Manager – Major Gifts – Canadian Red Cross

Employee Working Location: Remote/Virtual (Calgary, Edmonton AB, Canada)

Employment status: Temporary full time (18 months)

Salary band: $70,732 – $88,415/year

The Canadian Red Cross (CRC) – one of the most inspirational not-for-profit organizations on this planet and an awardee on the Forbes list of Canada’s Best Employers 2022 – is seeking a Major Gifts Manager, Alberta to join our team for a maternity leave coverage.

We are guided by our Fundamental Principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality. We help people and communities in Canada and around the world in times of need and support them in strengthening their resilience.

Starting with the hiring process, we are committed to having an accessible, diverse, inclusive, and barrier-free work environment where everyone can reach their full potential. We encourage all qualified persons who share our values and want to contribute to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace to apply.

The incumbent will manage a well-established and robust portfolio of individuals and family foundation donors and prospects that can support the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) at a major gift level of $25,000 and above. This role builds on the foundation of an excellent stewardship program, and we’re looking for someone to focus on new business and significantly grow the AB portfolio in the next 12-24 months, with specific focus on $100k+ gifts.

In this role, you will: 

Responsibility 1 – Major Gifts Donor Management                                                             

• Manage a portfolio of individuals and family foundation donors and prospects.
• Leadership and execution of fundraising relationships with individuals and family foundations
• Leveraging existing donor relationships to renew and increase support, focusing on multi-year commitments.
• Develop and execute annual strategy to enhance relationship building in AB for Major Gifts, liaising with the other fundraising departments to ensure cross-channel innovation and opportunities which serve the donor base best
• Work with external leadership volunteers to identify, steward, and cultivate donors and prospects
• Demonstrate a high level of contact with major gift donors
• Cultivate relationships and move donors through all stages of the donor cycle – with a particular focus on creating new relationships and new business development within the AB market
• Create individual donor plans and associated strategies – tracking these in the database (Blackbaud)
  In collaboration with the wider philanthropy team, prepare proposals and present cases for support on key priority areas.
• Work with senior leadership on key donor strategies and use their support in larger or more complicated solicitations which require leadership solicitors
• Work closely with Prospect Research and Major Gift Philanthropy teams to identify prospects through activities such as database scanning and prospect identification
• Utilize the database to capture information and activity in an accurate and timely manner
• Maintain current knowledge of giving trends and bring these learnings to the team through innovation
• In collaboration with the Associate Director, Women In Philanthropy, manage our AB-based Tiffany Circle members, cultivating these relationships and seeking new members to join the community.
• Lead and deliver on occasional cultivation and stewardship events when appropriate within AB.

Responsibility 2 – Financial and Activity Reporting                                                            

• Ensure effectiveness and tracking of Major Gift activity at the Canadian Red Cross.
• Contribute to the effectiveness of Major Gifts activity, including regular monthly and quarterly reporting of key actions and financial indicators
• Day-to-day management of the AB Major Gifts budget – with ultimate decision-making and ownership sitting at the Senior Manager level
• Monitor progress of annual goals and adjusts as needed to ensure success.
• Contribute to the development of annual operational and financial plans

Responsibility 3 – Appeal Fundraising                                                                                

• Support international and domestic disaster appeals.
• Manage communications with major donors during times of disasters to share information and gain support promptly
• Track this support in all the relevant systems to ensure financial tracking and reporting are up to date
  Reporting back to donors on their support of the appeals with appropriate updates

What we are looking for: 

• Five or more years of fundraising-related experience or equivalent combination of education and experience, with preference given to a Major Gifts fundraising background.
• Self-directed, acts with a clear sense of ownership and take personal responsibility for decisions, actions, and failures
• Ability to work within and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment with conflicting priorities and ability to adapt to change
• Excellent communication (written and oral), interpersonal and organizational skills
• Natural curiosity and drive to investigate and resolve issues
• Knowledge of philanthropy practices and familiarity with donor-centered fundraising with a strong desire to improve donor experience
• Experience and commitment to excellence in customer service in supporting partners, volunteers and donors
• Excellent interpersonal skills demonstrating a collaborative approach with a willingness to engage constructively with internal and external stakeholders
• Exceptional organizational skills and the ability to coordinate multiple projects within tightly prescribed timelines
• Discretion with sensitive and highly confidential information
• Strong commitment to skills development and learning
• High level of proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and experience with fundraising software, preferably Blackbaud Raisers Edge and/or CRM
• Ability to demonstrate tact, diplomacy, and confidentiality

Working conditions:  

• Travel throughout the community is a regular part of the job.
• A current driver’s license and use of a car is required.
• Occasional work of non-traditional hours will be needed for events, donor meetings and during emergency appeal times – time in lieu will be afforded in recognition of this.
• The CRC Philanthropy is a fully virtual work environment with all employees working from home, however there is an office in Calgary or Edmonton that occasional working is encouraged.
• Eligibility to work in Canada: At this time, we welcome applications from candidates eligible to work in Canada. If you are not a citizen or permanent resident of Canada, we encourage you to carefully review your visa to find out whether you are eligible to work in the job you are considering applying for. Refer to our FAQ for more information.
• If you are selected for this role, you will be required to complete a successful pre-employment screening process which includes a satisfactory Enhanced Police Information Check (E-PIC).
• At this time, the CRC has temporarily suspended our Covid-19 vaccination policy and does not require but continues to strongly encourage full vaccination of all our personnel.

Qualified applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible – those who apply after the selection process has started may be held for a second review if needed OR reviewed for alternative roles. We appreciate the time and effort it takes to apply and thank you in advance.

If you require accommodation measures during any phase of the hiring process, please notify us as soon as possible. All information received in relation to accommodation requests will be kept confidential.