Next Door is recruiting an innovative, self-starter to help with fundraising efforts. Under the direction of the Development Director, the Development Associate will have the following key responsibilities:

• Support communications efforts, including the annual report, newsletters, direct mail and website, and social media efforts
• Solicit and secure sponsorships to help support revenue goal
• Organize and manage fundraising events
• Work with volunteers to support corporate engagement, events and in-kind giving
• Research, identify and solicit individual and corporate donor
• Manage donor data base and gift processing, including data entry, thank you letters, reporting and file maintenance
• Undertake special projects at the direction of the Development Director

QUALIFICATIONS 

This position is ideal for a detailed oriented person with a can-do attitude, with strong communication and writing skills.

• Bachelor’s degree required
• At least 2 years experience working in a fast-paced environment
• Demonstrated excellence in written communication
• Strong oral communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to multi-task
• Excellent organizational and project management skills
• Self-starter who is comfortable in a close-knit, team-oriented setting
• Flexibility and eagerness to learn and work on different tasks as needed
• Previous experience with Raiser’s Edge or a similar donor-database a plus

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, please attach your resume with a writing sample and a cover letter that speaks to why you are applying to Next Door and specifically details how your past experiences align with the qualifications and essential functions described above. Please send your application to bkohlbrenner@nextdoor.org and indicate Development Associate in the subject line.

Next Door is committed to equal opportunity employment.

Necessary skills include knowledge in general accounting practice (GAAP) regulations for non profits, accounting principles, A/R, A/P, Payroll and General Ledger. The Director of Finance and Operations will be responsible for month-end close, reporting to the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors; leading the annual budget process, acting as liaison with auditors, and other financial responsibilities. Ability to allocate and analyze costs, oversee 20 or more different government and private foundation grants is a must.

This person should feel comfortable looking at the big picture and managing its implementation. The director will supervise the Manager of Administration and one full time accounting assistant.

Next Door is the oldest and most comprehensive organization serving victims of domestic violence and their children in Santa Clara County. It employs 40 FTE staff in six locations with a budget of over $2M annually. Its funding is derived from government sources, private foundations and individuals.

Education – Masters of Business preferred but will accept comparable work experience. Salary is competitive and benefits include 100% paid coverage of health insurance. Please send resume to financedirector@nextdoor.org. If selected for review, a full job description will be forwarded. Only email applications will be accepted.  No phone calls please.

This is one of an occasional post from Margaret Epperheimer, an eight-year member of Next Door’s Board of Directors.

The tuxedoed Magnolia Jazz Band played in the gazebo. The guests sipped donated champagne and sampled white wine from The Plumed Horse and noshed on hors d’oeuvres provided by Casa de Cobre. It was, after all, a lovely April evening in downtown Saratoga, and the gathering in the courtyard next to Preston Wynne Spa to benefit the less fortunate was not out of the ordinary for this well-heeled community.

But wait. The less fortunate … in Saratoga and nearby Los Gatos? Peggy Wynne Borgman, Preston Wynne’s founder, welcomed attendees and told them why she – 10 years ago – became involved with Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence. Domestic violence knows no socio-economic boundaries. One out three American women will find herself in an abusive relationship in her lifetime, according to Peggy. She has seen it up-close-and-personal in her business, catering to women of means. She is passionate about the topic and the cause. She is determined to make a difference – in her community and throughout Santa Clara County.

That also goes for The Summit League of Saratoga, the 50-year-old non-profit organization that’s committed to raising funds for education, health, welfare and the arts. That group announced it has designated Next Door and its innovative teen POWER Program (Proud of Wanting Equal Relationships) as beneficiary of its biennial fundraising house tour. Held in late November, The Summit League’s “Homes for the Holidays” always sells out. You won’t be able to get tickets until this fall, but it’s a must-do event, featuring several incredible homes in the Saratoga/Los Gatos area decorated for the holidays by top professional decorators and floral designers who have donated their time and talent.

At the Saratoga event, Next Door Executive Director Kathleen Krenek mentioned statistics that back-up the “yes, it DOES happen here” theme. Since December 2011, Next Door has partnered with the Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Department to provide joint services to victims of domestic violence, thanks to a $125,000 grant from the California Emergency Management Agency. The innovative partnership involves training 48 law enforcement and 911 dispatchers to implement safe protocols for victims and increase accountability of batterers. Next Door provides a fully-trained domestic violence advocate for every time police officers are called to a domestic violence incident. The going-in projection was 70 incidents a year. So far – less than 6 months into the partnership – the Next Door advocate has responded to more than 50 incidents in this wealthy jurisdiction. One of Next Door’s most active support groups for domestic violence victims is located in Los Gatos, adjacent to Saratoga.

Kathleen Krenek famously wrote about Ed Daou, an affluent developer in Los Gatos, who killed himself and his son last summer after his abused wife, Carmen, left him and obtained a protective restraining order. Kathleen’s plea was published last August in the San Jose Mercury News: “If we accept that domestic violence is a community issue, that we should talk about it in our classrooms, in our homes, with our children and our family and friends, then I’m hopeful we can prevent more fathers from killing their sons.”  Amen.  Ask Next Door how you can help stop violence before it starts. The Next Door hot line is 408-279-2962.

Here are a couple of pictures from the Saratoga event.

Join a proactive and determined group of teenagers for a chance to advocate, transform and inspire. Find your voice! APPLY NOW To be a 2012 P.O.W.E.R. LEADER! The new application deadline is May 4, 2012.

Download the application here

Click here for more information about the event!

Next Door is delighted to announce that the Summit League has chosen Next Door as their primary beneficiary for their bi-annual Homes for the Holidays Fundraising Event. Please visit their website to learn more.

Their mission was to organize, rearrange, and clean the Kids Club, a classroom-like space where kids who have been exposed to domestic violence are encouraged to play, learn, and harness their creativity through arts and crafts. Kids Club helps children ages 5 – 12 increase their emotional resiliency, develop non-violent conflict resolution skills, cultivate safety, and provide assets that will help them avoid future risks. When they arrived, the room was brimming with old games, books, and art supplies.

The JLSJ team, led by event co-chairs Laurel Sevier and Monika Krach, contributed over 42 hours of volunteer service to help with the cleaning and reorganization. They transformed the once conventional play space into one a space that enhances creativity, healing, and development for those children served by Kids Club. The new and improved Kids Club now includes a reading nook for little ones who want to curl up and read a book, a homework area, and a larger seating area where kids can engage with one another and explore their feelings through art.  In addition, it includes a new selection of puzzles and games. A big THANK YOU goes out to our JLSJ volunteers.

The Junior League of San Jose is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and to improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. For more information on joining the Junior League of San Jose, please visit www.jlsj.org.

Here is what our Kids Club looked like after the Junior League volunteers were done!

There was no happy ending for the marriage between Shawn and Crystal Harris, a couple from the San Diego area. It ended in divorce after he was convicted of sexually assaulting her and sentenced to six years in prison. One attack was caught on tape.

“He also choked me, beat me and threatened to kill me, all while our two preschool age boys were awake upstairs,” Crystal Harris said.

The successful financial analyst recounted that horrible night four years ago to lawmakers, hoping they’ll change the law. A family court judge ordered her to pay her ex-husband $1,000 a month in alimony upon his release, plus $47,000 in attorney fees.

“It mattered not that being ordered to pay my husband’s spousal support every month amounted to making a rape victim write a check to her own rapist every month,” Harris said.

A California judge said he couldn’t order no spousal support in a 12-year marriage where the husband made $100 a month and the wife made $11,000 a month. Harris says she feels victimized twice.

There’s already a state law that prohibits spousal support when the significant other is convicted of attempted murder. Assemblywoman Toni Atkin’s bill would add sexually violent felonies to that, something the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists opposes.

“We should not be adding crimes to this section,” Jill Barr with the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists said. “We seem to be going down a slippery slope and one wonders where we will draw the line ultimately.”

Barbara Bentley championed the 1995 California law banning alimony and retirement pay after her husband tried to kill her. She can’t believe how 17 years later, courts haven’t learned from her case.

“Unfortunately, we have to fight for every little scrap of progression in the laws,” Bentley said.

The committee approved the bill 6-1 with bipartisan support. If it’s signed into law, Harris will still have to pay her ex-husband’s $46,000 legal bill, but he would not be eligible for spousal support.

See the whole story at KGO’s website.

Like birth control, this is one more endangered policy, primarily affecting women, that once seemed beyond question. Failure to renew the law would derail important protections for battered partners of both genders.

Almost 18 years ago, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act to provide funding for law enforcement and community organizations to help victims of domestic violence and bring their attackers to justice. The latest reauthorization was introduced by a bipartisan group of co-sponsors late last year, but it failed to get a single Republican vote in the Senate judiciary committee last month. Democrats got it out of committee, but it faces a vitriolic debate.

How times change. Twice before, the U.S. Senate has renewed this law — in 2000 and, during Republican George W. Bush’s presidency, in 2005. The votes were not just bipartisan but unanimous. This time it’s facing a buzz saw of criticism from social-conservative Republicans.

Men and women are victims of domestic violence, but women are most often the victims. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has urged her colleagues to get on the right side of this measure or risk losing women’s votes in the fall elections. Most of her colleagues seem unmoved.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley said he objects to provisions that would broaden protection to same-sex couples and to illegal immigrants who are victims of domestic violence. Other Republicans say that expansion would increase bureaucracy and dilute the focus that should remain on helping domestic-violence victims (presumably unless they’re same-sex partners or undocumented). In fact most of the bill’s proposed changes are modest tweaks of programs and policies already in place.

The law already covers some illegal immigrants who are cooperating with law enforcement, and it includes a path to green cards for victims who were potentially qualified anyway through marriage to batterers who are U.S. citizens. The renewal would just allow more qualified victims to pursue that path.

Another update would make it clear the law applies equally to men and women who are battered and does not discriminate based on sexual orientation. We can’t wait to hear the arguments for not helping men battered by women or victims beaten by same-sex partners.

As to claims the bill would expand bureaucracy, this renewal measure does not increase costs. In fact, it calls for a reduction of 17 percent in overall funding by consolidating some grant programs. The measure would create only one new program for Native Americans that extends law-enforcement powers held by tribal leaders on Indian land so they can prosecute non-Indian batterers.

While it’s tempting to frame this as a women’s issue, it’s really about human decency. As we sadly have seen in Silicon Valley over the past year, domestic violence crosses lines of income and ethnicity. It can involve male-female or same-sex couples. It is a terrible and growing social problem. Democrats and Republicans once agreed on this. They must renew the domestic violence law.