success in grant writing, corporate sponsorships, and securing funding from diverse sources.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with proven ability to craft compelling stories/narratives and articulate the case for support for various programs.
• Strong organizational and project management skills with ability to structure and manage multiple projects within limited time frames and deadlines
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with LISC colleagues as well as with donors, partners, and community members.
• Experience with donor database management systems, specifically Salesforce.
• High level proficiency with design and digital marketing tools, and social media platforms, specifically Canva, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Office Suite, Campaign Monitor; LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
• Event planning and project management experience.

• Passion for the community development mission of LISC Massachusetts and familiarity with community development issues of housing, small business economic development, and sustainability.

• Experience with corporate fundraising and major donor cultivation strongly preferred.

• Excellent organizational skills and the ability to balance creative and administrative responsibilities.

* As part of your application, we kindly ask that you include a cover letter outlining your qualifications, relevant experience, and why you're interested in joining our team.

Compensation

LISC offers a competitive salary of $85,000-$95,000 commensurate with experience and excellent benefits.