The Organization
The Wilderness Society is the leading American conservation organization working to protect our nation’s shared wildlands. Since 1935, The Wilderness Society has led the effort to permanently protect nearly 110 million acres of wilderness in 44 states. We have been at the forefront of nearly every major public lands victory.
The Wilderness Society’s mission is to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places. We contribute to better protection, stewardship and restoration of our public lands, preserving our rich natural legacy for current and future generations.
Position Overview
The Wilderness Society is the leading American conservation organization working to protect our nation’s shared wildlands. Since 1935, The Wilderness Society has led the effort to permanently protect nearly 110 million acres of wilderness in 44 states. We have been at the forefront of nearly every major public lands victory.
The Wilderness Society’s mission is to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places. We contribute to better protection, stewardship and restoration of our public lands, preserving our rich natural legacy for current and future generations.
How To Apply
The Donor Relations Manager manages the personal stewardship and cultivation of The Wilderness Society’s mid-level membership program, the Advocates for Wilderness, who make gifts of $1,000-$24,999 annually. This person is the face of the Advocates program, providing a connection to the organization for donors who are both valuable members and potential major donor candidates. This includes daily outreach of appreciation for incoming gifts as well as on-going individualized outreach throughout the year.
This position works to identify through personal outreach those donors who show the potential to move up the pipeline and works with our Major Gift Officers and Planned Giving staff to ensure a smooth transition of Advocates up and down the appropriate donor pipelines.
TWS has made diversity, equity, and inclusion strategic priorities for the organization. The Donor Relations Manager will integrate these priorities throughout their work, from expanding our donor relationships to bringing an equity lens to all facets of this role.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
- Manages the personal stewardship of donors within the Advocates program, including daily thank you outreach, addressing donor inquiries, and individual engagement to create opportunities to build relationships with existing donors and learn more about their philanthropic interests and capacity.
- Manages a portfolio of high-level Advocates and works to identify additional prospects from the Advocate pool for both Major Gifts Officers and Planned Giving staff.
- Works closely with Major Gift Officers to develop strategic and creative opportunities for personal outreach to targeted pipeline donors, supporting Major Gift Officers in advancing potential donors for TWS trips, select events and other intimate donor engagement, ensuring there is appropriate follow up and identifying opportunities to help move Advocates up the pipeline.
- Manages bi-annual phone briefings, hosting live calls for our Advocates, legacy donors and Advocate prospects, coordinating compelling speakers and working with Communications on call outline and scripts.
- Works with Regional Office staff to engage them in appropriate quarterly stewardship calls to Advocates to further deepen relationships for donors to the organization.
- Works with Donor Relations team to develop the calendar of communications for Advocates to ensure steady communication from TWS that is in line with the interests of our mid-level donors and adheres to industry-wide best practices for stewardship and cultivation.
- Participates in bi-annual Major Gift Officer portfolio reviews to help ensure the appropriate treatment of donors moving both up and down the pipeline for optimal retention.
- Perform other related duties as assigned.
QUALIFICATIONS
The ideal candidate will have the following experience and qualifications:
- A minimum of 5-7 years of experience in philanthropy with experience in a front facing donor role.
- Experience in using program information, current events, and trends to develop creative concepts that position and convey a compelling value proposition to donors and potential donors.
- Track record working successfully in teams representing a rich mix of talent, backgrounds, and perspectives—across race and gender. Adept at planning, prioritizing, organizing, and following through.
- Able to work independently in a changing environment, meet tight deadlines, exercise good judgment and decision-making to set and meet time sensitive goals.
- Energetic, creative problem-solver with strong attention to detail.
- A collaborative team member with emotional intelligence, creativity, flexibility, initiative and a track record of working in a solution-oriented manner.
- Superb interpersonal skills and self-awareness combined with the ability to maintain an effective and supportive working environment while prioritizing competing demands.
The Wilderness Society offers a competitive salary and benefits package, including: health, dental, vision, life and disability insurance; sick and vacation leave; a sabbatical program; and a retirement plan. TWS is an equal opportunity employer and actively works to ensure fair treatment of our employees and constituents across culture, socioeconomic status, race, marital or family situation, gender, age, ethnicity, religious beliefs, physical ability, veteran status or sexual orientation.
As an organization, we aspire to being inclusive in the work that we do, and in the kind of organization we are. Internally this means working as a team that listens to different points of view, recognizes the contributions of every employee and empowers each employee to bring their whole selves to work every day. Externally this means ensuring that public lands are inclusive and welcoming, so that our shared wildlands can help people and nature to thrive. We are committed to equity throughout our work, which we define as our commitment to realizing the promise of our public lands and ensuring that all can share in their universal benefits.
To learn more about our commitment, please see http://wilderness.org/our-commitment-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-wilderness-society
For consideration, please submit your resume & cover letter through our online application system.