Manager, Donor Engagement Services

"The best prescription I've ever given is a wish."

• Dr. Jeremy Friedman, Associate Paediatrician-in-Chief, SickKids Hospital & Medical Advisor for Make-A-Wish® Canada

☆ What is Your Biggest Wish?

Is it to be part of an organization that is child-focused, values employee experience and is an inspiring workplace? If so, Make-A-Wish is for you!

Make-A-Wish® Canada creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. We are on a quest to bring every eligible child's wish to life because a wish is an integral part of a child's treatment journey. Research shows children who have wishes granted can build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight a critical illness.

“It’s been wonderful to have this wish to look forward to... It’s wonderful to see [Rowan] with something that brings him pure joy after all he’s been through and missed out on!”

–Melissa, mom to wish kid Rowan (age 5, leukemia), who wished for an indoor jungle gym.

☆ What's In It For You?

• A collaborative team environment where you feel valued and inspired
• Work/life balance and flexibility
• Employee Wellness Program
• Annual vacation starting at three weeks & additional paid leaves
• Meaningful opportunities to make an impact and change the lives of children with critical illnesses within your community and across Canada
• Corporate discounts
• Continuous learning, development and internal training opportunities
• An attractive compensation package, including a fully paid Benefits package, RRSP & Wish paid hours
• Fun employee activities, contests, and more!
• Hybrid working environment

Make-A-Wish® Canada is committed to fostering a culture that aims to change lives while offering a rewarding employment experience where your contributions make a true difference every day!

MISSION, VISION AND VALUES

Our mission is, together, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illness.

Supported by our vision to grant the wish of every eligible child.

Our values are Child-Focused, Integrity, Impact, Innovation, and Community.

☆ Where You Come In

We are looking for a Manager, Donor Engagement Services to join our team at Make-A-Wish Canada. This is a newly created position within the national development team, reporting to the Director, Donor Engagement Services. The focuses of this role will be on supporting the development and implementation of new national and regional donor engagement strategies, as well as on building and maintaining relationships with donors and key stakeholders to grow revenue opportunities and increase retention rates to advance the mission at MAWC.

The Manager will work closely with team members across MAWC 13 regional offices and will possess exceptional relationship management, self-management, creative writing, and verbal communication skills. This is a donor-facing position.

This role can be based out of Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, or Charlottetown and is a full-time, permanent, hybrid position.

☆ What You Will Do

Stewardship & Donor Relations

• Maintains a strong knowledge of stewardship best practice and emerging trends; leverages learnings and knowledge to identify and improve stewardship operations and impact.
• Acts as a representative of the organization within the community, online and beyond.
• Contributes to setting a culture of philanthropy and prospecting amongst national and regional teams.
• Leads the planning and execution of cultivation and stewardship events; maintain active oversight of event logistics and event volunteers’ day of; provides direct support to donor-led cultivation events in support of national initiatives.
• Responsible for cultivating and stewarding donor relationships within a variety of Make-a-Wish functions, including online meetings, in person meetings, at events, and within the community.
• Maintains accurate and concise records of donor engagement activities, interests, and key conversations.
• Supports the development of a best-in-class stewardship program and benefits matrix that provides meaningful engagement opportunities to different groups of donors for both national and regional fundraising programs including donor recognition, impact reports and mission engagement.
• Leads logistical and administration tasks related to implementation of stewardship and donor relations activities to ensure the Foundation executes all activities within a timely fashion.
• Participates in national fund development meetings to develop a solid understanding of needs and priorities; assumes responsibility for maintaining a strong knowledge of MAWC giving and volunteer opportunities and/or events; communicates opportunities effectively and proactively within the broader donor community.
• Other duties as required.
• Proactively provides meaningful donor engagement opportunities that foster relationships with new donors and engage and steward current donors.

Collateral and Report Development

• Supports the set-up and tracking of stewardship activities in Salesforce.
• Builds and executes custom database reports to assess program performance, conduct donor segment analysis, derive prospecting lists, and monitor stewardship activity.
• Leverages prospect research tools and methodologies to draft prospect research briefs and meeting strategy briefs, as required.
• Contributes to the development of a resource library to accelerate fundraising and provide consistent collateral amongst national and regional donor engagement initiatives.
• Collaborates with the Mission Team to recruit and develop impact stories, video, and images to support donor engagement initiatives; collaborates with the marketing team to retrieve and develop public-facing stewardship collateral.
• Supports drafting collateral for standardized and customized funding and sponsorship proposals for major gift and corporate partners for the national fundraising team, as required.
• Develops and writes compelling copy for impact reports, thank you letters, and other stewardship related content; support editing and review of donor facing material, as required.

Interpersonal Skills And Self Management

• Possesses a participative work style which contributes to the advancement of individual, team-based and Foundation-wide goals; works with the team to develop annual year and multi-year standard/stretch goals and KPIs to assess role performance in alignment with the broader MAWC development strategy and Strategic Plan.
• Works collaboratively with interdepartmental teams to execute the national stewardship strategy in tandem with the donor engagement services team.
• Skilled verbal communicator with the ability to network and cultivate trust, comfort, and inspiration with internal and external stakeholders.
• Commits to continual growth, personally and professionally.

☆ What You Bring

• Bilingualism (English/French) is considered an asset.
• Undergraduate degree in a related field, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
• Ability to navigate a fast-paced environment, competing priorities and evolving duties.
• Experience with non-profit projects, programs and/or event management.
• A clear criminal background check is required.
• F.R.E. designation is an asset.
• Fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at least 14 days prior to the first day of work, subject to relevant accommodations or exemptions.
• 3-5 years of experience in donor relations, stewardship, community engagement and/or other fundraising operations functions; experience engaging community leaders and major funders is considered a strong asset.
• Qualified internal candidates with at least 1 year of service at MAWC are welcome to apply.
• Ability to develop, execute and interpret Salesforce data sets and reports.
• Excellent collaboration skills: ability to give, receive and strategize implementation of feedback with humility.
• Comfortable working with people from different regions, backgrounds, and philosophies.
• Ability to navigate emotionally charged conversations with professionalism, comfort, and empathy.
• Skilled storyteller and presenter with an ability to cultivate authentic relationships digitally and in-person.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills; ability to articulate thoughts and convey key messaging succinctly and with passion.
• Proficiency in and/or propensity to quickly orient in MS Office, PowerPoint, iWave and CRM databases (Salesforce preferred).
• Understanding of/experience with managing the donor life cycle, moves management, acquisition and retention best practice is considered a strong asset.

☆ Your Work Environment

• Occasional travel.
• Hybrid work environment (2 days in-office, 3 days remote per week) with occasional requirements to work outside of regular office hours.

Physical/Mental Effort

• Demonstrates resiliency, creativity, and positivity amidst change and ambiguity.
• Works under pressure of tight deadlines, with high volume workload, and with multiple demands, changing priorities.

☆ How To Apply ☆

If everything you’ve read so far sounds like you, we encourage you to apply now! The application deadline is April 27, 2023, at 11:59pm ET.

Make-A-Wish® Canada provides equal opportunity in employment and encourages applications from all qualified candidates. Reasonable accommodations due to disability are available on request at any stage of the hiring process.

☆ Recruitment Process ☆

We thank all applicants for their interest, however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

• Reviewed by Make-A-Wish Employee
• Reference Check
• Second interview
• Interview
• Offer
• Apply
• Criminal Background Check
• Start!
• Phone Screening

☆ About Make-a-Wish Canada ☆

Since 1983, Make-A-Wish Canada has granted over 37,000 wishes across the country, over 1000 last year alone. As an independently operating affiliate of Make-A-Wish International, Make-A-Wish Canada is part of the network of the world’s leading children’s wish-granting organization. We serve children in every community in Canada, and in more than 50 countries worldwide.

☆ Join Our Online Community ☆

For more information on how you can support Make-A-Wish® Canada or get involved please visit our website at makeawish.ca.