DESCRIPTION
WestSide Baby is looking for an exceptional relationship builder to identify, build, and strengthen relationships with major donors who are inspired to invest in our critical mission of providing basic needs for children in our community. The Donor Relationship Manager will work closely with the leadership team and the Board of Directors to develop and implement creative strategies to increase major donor engagement and giving. The successful candidate will excel at both the art and science of great development – high emotional intelligence and strong interpersonal skills combined with the ability to build systems to strategically support the management of 125+ donor relationships. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who is looking to join a committed, collaborative team working to ensure that all children in King County are equipped with the basic items they need to grow into healthy, happy members of our community.
About WestSide Baby
WestSide Baby provides low-income, homeless and refugee families in western King County with the essential material goods they need to properly care for their children. We are the only agency in Western King County that provides free access to the tangible items caregivers need to meet a child’s basic physical needs. We collect gently-used children’s clothing, car seats and cribs, along with donated diapers and hygiene products, and distribute them, free of charge, to families in need. We also leverage large-scale corporate partnerships to receive bulk donations of new items such as car seats, diapers and strollers for distribution to the families we serve.
We serve families by partnering with a broad range of social welfare agencies and human services providers whose case managers and staff place orders with WestSide Baby for the specific items their clients need. Each order is retrieved at our warehouse and personally delivered to an individual family by their caseworker. This is made possible by dedicated volunteers. Last year, 1,850 volunteers provided over 19,000 hours of service sorting each individual donated item in our warehouse, performing equipment safety checks, and filling orders from our partner agencies for their scheduled pick-ups.
Founded in 2001, WestSide Baby operates with the fundamental belief that every child born deserves to have their basic needs met. We help to ensure that all the children in our region have clothing that fits, a safe bed to sleep in, and clean diapers to keep them safe from infection. Our programs build family resiliency by providing the tangible, material items necessary to meet a child’s basic needs for healthy development, by encouraging positive child-caregiver relationships, and linking families to critical community resources. Resilient parents raise resilient children. We are one community, and the health of our children is a key indicator of our health as a society.
According to recent data from King County, poverty rates have steadily increased, with almost 20,000 children under the age of five living in poverty. Stretched public resources in King County have led to increased stress for all low-income families, which has resulted in increased demand for WestSide Baby’s services. In 2013, we served almost 24,000 children. In 2017, we estimate serving 40,000.
Guided by the goals and objectives of the organization’s strategic plan, WestSide Baby is moving forward to expand the depth and breadth of its service. We have developed a comprehensive plan with three primary strategic priorities: Increase bulk acquisitions and distributions of items; continue to build our donor base; and explore the expansion of our distribution with an emphasis on South King County where un-met community need is most evident. The Donor Relationship Manager will be instrumental in reaching these goals for growth and greater impact.
Key Job Responsibilities
The Donor Relationship Manager is responsible for growing WestSide Baby’s major individual and corporate donor base while personally managing a donor portfolio of 125. They will own the development of the donor cycle strategy from start to finish, engaging the Executive Director, Deputy Director, and Board in the key steps of prospect identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
To thrive at WestSide Baby, the candidate must be not only comfortable with, but actually celebrate, growth, change, ambiguity, and challenge and is willing to contribute one’s own ideas and questions to build and improve upon what currently exists. The organization has set the priority of exploring ways we can increase equity and inclusion in how we do our work. A willingness to engage in that exploration with openness, curiosity and self-reflection is critical to being part of the Westside Baby community.
The Donor Relationship Manager will report to the Deputy Director, supervise the Development Assistant, and work closely with the Events Manager and Public Affairs Manager. More specifically, the Donor Relationship Manager will:
Management & Administration (20%)
Build and maintain a robust donor portfolio system, ensuring all new and existing prospects for major gifts (individual and corporate) are being tracked and moved through the donor cycle in a timely manner
Support Deputy Director, Executive Director, and Board members to ensure moves management tasks are being completed and tracked for their portfolios
Manage Development Assistant to ensure data systems are accurate and timely for reporting on moves management strategies and donor portfolios
Fundraising (80%)
Responsible for managing all activities related to attracting and securing major individual and corporate gifts on behalf of the organization
Lead a targeted plan to identify and qualify major donor leads
Build outstanding relationships with donors
Work with Deputy Director and Public Affairs Manager to ensure high-quality proposals for investments are prepared for all major gift solicitations
Personally solicit major gifts and support other staff and board members to solicit gifts
Steward current major donors and engage others to steward relationships
Manage and steward Giving Circle program
Ideal Candidate Skills & Experience
The ideal candidate is a natural connector with demonstrated success developing outstanding relationships with individual donors. They have at least 3 years of experience in broad-based fund development with a strong track record of securing gifts between $1000 and $25,000. This person understands and is deeply passionate about “the why” behind WestSide Baby’s mission of providing for the basic needs of local children.
In addition to interacting with donors, the successful hire is a strong leader in a team setting working with staff, volunteers and others to accomplish fundraising objectives. They are a detail-oriented person with exceptional management and organizational skills. Able to work independently, the ideal candidate is an on-going learner, highly self-motivated and able to persist in the face of obstacles.
The Donor Relationship Manager is highly skilled at creating systems that support timely donor communications, ensure tasks are completed, and properly maintain records. They have facility with Microsoft Office products and the ability to efficiently navigate donor management software (ideally eTapestry).
HOW TO APPLY
https://cloversearchworks.recruiterbox.com/jobs/fk0f13d
Online applications only, please no email or paper submissions. You will be asked to upload a resume and a cover letter. In your cover letter, please describe, as specifically as you can, how your interests, skills, and experience are a fit with the goals and requirements of this position as described in this announcement.
Applications will be accepted through October 5, 2017. All applications will be acknowledged via an email receipt and will be held confidentially within the hiring committee. Consideration will be given to applications as soon as they are received; we encourage early applications. Interviewing will begin in the second week of October.
The search for this position is being facilitated by Clover Search Works, a search firm that provides a full range of search services to nonprofit organizations in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Clover Search Works is honored to work with WestSide Baby and is working hard to recruit a motivated team member who is passionate about advancing WestSide Baby’s critical mission.
Questions regarding this opportunity are welcomed and can be directed to Mary Ellen Cunningham of Clover Search Works.
Email: maryellen@cloversearchworks.com
Phone: 206.406.3159