Executive Assistant to the CDO

About the Birthright Israel Foundation
The Birthright Israel Foundation (BRIF) is the U.S.-based philanthropic partner of Birthright Israel, the landmark program that has brought nearly 1 million young Jewish adults from over 70 countries on free, immersive trips to Israel since its founding in 1999. BRIF leads fundraising, donor engagement, and stewardship efforts in North America — mobilizing major donors, foundations, family offices, and community partners to sustain and expand the program’s reach.

In the wake of October 7, 2023, BRIF’s mission has taken on renewed urgency. The organization has been at the forefront of efforts to resume the Birthright Israel experience for the thousands of young Jewish adults who were waitlisted or whose trips were interrupted, all while simultaneously deepening its engagement with donors motivated by an unprecedented moment for the Jewish people and the State of Israel. BRIF has prioritized expanding program capacity, strengthening its donor community, and ensuring that connection to Israel remains accessible to the next generation at exactly the moment it matters most. Our team is lean, mission-driven, and operating with the intensity and ambition that this moment demands. We work across major gifts, events, marketing, finance, legal, and operations — and we are growing.

Key Responsibilities:
Executive Partnership: The CDO is this role's primary principal (approx. 40%). The EA also provides executive support to the Chief Advancement Officer and the Chief Information & Technology Officer (approx. 20% combined).

Office of the CDO (Approximately 40%)
Serve as the gatekeeper and first point of contact for the CDO's office, triaging requests from staff, donors, board members, and partners, and resolving what can be handled without the CDO.

Own the CDO's calendar end to end: evaluate and prioritize meeting requests against the CDO's goals, protect time for donor work, and resolve conflicts across time zones, including Israel.

Prepare the CDO for every meeting with briefing notes, background, prior touchpoints, and clear objectives.

Maintain an action item log for the CDO, and follow up with owners until each item closes.

Work in coordination with the EA to the President & CEO to ensure schedule alignment for high-level meetings with donors and other stakeholders.

Prepare agendas for the CDO's one-on-ones with direct reports, surface critical issues in a concise, prioritized form, and relay the CDO's guidance and decisions back to the team.

Draft correspondence on the CDO's behalf, including internal updates, donor emails, thank-you notes, and stewardship materials, in a voice consistent with the CDO's.

Manage travel, itineraries, and expense reporting, including donor visits and Israel trips.

Handle confidential donor, board, personnel, and financial information with consistent discretion.

Support for the CAO & CITO (Approximately 20%)
Chief Advancement Officer

Help schedule internal and external meetings, especially with the Israel office.

When needed, help with travel, itineraries, and expense reporting.

Chief Information & Technology Officer

Manage the CITO's calendar and scheduling.

Process the CITO's expense reports.

Project Management (Approximately 40%)
Act as project lead for CDO-sponsored initiatives, building project plans with clear scope, owners, milestones, and due dates.

Maintain a single tracker of all active Development projects and provide weekly status updates.

Organize monthly development meetings, capture decisions, and ensure follow-through.

Maintain a master calendar of development deadlines, board dates, and key milestones.

Organize monthly development meetings, capture decisions, and ensure follow-through.

Coordinate with other teams on cross-functional projects, keeping handoffs and dependencies visible

Lead special projects as assigned by the CDO, from planning through close-out.

Qualifications:
Bachelors Degree

5+ years of experience supporting one or more senior executives in a fast-paced professional environment.

Demonstrated project management experience: running multi-owner initiatives, building trackers, and keeping deadlines on course without close supervision.

Exceptional written communication, with the ability to draft polished correspondence and presentations with minimal editing.

Sound judgment and the ability to prioritize competing requests from senior stakeholders.

Proven discretion with confidential donor, board, and personnel information.

Familiarity with Salesforce or another CRM; comfort working with basic data in Excel.

Advanced proficiency in Microsoft 365, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams.

Comfortable adopting new tools, including AI assistants for drafting, research, and meeting notes.

Experience with a project management tool such as monday.com, Asana, or Smartsheet.

Highly organized, proactive, and calm under pressure, with strong follow-through.

A passion for the mission of Birthright Israel Foundation