Windmill Microlending
About Windmill Microlending
Converting Potential into Prosperity
Windmill Microlending, a national not for profit organization, enables immigrants and refugees to build careers in Canada while reducing poverty and labour shortages. We do this by offering affordable loans along with career assessment coaching, financial literacy training, and mentorship for newcomers who lack access to mainstream credit.
Since 2005, Windmill has empowered over 8,000 clients in healthcare, IT, financial services, law, engineering, and many other fields to triple their incomes as a result of our affordable loans and support. Windmill is a registered Canadian charity supported by donations and community bonds from the private sector and grants from the public sector.
As will be documented this fall in a national report on the charitable sector, Windmill is one of Canada’s fastest growing charities.
The Role
Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, and a member of Windmill’s leadership team, the National Director, Philanthropy and Campaign Planning will provide leadership, strategy, and management for Windmill’s revenue and loan capital growth, allowing the organization to scale from 1,200 to 4,000 new loans per year. The Director will ensure the organization is well resourced with the right team of development staff, senior volunteers and fundraising campaign strategies.
Working closely with the CEO, the Director is responsible for the development, implementation, and management of Windmill’s revenue development strategy, raising loan capital and funds for operations through donations, grants, and community bonds. They will work closely with the Associate Director of Philanthropy, the Associate Director of Corporate Partnerships and other fundraising team members to secure current operating and loan capital needs, while also building resources to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the organization.
Working with Windmill’s Fundraising Strategy Committee, the Director will help assess campaign readiness and ensure the organization is equipped to execute a campaign nationally. The candidate will then develop campaign planning tools, key campaign messages and materials, and major opportunities for funding.
As a key part of Windmill’s national mandate, the Director will lead the recruitment of senior fundraising volunteers, donors and corporate partners in every major region of Canada. They will oversee Windmill’s donor pipeline while also having a portfolio of their own donors to manage and solicit.
The focus of the position will be on the following: 20% strategy and planning, 30% donor solicitation and stewardship, 20% managing, mentoring and growing a team of fundraising professionals, 20% cultivation and stewardship of senior volunteers, 10% organizational leadership as a key member of Windmill’s leadership team.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop a campaign plan, armed with the findings of the recent campaign feasibility study and advice from the Fundraising Strategy Committee.
- Identify, cultivate, steward, and recognize donors, corporate sponsors, community bond investors, pro bono supporters, and other partners and public-sector funders.
- Work closely with the CEO and senior volunteers to help manage, acquire, and cultivate major gift donors, focusing on increasing the number of prospects, gifts, and multi-year pledges and achieving our goals for loan capital and operating support.
- Work collaboratively with the National Director, Marketing and Communications, to develop high-impact fundraising collateral materials.
- Coach, mentor, and motivate development staff, ensuring everyone understands the metrics and deliverables, and has the skills and resources to meet their objectives.
- Grow the fundraising team so that it is right-sized to meet campaign and annual fundraising objectives. Grow the team of fundraising volunteers to support the campaign’s goals.
- Manage campaign and fundraising budgets and present key deliverables to the Fundraising Strategy Committee and executive team.
- Partner with the government relations team to identify the best ways to integrate private and government dollars into the campaign strategy.
- Support the organizational growth of Windmill as an engaged, strategic, collaborative member of the leadership team.
The Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate is a fundraising professional with 10-plus years of experience in the charity sector and a track record in major gift and campaign fundraising. You are a strategic fundraising professional, with experience leading multi-million-dollar national campaigns. You have experience identifying philanthropic initiatives that inspire donors and move an organization forward. You are a gifted relationship builder, manager and mentor.
You are someone with an ambitious growth mindset who relishes the prospect of playing a key role in the evolution of an ambitious, entrepreneurial, high-impact charity. It will be essential to share Windmill’s passion for helping skilled immigrants prosper, for reducing poverty in Canada, and for helping to create inclusive prosperity. You share Windmill’s values of passion, empowerment, simplicity, and results and are connected to the immigrant experience.
An experienced manager who works collaboratively with colleagues and direct reports, you act as a role model and mentor, leading with professionalism, a strong work ethic, collegiality, and warmth. In leadership team meetings, you are comfortable articulating and defending a point of view that other stakeholders may not share and are open to having your thinking challenged and stretched by them. You are a great listener as well as a great communicator and can support all team decisions unreservedly.
You relish the opportunity to work with a CEO who shares your enthusiasm and energy for fundraising and who works closely with you and your team to support a donor-centred approach.
Personal Attributes
To be a successful member of Windmill’s staff and leadership team you must be a positive and motivating individual who is always looking for opportunities to improve yourself and your team.
Highly driven, results oriented, receptive and confident, your solutions combine strategy with creative thinking. A great team player and mentor, you are empathic, supportive, and fun to work with. You are open to new ideas and have the ability be selective, focusing your energies on those few that will make the most impact on the organization. Maturity, self-awareness, diplomacy, and emotional intelligence will be powerful assets in a broad role that touches all aspects of the organization. Other adjectives that describe you: strategic, energetic, values-driven, results-oriented, and collaborative with a natural ability to inspire others. You have an aptitude for big picture thinking and also an eye for detail.
Windmill welcomes diversity of thought and alternative perspectives.
Core Competencies
- Proven ability to close large major gifts and to create and manage a well-organized and qualified donor pipeline.
- Possesses campaign planning skills with the understanding of how to move a campaign from conception to completion.
- Skilled at managing, motivating, and inspiring a team of fundraising and support staff, including understanding what makes a great major gift fundraiser and how to hire and coach the right talent.
- Possesses the strategic capabilities necessary to lead a critical portfolio and influence the direction of an organization on the executive team.
- A skilled communicator with an ability to engage and motivate donors, partners, volunteers, staff, board members, and investors.
- A roll-up-your-sleeves team player, eager to embrace and execute new ideas in an entrepreneurial environment.
- Excellent English writing, speaking, and presentation skills.
- Proven ability to achieve results and meet deadlines.
- Strong organizational and problem-solving skills, and keen attention to detail.
- Highly motivated to address the labour-market integration challenges faced by internationally educated immigrants.
- Ability to communicate comfortably in French is an asset.
- Excellent project management and problem-solving skills.
Why Windmill?
With labour-market shortages and immigration numbers at all-time highs, it has never been more important for us to empower immigrants to put their skills to work in Canada. Windmill has pioneered and proven the effectiveness of our unique model of affordable loans and supports to convert the potential of skilled immigrants into prosperity. Over the past few years, we have grown from a small grassroots charity to a national organization, tripling our loan numbers and quintupling our active loan capital to over $25 million. Our clients’ income triples as a result of our support and 98% of the Google reviews we receive are 5-stars.
The new Director will have the opportunity to craft and lead the first capital campaign for this high-growth charity, helping us achieve national scale, at a time when Canada needs our unique offering more than ever. A highly functioning, collaborative leadership team, dedicated colleagues, and high employee satisfaction scores are just a few of the reasons Windmill is an excellent place to work.
Additional Information
While there is flexibility with regard to the candidate’s location, preference will be given to those who are within commuting distance of the Toronto or Calgary offices, so they may spend at least a couple of days a week leading and managing their team and building relationships with other key stakeholders.
How to Apply
We thank all candidates in advance. We will, however, contact only those selected for an interview. To apply, please submit, in confidence, a resume along with cover letter which sets out your interest in the role and highlights the experience you have relevant to the role. Please add your salary expectation for the role in your cover letter. The preferred method of application is on-line at searchsmartconnect.com/jobs
Contact Details
Sandra Paquette | 416 763 0404 | [email protected]
Vesna Markovic | 647 608 3595 | [email protected]
Location: Toronto or Calgary
Employment Type: fulltime
Salary Range: $130K – $170K
Website: https://searchsmartconnect.com/jobs/
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