Donor Relations Director - Western Washington

DEPARTMENT: Development

POSITION TITLE: Donor Relations Director - Western Washington

STATUS: Regular Full-time/Exempt

JOB SUMMARY:

Based in Seattle, Washington. The Donor Relations Director (DRD) plays a key and integral role in the success of the Northwest Division's fundraising efforts, specifically through ongoing and proactive relationship management, strategic communications plans, gifts cultivation, and solicitation activity with an assigned caseload of major donors and smaller group (10%) of assigned qualified significant gifts prospects. In this role, the DRD will identify, qualify, be assigned, cultivate, solicit, and steward major gift donors (90%) and prospects (10%), acting as the primary contact between The Army and the assigned caseload, with an emphasis on securing gifts of $5,000 and much higher, increasing significant gifts to The Salvation Army while retaining and strengthening existing giving. This individual will focus on raising funds in Western Washington.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS:

• Reflects The Salvation Army's mission and values through one's professional responsibilities and behavior.
• Bachelor's degree or comparable experience, plus a minimum of five years of experience in a non-profit or equivalent fundraising role with a proven track record of major gifts success.
• Effective interpersonal, conversational, and presentation skills, demonstrating emotional intelligence, situational awareness, excellent writing abilities, and strong case development and pitching skills.
• Proven expertise in developing and maintaining positive relationships with diverse individuals, including executives, leadership, volunteers, major donors, and internal stakeholders.
• Enjoy problem-solving, think strategically and creatively, take the initiative, and consistently follow through.
• A high level of comfort with direct donor interaction, including discussing personal and family finances and asking for significant financial commitments, is a must.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly to attend board meetings and events at managed facilities.
• A valid Driver's License is required.
• Able to work independently in a fast-paced environment without extensive administrative support.
• Experience working with comparable customer relationship management software.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Manages a caseload of 150 assigned and qualified major donors. Additionally, seeks to engage with a small prospective donor list.
• Creates a caseload communications plan, including individual fundraising goals and personalized strategies, to effectively steward, educate, cultivate, and solicit gifts from major donors each fiscal year, emphasizing $5,000 and higher gifts.
• Works diligently to meet agreed-upon monthly and annual activity and income production goals.
• Leads in one-to-one solicitation, gift acknowledgments, and stewardship communications.
• Develops research and briefing memorandums in preparation for team discussions.
• Meets regularly with supervisor and territorial major gifts management (in person and virtually) to discuss and refine caseload plans, donor strategies, and progress tracking.
• Participates in regional training, virtual meetings, conferences, and other professional development opportunities as budget allows.
• Works closely with other development staff and officers, pursuing and contributing to harmonious collaboration between direct marketing, social media, foundation, corporation, and planned giving activities for optimal integrated strategies.
• Works closely with local officers, program, finance, development marketing and communications, and administrative support staff to develop a "development plan" (comprehensive communications plan) as well a portfolio of giving opportunities that outline program costs, impact, outcomes, shortfalls, and exciting mission advancement opportunities. Presents these opportunities to donors to effectively match donor interests with the Army's strategic plans.
• Makes it a priority to take donors on site visits to tour Army programs and to facilitate face-to-face briefings of donors by Army leaders.
• Supports and contributes to, as requested, overall territorial policies, business practices, and strategies to continually increase major gifts revenue and program growth.
• Keeps management apprised of all significant interactions, inputting contact reports to the donor database system as required, sharing a continually updated itinerary, fulfilling all monthly and other reporting requirements, and consulting with leadership when needed to understand organizational priorities to develop strategies that benefit both donor and the Army and to troubleshoot challenging situations.
• Works with other staff, leadership, and leadership volunteers to develop major donor/prospect cultivation events, such as volunteer opportunities, private receptions, dinners in homes, or seminars targeted toward those with high philanthropic capacity.
• Manages and maintains all office systems related to the Donor Relations Director's duties, including maintaining CRM, tracking spreadsheets, correspondence, gift acknowledgments, and additional in keeping with department policies and procedures.
• Ensures excellent customer service is provided to donors through accessibility to staff and leadership (as granted), timely responsiveness, quality in all interactions, and personalized communications.
• Build strong relationships with The Salvation Army staff and Officers at all assigned facilities through monthly connects, tours, and joint donor visits.

OTHER FUNCTIONS:

Performs other related duties as assigned by the Divisional Director of Development and Assistant Director of Development.

MENTAL DEMANDS:

• Work under stressful conditions
• Interact with others with courtesy and tact
• Manage and prioritize multiple projects in an organized and efficient manner to meet tight deadlines
• Respond to crisis situations in a calm and effective manner
• Complete projects on schedule
• Maintain confidentiality
• Maintain regular and punctual work attendance

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The position requires sitting; climbing and/or balancing; stooping, kneeling, bending, stretching, crouching and/or crawling; standing; walking; manual dexterity and eye-hand coordination; use of vision; driving a vehicle; pushing/pulling/lifting/carrying 25 pounds; traveling by airplane; both outdoor and indoor navigation settings.

COMMUNICATION DEMANDS:

The position requires professionally communicating verbally with co-workers, other departments and program staff, clients, vendors, donors, volunteers, board members, philanthropic decision-makers, and officers; written communication; talking on the telephone; responding to written or verbal requests; training/giving verbal and written instructions; receiving verbal and written instructions; writing/composing written language, reading; visiting/working at other worksites and non-worksite locations; communication via the latest technologies.

SKILLS/TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE:

• Valid driver's license required
• Travel as necessary
• Computer proficiency, including Microsoft Office tools and familiarity with donor management software and email applications

EQUIPMENT NEEDS:

Use office equipment such as computers, photocopiers, scanners, calculators, smartphones, etc.

DESCRIPTION OF WORK ENVIRONMENT:

Partially Remote: Frequent Site visits to The Salvation Army locations and donors throughout Western Washington. A designated desk for mandatory in-person meetings at Divisional Headquarters, 111 Queen Anne Avenue North, Seattle.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

Partially remote. Occasional site visits to The Salvation Army locations throughout the Northwest Division. A designated desk for mandatory in-person meetings at Divisional Headquarters, 111 Queen Anne Avenue North, Seattle.

• Work is typically performed in a normal office environment where there are little or no physical discomforts associated with changes in weather or discomfort associated without noise, dust, dirt and similar. The service providing areas may generate exposure from time to time with bloodborne pathogens or other potential infectious materials.
• Work Schedule / Location: Monday through Friday; in-person. Some local travel is required.

NOTES:

The information in this job description indicates the general nature and level of work an employee performs in this classification. It is not to be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications of employees assigned to this job. Management can add, revise, or delete information in this description. Reasonable accommodation will be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by management.

This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an at-will employment relationship.

Qualified individuals must be able to perform the essential duties of the position with or without accommodation. A qualified person with a disability may request a modification or adjustment to the job or work environment to meet the physical requirements of the position. The Salvation Army will attempt to satisfy requests as long as the accommodation needed is reasonable and no undue hardship will result.

General Statement

The Salvation Army is a branch of the Christian Church, and the ultimate goal of all programs is the spiritual regeneration of all people.

The Salvation Army is an Equal Opportunity Employer and committed to providing a respectful environment for all applicants and employees that is free from unlawful discrimination or harassment based on age, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, disability, citizenship, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other characteristic protected by law. Such equal opportunity for employment will apply to recruitment and hiring, training, promotion, salaries and other compensation, transfers and layoffs or termination.

"The Salvation Army will comply with all governmental orders and any contractual obligations relative to COVID-19 safety measures, including mandatory vaccination of staff, if required. The Salvation Army will consider requests for exemptions from any such requirements on either religious or medical grounds."

A generous benefits package is included with full-time positions: paid holidays, vacation time, sick time, and medical, vision, and dental insurance.

Health Insurance: Low bi-weekly premiums for employee-only coverage, Kaiser HMO for those residing in a Kaiser service area, Anthem EPO/PPO is available for those residing outside a Kaiser service area. Voluntary +1 and +family coverage at additional cost. Delta Dental DHMO and DPPO dental insurance are offered.

Life and Voluntary Options: An employer-paid life insurance policy covers employees. Voluntary supplemental life, short-term and long-term disability plans are available.

Retirement Plans: Employer-funded Money Purchase Pension Plan (Defined Contribution Plan) 50% vested at five years eligible service time. Plus, an employee-funded voluntary 403(b) option.

Parental Leave: The benefit is 40 hours of Paid Leave for qualifying events.

Sick Leave: 12 days of Sick Leave annually accruing from day one, eligible for use after three months' service time.

Paid Vacation:

Two weeks annually, accruing from day one, for non-exempt positions.
Four weeks annually, accruing from day one, for exempt positions.
Accrued vacation is eligible for use after six months' service time.

Paid Holidays: 13 designated holidays + 1 floating holiday per year