About Aropa Commons

Aropa Consulting is seeking experienced professionals across various disciplines to enrich the Aropa Commons, a pre-vetted roster of mid- and senior-level consultants who bring their unique expertise to a range of challenging and impactful projects.

About the Fundraising Pillar

Through our fundraising pillar, Aropa partners with impact-focused organizations to optimize their fundraising strategy and support their fundraising goals. Our clients’ needs are at the heart of our work. We are responsive and dedicated to prioritizing sustainable solutions that teams can benefit from in the long term.

To achieve these goals, Aropa provides many different services, including fractional fundraising support; fundraising strategy; fundraising system implementation and optimization; and customized solution building. For more information about our fundraising pillar, visit https://www.aropaconsulting.com/fundraising.

About the Role

Aropa Consulting has grown rapidly over the past four years, and we are actively seeking to add additional technical capacity to our projects. This is an open opportunity to become a vetted contractor with the Aropa Commons so that we can quickly engage you in support of client deliverables. Aropa Commons is in need of a variety of skills and expertise, so please see below for the desired additions to the Aropa Commons.

This role implements specific project deliverables with general guidance from Lead Fundraising Consultants, Justin Pinn and Melissa DeClue, and works collaboratively with the Aropa team members of the fundraising pillar including the CEO, Rosalind Zavras.

Relevant Specialities

We are looking for consultants with specialized knowledge in the following domains to meet the diverse fundraising requirements of Aropa's clients. Candidates are not expected to be experts in every area; deep proficiency in a specific category can make you a compelling match for certain client engagements.

• Grant writing*
• Major gifts strategy
• Institutional funder strategy
• Prospect research
• Corporate giving strategy
• Grassroots giving strategy
• Government grants/contracts
• Ambassadorship training (training board and leadership on how to engage with donors of different varieties)
• Events/Galas
• Digital marketing
• Organizational readiness assessments for fundraising success (e.g. case for support/impact storytelling, MEL frameworks, fundraising analytics)
• Database Management (E.g. Salesforce, Bloomerang, Little Green Light, DonorPerfect, )

*For this first round of Fundraising recruitment, we are especially prioritizing consultants with grant writing experience.

Key Responsibilities

Key responsibilities for our fundraising consultants include:

• Ensuring that complex fundraising-focused projects develop a clear technical project plan and timeline in consultation with the client
• Serving as the fundraising lead or technical expert for your specific project, ensuring that the specifications are executed according to the project plan and client requirements
• Facilitating and maintaining clear communication with fundraising pillar clients, including providing updates on progress and serving as a first point of contact for concerns and next steps
• Updating Aropa’s project management systems to track tasks, milestones, notes, and budgets, and following up with project leads to ensure alignment
• Upholding our values of Care and Excellence with each client interaction, including 24-business-hour response times

Sample Projects

Below is a list of sample projects that we have completed in the past year:

• Fully executed an annual gala for a midsized nonprofit, bringing in over $200,000 in unrestricted revenue for the organization
• Served as fractional Chief Development Officer, where we built cross-cutting development strategy in the areas of grassroots giving, major giving, institutional donor engagement. Trained staff and Board to engage effectively with donors.
• Provided many clients grant writing support as an add on service to include grants from private foundations, corporate foundations, and state/local agencies
• Developed a clear and compelling annual report that told the story of impact, as well as annual narrative report for use with their membership

About You

We value diverse experiences and perspectives, and we’re eager to learn how your background can contribute to the Aropa Commons. Individuals with all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

Ideal Experience

• Demonstrated professional experience managing fundraising and development focused projects
• Deep technical knowledge in your specialty, demonstrated by both years of experience as well as project case studies
• Excellent organizational skills that facilitate clarity for not only the project manager but the whole Aropa team and the client
• Proactive communication skills and style in order to ensure project teams remain on track and clients are heard and served
• Experience working in or with nonprofit and mission-driven organizations, understanding their unique requirements, structures, and strengths

Other Qualifications

• Innovative and creative mindset; deep dedication to contextualizing advice to client’s needs
• Demonstrated experience working independently with an ability to proactively manage your tasks list
• Transparent and collaborative attitude and a love of solving problems with others
• Commitment to working collaboratively with people from diverse backgrounds in terms of race, ethnicity, gender (including nonbinary), sexual orientation, class, and religion
• Comfort with learning new technology. Here is a list of the current tools we use:
• • Collaboration: Slack, Canva
  • Project management: Productive, Google Workspace
  • Videos & meetings: Zoom, Google Meet, Loom

About the Application Process

For this call in Aropa Commons, we are searching for individuals who are seeking casual, part-time employment.

Please submit your resume and a short written statement (no more than one page total) that includes:

• A brief overview of your interest in Aropa
• Provide clarity on which of the named fundraising skills you consider yourself an expert in
• Details of 2 - 3 projects that highlight your technical and project management skills. You do not need to include client names.

Please also provide a previous work product that you have submitted to a client or employer that demonstrates your chosen skill. This could be a project plan, timeline, or project deliverable.

EEO Statement

Aropa Consulting is an Equal Opportunity Employer and values a diverse and inclusive workforce. In all matters affecting employees and applicants for employment, Aropa is committed to going beyond the principles of Equal Employment Opportunity and prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, criminal history, or veteran status. We believe that ALL people have a place and there is no tolerance for hatred or disregard of anyone on the basis of identity. Please only apply for this position if you are enthusiastic about working and learning from people of all ethnic-religious identities. We believe a diverse workforce enables us to be successful and we encourage all to apply.