Campus Election Engagement Project seeks part time fundraiser
Not an article, but I thought I'd use my list to pass the word on a job opening with the Campus Election Engagement Project that I founded. We're looking for someone good to help do some of our fundraising, so if you think of anyone who'd fit the bill well (or might be a candidate yourself), please get back to our senior consultant Jonathan at the email below, since he'll be screening the applications.
Thanks, Paul Loeb, Founder Campus Election Engagement Project and author The Impossible Will Take a Little While (do check out the wholly updated edition at www.theimpossible.org) and Soul of a Citizen.
Campus Election Engagement Project: Position Description – Part-Time Major Donor Fundraiser
The Campus Election Engagement Project (CEEP) works to help America's colleges and universities get as many of their 20 million students as possible to register, volunteer in campaigns, educate themselves on issues and candidates, and turn out at the polls. Our national non-partisan project had a major impact in 2008 and 2012, just completed a successful 2013 off-year pilot in Virginia, and is now engaging students in the 2014 mid-year elections. We’re currently recruiting an Associate National Development Officer to work half-time or full-time, supported by CEEP’s founder, Soul of a Citizen author Paul Loeb, and by Senior Consultant Jonathan Romm.
CEEP Summary: Founded in 2008, CEEP enlists key administrators, faculty, and student leaders, getting them to use their resources to engage the school, helping students register to vote, navigate daunting voter laws, reflect on issues and candidates, and turn out at the polls. Working through academic networks the schools already know and trust, our outreach staffers then follow up by phone to coach the schools in implementing them. In 2008, CEEP engaged over 500 college campuses that enrolled nearly 3 million undergraduates. In 2012, we worked with over 750 campuses in 26 states, enrolling over 5.5 million students. According to follow-up surveys, 74% of the schools CEEP approached used at least some of our resources or ideas, and 49% used many of them. We’re working in 20 states so far in 2014, and are engaging their schools in an even more intensive and sophisticated level. Our project has a huge multiplier effect because we work through people whose salaries are covered by their schools, helping them collaborate to engage their students. CEEP focuses on students both because they historically vote at lower rates than other groups—particularly in non-presidential elections, where four out of five tend to stay home—and because when they do participate, their habits of involvement can last a lifetime. See www.campuselect.org
Job Summary: Follow an approach developed by CEEP founder Paul Loeb, approaching major individual donors in states we’re targeting for the project, like Ohio, Florida, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Our national staff will research and compile the lists and mail descriptive materials to prospective donors. You’d follow up by phone talking about our approach and how it can reverse a process where between 2008 and 2010 student participation in Ohio, for instance, dropped from 70% to 22%, in Florida from 61% to 19%, in Wisconsin from 66% to 19%. You’ll talk about our successes in getting schools to actively engage their students, from helping them navigate daunting voter laws to partnering to register voters with a nearby public housing project to distributing nonpartisan candidate guides that answer student impulses to not vote because “they’re all the same. They’re all just lying and spinning.” You’ll get these individuals thinking about the impact on student lives if they begin to participate, and on the schools, as they begin making this a priority.
Because many of these people will have tossed our materials before they even see it, these are essentially cold calls, although sometimes they’ve skimmed the material. You would conduct comparable outreach to comparable people who we haven’t yet approached. They usually won’t know our project before we approach them (we’re not a brand name like the ACLU or the American Cancer Society), are inundated with requests, and often haven’t read what we’ve sent. So you’ll have to be good, really good, to engage them by summing up the core impact of our project, and then initiating a broader conversation. But once you do start a conversation, if you do it right they should respond and respond well. You can then email them more information and encourage them to talk with you again or, better yet, to schedule a conversation with project founder Paul Loeb. Many will end up making tax-deductible contributions.
The donors we connect with through this process are smart and accomplished people who will ask hard questions. If you give them good answers, they’ll appreciate the power of our project. Paul had to call several hundred people, and often call each a dozen times until he reached them. But over a ten week period he raised $45,000 through this approach, with the same donor group giving an additional $80,000 since. So it can definitely pay off. But you’ll need to get and hold their attention, while conveying our project’s unique strengths.
Required Skill-set:
· Ability to understand CEEP’s approach, to convey its power and vision, and to sum up concisely why our project matters.
· First rate interpersonal outreach skills. Your first 15-60 seconds on the phone are critical.
· Fundraising background preferable but we’d consider other related skills and experience that include extremely strong outreach skills.
· Knowledge of the current political landscape. Knowledge of higher education a plus.
· Thoughtful enough to get into serious conversations with potential donors after you’ve summed up our key talking points. We’re looking for someone they’ll enjoy talking with. While our draft script will help with initial framing, you’ll want to be explaining in your voice why our project matters and why student political participation matters in general.
· Major league persistence—will need to avoid being dispirited by endless answering machines and multiple rejections, yet be sensitive enough to respect the decisions of those who don’t choose to fund us.
Benefits:
· $15/hour to start with a potential for up to $25/hour based on performance. Position is half-time but could expand to full-time if approaches are successful.
· Work from your own home or apartment.
· Support from our skilled national team. Loeb and Senior Consultant Jonathan Romm will provide coaching, role playing, letters to send out and templates for phone conversations.
· Help our project make a major national difference.
If you are interested in joining the CEEP team, please email Jonathan Romm (jonathan@campuselect.org) with your resume and cover letter. Thanks for your interest in this opportunity. Only applicants short-listed for an interview will be contacted. CEEP is an Equal Opportunity Employer.