ABOUT TED 

TED is a non-profit that believes Ideas change everything. Powerful ideas, powerfully presented, move us: to feel something, to think differently, to take action.

At TED, we seek to bridge, include, and diversify because we truly believe ideas are for everyone. It is important to us to attract individuals from diverse backgrounds who are curious about the world.

ABOUT THE AUDACIOUS PROJECT

The Audacious Project is a philanthropic platform dedicated to supporting big, bold solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges. We curate world-changing ideas across a wide range of issue areas by helping non-profit organizations to develop compelling 5+ year plans, then partner with our community of leading philanthropists and institutions to unlock large-scale collaborative funding. These catalytic philanthropic grants are coupled with ongoing support from the Audacious Project team, in order to ensure these ideas can continue to be both audacious and achievable. 

Housed at TED, The Audacious Project launched publicly  in 2018 and has since catalyzed over $5B for over 60 projects, in issue areas ranging from climate to breakthrough science to global health. We are honored to have a vibrant donor community of nearly 50 philanthropists and institutions that come together annually to invest in cohorts of 8-10 visionary projects.

The Audacious Project seeks an Associate Director for the Donor Community team - a new and dynamic role that will bring best-in-class stakeholder management and communication skills to nurture a growing and vibrant donor community. 

The candidate will craft bespoke year-round communications geared to our active donors, maintaining a clear line of sight into their areas of energy and interest - as well as maintain an informational hub to house up to the minute changes on donors’ funding portfolios and engagement preferences. The candidate will also skillfully curate and support in-person and virtual events, like our annual 2.5 day flagship retreat, that acts as the primary catalyst for funding the Audacious grantee portfolio. 

While this position has an option to be fully remote, TED’s headquarters are in New York City, and there is a strong preference for this position to be based in NYC.

Community Building

• Support a growing community of ~50 active donors by managing key communications (e.g. targeted engagement campaigns.) For some donors, Audacious will be their key or major philanthropic vehicle, and for others, the platform will supplement existing giving strategies. 

• Help foster a sense of community among the active donors through strategic in-person and virtual engagement and events - including Audacious’ annual flagship retreat.

Relationship Management 

• Create and deploy a cadence of confidential, bespoke, and precise updates year-round that center donor motivations and preferences.

• Ensure donors (and their teams) are regularly updated on the annual Audacious cycle; using extensive stakeholder management expertise, intuition and skills to engage the donors in the fast-pace and dynamism of the cycle.

• Handle sensitive and confidential information with utmost discretion and honor privacy and engagement preferences with incredible care and precision. 

Information Management 

• Leverage tools like the Audacious CRM (powered by Salesforce) to track relationship management details (contacts, key meetings, phone calls, e-mails) to ensure quick and easy accessibility for cross-vertical stakeholders; as well as support an internal donor-facing portal to share impact stories, build community and foster connections. 

Key Stakeholders 

• While the focus of this role is external, cultivating our active donor community, there are several internal stakeholders with whom this role will work with closely including: 

  • Managing Director and Associate in the Donor Community vertical

  • Portfolio Impact vertical, supporting our active donors and/or their teams in understanding the current status and impact of projects in their funding portfolio

  • Discovery & Insight vertical, ensuring our active donors have ample insight and opportunity to input into the project sourcing and diligence process

  • TED’s events team, supporting the planning and logistics of our in-person donor events, including the annual flagship donor retreat

Values

• Fostering and cultivating community

• Handling sensitive information with discretion

• Being acutely aware of power dynamics in philanthropy and eager to serve as a bridge and buffer in support of optimal relationships between our Audacious grantees and donors.

• 7-10+ years of experience in donor relations and community building

• Proven track record in UHNWI event management; dinners, conferences, high-touch experiences.

• Self-starter. Can move full bodies of work forward with minimal oversight and instruction, someone who thrives in a dynamic and fast-paced environment — whilst also aware and understanding of when to bring in leadership for input or elevated decision making

• Strong writer with eye for detail, and a concise and compelling communication style

• Proactive, responsive and thoughtful communicator, with high EQ

• Salesforce or relevant CRM experience a plus

• Nuanced and highly sophisticated understanding of donor privacy and confidentiality  

BENEFITS

• Full health benefits (medical, dental, vision) 

• Paid family leave

• Work-life balance is encouraged through our flexible paid time off 

• Free OneMedical and SpringHealth membership for you and your dependents to address physical and mental well-being 

• 401k with match

SALARY RANGE

$130,000 - $160,000 

TED Conferences LLC is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We invite all qualified candidates to apply online with their resume.