Director of Parent Relations, Special Events, and Alumni Outreach
Founded in 1952, Norwood School is a coeducational, independent day school with approximately 450 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The School sits on 38 beautiful and expansive acres in Bethesda, Maryland, less than six miles from Washington, D.C. As one of the finest PK-8 schools in the country, Norwood sets the bar high and is committed to educating the whole child in a diverse, student-centered, challenging, and nurturing environment, which continually promotes equity, inclusion and cultural competence.
Norwood’s child-centered education and its very intentional emphasis on being a happy place of learning create an environment where each individual child is loved, nurtured, challenged, and truly known. As a result, children flourish at Norwood. They love learning; they are creative and critical thinkers. They are confident in who they are, and they feel safe taking risks. They are kind and caring people, who, fueled by our motto, How you lead your life matters, make helping others a priority in their lives. At the end of their eighth grade year, our graduates leave Norwood exceptionally well prepared for high school and empowered to make positive contributions to our world.
Norwood has an opening for a Director of Parent Relations, Special Events, and Alumni Outreach. This person serves as a primary contact with the Parents Association, supports parent volunteers, leads the Auction and other special school events, and directs alumni outreach and engagement. As the leader of an emerging alumni program, the Director will provide vision, direction, and support to strengthen alumni involvement.
The ideal candidate will demonstrate an ability to organize and prioritize to meet deadlines, multi-task on a regular basis, maintain confidentiality, and communicate clearly and effectively, orally and in writing. Knowledge of social media strategies and an ability to create content to drive increased engagement is desirable. Knowledge of Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge is a plus.
A willingness to work some nights and weekends is required. A sense of professionalism and humor in dealing with volunteers, donors, and colleagues as well as a demonstrated passion for independent school education will define the strongest candidate. The position reports to the Director of Development.
Programs/Special Events:
- Attend PA Executive Committee (PAEC) meetings and any PA general meetings
- Serve as the liaison and support PA volunteers in their committee/event work
- Support and/or plan, as appropriate, special in-house school events, including, but not limited to Faculty/Staff Welcome Back, New Parent Breakfast, Back-to-School Nights, Grandparents/Special Guests Day, Past Parent/Past Faculty Receptions, State of the School, Volunteer Appreciation, Faculty Milestone gifts, and Retirement Parties
- Coordinate as needed with parent volunteers, the Head of School’s Office, other offices, and/or members of the faculty in planning the listed events above and in supporting other school events, as needed
- Produce invitations and coordinate catering, equipment, maintenance, and security requirements for all school-wide and Development Office initiated events
- Track event RSVPs; be ready to create nametags if needed, and serve as the main point of contact in the set up and breakdown of events
- Attend weekly set-up meetings
Auction Responsibilities:
- Recommend candidates for Auction Chairs for vetting by the Head of School and Director of Development
- Create a comprehensive timeline to ensure all deadlines are met and provide timely communications to the community to build excitement for the event
- Work with the Director of Communications to develop a communication plan to promote the Auction
- Work with volunteers to write/edit/proof catalog descriptions and all promotional content
- Draft the budget for review and approval from the Director of Development, and carefully manage the budget in an effort to meet the financial goals
- Direct, coach, and guide the work of the Auction Chairs
- Help select date and location of Auction and Patrons Party
- Identify Patrons Party host candidates
- Assist with committee work
- Produce all correspondence and execute all mailings, including solicitation letters, tax acknowledgment letters, and personalized thank you notes
- Attend committee meetings, tastings and other meetings related to the event
- Serve as the point of contact with event vendors and carefully review their contracts; this includes, but is not limited to the auctioneer, event venue, entertainment, audio-visual, and cashiers
- Manage auction database, inputting new data from School’s Blackbaud database annually, training volunteers and maintaining archival records
- Manage donation process
- Work with volunteers to generate any printed materials including auction catalog and invitations
- Maintain web presence for auction and serve as Customer Service during online bidding
- Manage all post-auction activities – distribute items and receive final payments; generate financial reports; send account statements, thank-you letters, copies of auction catalog to all advertisers and sponsors, and tax acknowledgment letters to attendees and winners; arrange for reserved seating and parking, as part of Norwood VIP packages
- Maintain financial reports and analyze financial performance of event components and make recommendations to enhance the event year over year
- Work with the Chair(s) to plan appropriate volunteer appreciation/recognition post event
Alumni Outreach:
- Prepare weekly personalized birthday cards for alumni celebrating milestone birthdays
- Create and post creative and engaging content to Norwood’s alumni Instagram account
- Identify alumni candidates for the regular profile pieces in the Norwood magazine; coordinate the production of these features
- Maintain the alumni page on the website, ensuring it includes current, engaging, and well-written content
- Create accurate lists of all graduating classes by cross-referencing documents in archives with Raiser’s Edge
- Update alumni records in Raiser’s Edge, as needed
- Recruit class agents to help with gathering class notes for the magazine and locating ‘lost’ classmates
- Plan reunions and outreach for current high school freshmen, seniors, and outreach to college freshmen
- Work with the Head of Middle School to develop panel discussion/program for high school alums and Norwood 7th and 8th graders during the high school application process; create event to induct 8th graders as the next future class of alumni
- Plan local, young alum event at an off-site location – recruiting alums to serve on a host committee
- Investigate options for alumni outings (Nationals baseball game, bowling night, virtual trivia night, etc)
- Meet with local alumni directors to learn best practices and to gather ideas
General Institutional Support:
- Serve as the Thursday Memo e-newsletter coordinator by collecting and editing all content for each week’s edition
- Assist with the compilation of the Handbook & Student Directory each summer
- Know top donors and assist with stewardship initiatives
- Provide office support for mailings, including sorting photos, stuffing envelopes, and applying postage as well as support for other identified projects
- Other duties as assigned
Interested applicants should submit a cover letter and resume to Cathy Voeks, Director of Development, at cvoeks@norwoodschool.org. No phone calls, please.
Norwood School does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law.