Philanthropy Manager, Southpointe Academy

Our beautiful Tsawwassen campus is surrounded by nature reserves and boundless ocean views. Established in 2000, Southpointe has grown into a world-leading school delivering the International Baccalaureate (IB) Continuum Programme, which encourages students to think critically, engage in global conversations, and is recognized by universities around the world. Southpointe is one of the few schools in Canada and only school in Delta delivering the IB Continuum Programme from Kindergarten to Graduation.

With a foundation built on community, Southpointe has grown into an internationally recognized school, seeking to expand the boundaries of what is possible while staying committed to its founding mandate. Shaped by experienced faculty and staff who bring diverse perspectives and extensive knowledge to every department, an internationally recognized curriculum framework, and a state-of-the-art campus, Southpointe looks ahead to a bright future while continuing to provide a world-leading education for our students to learn, lead and succeed.

Position Overview

Reporting to the Director of Advancement, the Philanthropy Manager will be responsible for leading and implementing Southpointe’s annual giving program by playing a key role in the engaging and inspiring community of parents, alumni and supporters to champion the vision for the School’s future and help the existing $43 million Expansion Campaign to reach its goal. This role involves developing and executing strategies to increase donor participation, retention, acquisition, and engagement, and oversight of all aspects of the annual giving program. The incumbent will also play a critical role in enhancing and implementing the School’s donor stewardship and recognition programs, provide management and oversight of our fundraising database ensuring integrity and excellent customer service, and supporting the development of a prospect pipeline for the School’s Capital Campaign and Estate & Gift Planning program.

Key Responsibilities

Annual Giving

• Stay updated with current trends in fundraising appeals and donor stewardship and maintain a current knowledge of tax and other regulatory issues related to charitable status and charitable giving and privacy legislation.
• Establish and manage a Tribute Giving program, using relevant fundraising strategies to grow this revenue.
• Manage all direct mail and email appeals from concept to results reporting.
• Collaborate with the Communications team on digital fundraising strategies and content creation to promote giving programs in publications, social media, and online.
• Create a comprehensive annual giving plan including Enrichment Fund, Giving Tuesday, Alumni Appeal, and Monthly Giving.
• Set performance targets, monitor, and manage overall performance of the program.
• Manage the Monthly and Recurring Giving program including donor relations, acquisition appeals and campaigns, as well as recognition and stewardship activities.

Stewardship

• Coordinate donor meetings, acknowledgement, recognition, and communication with past and current parents, alumni, and donors to strengthen their engagement with Southpointe Academy.
• Navigate and assess donor relations and stewardship best practices in the philanthropic industry (locally, regionally and globally).
• Prepare custom stewardship reports at fiscal year-end and/or at completion of campaign pledges.
• Develop and implement donor stewardship and recognition plans to ensure reporting to donors in a timely, consistent, and accurate manner on the use, impact, and financial management of their gifts.
• Act as a key philanthropic content creator for Annual Impact and other reports, updates, digital content; various letters and donor reports.
• Prepare custom gift agreements as needed.
• Other duties that may include administrative and event support as needed.
• Coordinate plaques, donor walls and signage, as appropriate.

Prospect Research

• Exercise expertise, independent thought and analytical judgement in selecting information to include in research materials based on reliability of source, client needs, departmental goals and campaign strategy.
• Supports the development pipeline by researching potential donors for propensity and capacity to support the school philanthropically.
• Produce concise yet thorough prospect research reports and donor profiles as well as managing records and files of major donors.
• Prepare and provide prospect research material to inform Advancement fundraising strategies.
• Conduct targeted, complex searches to identify relevant information.

Supervisory

• Supervise the Advancement Assistant and provide direction, guidance, performance management and support to achieve fundraising targets.

Database Management

• Oversee pledge reminders, monthly and annual pledge schedules.
• Responsible for the data management (importing and exporting) in the school’s database environment (which includes our Admission systems and Finance systems). This management includes general data entry, queries and reports, dashboards and data for various initiatives such as annual appeals, events, and special communications.
• Manage gift process (online, credit card, cheque, gift-in-kind, gift of shares) including gift recording and processing, tax receipts, acknowledgement phone calls and letters.
• Generate reports, fundraising distribution lists (Annual Fund, Campaign and bespoke), communication distribution lists (newsletters and publications), invitations and event registrations.
• Provides oversight and is responsible for training and delegation of following duties: Administration, maintenance, integrity, accuracy and quality of the Raiser’s Edge NXT database.
• Maintain accurate constituent records and data relationships.
• Review and keep up-to-date policies and procedures for database management, including the management of database upgrades and changes.

Requirements

Qualifications

• Post-secondary degree in a discipline related to the duties of the position or an equivalent combination of training, experience, and professional affiliation.
• Strong knowledge of CRA tax receipting guidelines, privacy legislation and legal requirements as they relate to donor records management.
• Superior attention to detail and excellent planning, project management and analytical skills.
• Ability to motivate, inspire, and work effectively with individuals and groups, especially volunteers.
• 4+ years’ experience in supporting fundraising activities and writing compelling fundraising materials.
• Ability to maximize the use of data in decision-making to conceive, execute and evaluate programs that enhance fundraising and donor engagement including data analytics, segmentation and reporting.
• Computer software proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite of programs (Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint), google doc and advanced skills in excel is required.
• Demonstrated ability to independently organize and prioritize multiple tasks, and plan and achieve established goals.
• Attend meetings and community events outside of regular work hours as required.
• Exceptional oral and written communication skills with a variety of internal and external contacts.
• Demonstrated skill in compelling storytelling, concise, logical, and grammatically correct writing with experience writing appeals, proposals, and reports.
• Experience developing, implementing, and monitoring annual business plans and budgets.
• Ability to work effectively in a team and foster good team relations.
• Expert-level knowledge of Raiser’s Edge NXT is an asset.

Job Requirements

• Valid driver’s license and a vehicle is required.
• Must be eligible to work in Canada.

Benefits

• Access to fitness centre.
• Comprehensive Benefits plan (extended health and dental coverage).
• Three weeks’ vacation. Additional paid time off between Christmas and New Year.
• Matching RRSP program.
• Onsite meal program.

At Southpointe Academy, we promote equality and challenge discrimination. We recognize the value of diversity in the workplace and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, nationalities, gender identities, sexual orientations, religions and beliefs.

Application deadline: We are accepting rolling applications until the position is filled.

Check the status of the search process here: https://www.gerardsearch.com/searches.html

Contact [email protected] for more information.