Philanthropy & Fundraising

Position: Philanthropy Officer
Organization: Equality Fund
Location: Remote, within Canada

• Status: Full-time, Indefinite
• Reports to: Director, Philanthropy
• Language(s): English
• Starting Salary Range: $55,000 - $65,000
• Deadline for Applications: November 24, 2024, 11:59PM

ABOUT THE EQUALITY FUND

The Equality Fund is transforming the way that resources—and power—flow into the hands of women, girls, and gender expansive people worldwide. Designed by feminists for feminists, it is a model for sustainably resourcing feminist movements everywhere, through global grantmaking, gender-lens investing, policy advocacy, and philanthropy. Launched in 2019, the Equality Fund has committed $100 million to date which flows to more than 1000 organizations working across 100 countries.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Philanthropy Officer will manage the operations that enable sophisticated relationship fundraising for individual and family foundations, focusing on the major gift donor and prospect pool ($25K+) in Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. This is a transformative time to join the Equality Fund’s philanthropy team as we reimagine the future of our philanthropy work in service of feminist and human rights movements everywhere. This role involves implementing strategic donor engagement initiatives, crafting tailored communications, and preparing briefing notes and packages for key donor interactions.

This position offers the opportunity to contribute creatively and lead the growth of the annual giving program, unlocking new fundraising potential.

To support the above, the Philanthropy Officer will manage philanthropy data and administrative processes to ensure a seamless donor experience and support the efficient execution of all philanthropy activities.

SCOPE & RESPONSIBILITIES

Donor Communications

• Organizes and prepares engagement and solicitation efforts for annual donors.
• Supports the development and deployment of annual cultivation and solicitation collateral, including appeals.
• Contributes to designing and executing multi-year donor programs, including philanthropic learning events, stewardship opportunities, and giving circles.
• Liaises with teams across the organization to create and adapt philanthropy materials for individual philanthropists, such as the case for supports, two-pagers, infographics, and proposals.
• Leads donor acknowledgments, including individualized thank-you letters.
• Aids in creating stewardship materials, including regular written and verbal updates, impact reports for donors, and recruitment materials for individual donor programs.
• Assists in content development and distribution for the annual report, managing donor outreach for inclusion and other external stakeholder reports.
• Supports event outreach and represents the Equality Fund at external donor meetings and events as needed.
• In consultation with the Director of Philanthropy, drives the evolution of fundraising strategies for the Equality Fund’s annual giving and planned giving programs, focusing on strategic planning and innovation.
• In consultation with the Associate Vice President of Philanthropy, Director of Philanthropy, and Manager of Major Gifts, assists in implementing strategies for the identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of major gift prospects and donors in the UK, Canada, and the US.

Salesforce & Data Coordination

• In consultation with the Director of Philanthropy and Manager, Major Gifts, the Philanthropy Officer project leads the design and implementation of a robust reporting system for real-time fundraising analytics, pipeline management, and data coordination to support cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship activities and events.
• Manages donor data, inclusive of donation entry, relationship mapping data, and donor interactions;

  • Creates and manages donor records and individual donor pledges, including payment reminders, etc.;

  • Continuously updates donor contact records with relationship-related information, e.g. event attendance, upcoming meetings, strategic priorities;

  • Imports prospect research information for individuals;

  • Enters and codes all donations into our database from various sources (Canada Helps, cheques, wire transfers, campaigns, etc.); reconciles with Finance team;

  • Actively monitors donation platforms to ensure donations are properly processed;

  • Tracks expired credit cards for recurring donations and coordinates credit card updates;

• In consultation with the Philanthropy Team, leads recommendations for Salesforce Advisor to ensure database design meets team needs;
• In consultation with the Finance team, issues tax receipts for all eligible donations; and
• Maintains gift processing platforms, prepares and regularly updates automatic thank you responses, and supports Giving Page design for annual appeals.

Administrative coordination for the Philanthropy team

• Supports day-to-day team organization and operations with items such as scheduling, team meetings, document tracking, briefing notes, expense submissions, event logistics, presentations;
• Responsible for the gift agreement process including drafting agreements and obtaining signatures;
• Coordinates philanthropy team retreat planning;
• Liaises with Finance colleagues on behalf of the Philanthropy team to facilitate key financial administrative processes including procurement, budgeting, invoices, administrative support, and purchase orders;
• Assists with responses to general donor inquiries via the EF phone and the philanthropy email address to maintain an excellent level of relationship management and personalized donor attention;
• Works with Communications team to provide database support for communication platforms such as MailChimp;
• Undertakes additional administrative and team support duties as needed; and
• Acts in accordance with our policies around building a culture of safety, respect, and care; never engage in harassment, coercion, sexual exploitation or abuse of any form, or anything else contrary to our code of conduct.

QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES

• At least three years of progressive fundraising experience, including experience in a major gifts team;
• At least two years of experience writing various forms of donor communications, such as impact reports, social media & e-comms, thank you letters, fundraising appeals, and donor presentations;
• Experience navigating complex work environments with the ability to navigate and collaborate effectively across diverse stakeholders, departments, and teams to support fundraising efforts, such as in the international development sector or within large, multi-layered organizations.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to understand database management concepts, including data enhancement, data quality, and data acquisition techniques, to effectively support donor segmentation and drive annual fundraising growth;
• Ability to strategically and effectively generate lists and reports in Salesforce for identifying prospects based on giving potential
• Application, analysis, and synthesis skill to apply research, past examples, and best practices to creation of briefing notes and support resources for events, conferences, and key engagement initiatives.
• Demonstrated commitment to staying informed about fundraising trends and best practices to enhance overall effectiveness and support the organization's initiatives;
• Values-driven with a passion for social justice, women’s rights and an understanding of feminist issues, advocacy, movement building, and the funding environment facing women’s rights organizations in the Global South;
• Demonstrated experience working with customer relationship management software, e.g. Raiser’s Edge, Salesforce;
• Working knowledge of Google Suite as well as communication platforms such as Zoom, MailChimp, etc.;
• Exceptional written communication skills, with ability to to learn and adapt to our tone, voice and brand;
• Ability to organize and manage various deadlines and priorities;
• Strong relationship and project management skills with the ability to communicate effectively with a diverse group of donors, volunteers, and other stakeholders and keep people and projects moving forward;
• Demonstrated high ethical standards, tact, and ability to work with sensitive information in a confidential manner;
• Ability and openness to work on cross-functional/multi-disciplinary teams;
• Flexible and adaptive, able to respond quickly and effectively to changing and complex circumstances;
• Self-motivated, resourceful, and capable of meeting goals effectively in a fully remote working environment;
• Committed to staying informed about fundraising trends and best practices to enhance overall effectiveness and support the organization's initiatives
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic, complex environment;
• Commitment to the work and values of the EF, in particular, the values of gender equality and shifting traditional power systems;
• Bilingual French/English considered an asset, but is not required

REQUIREMENTS

• Must be legally eligible to work in Canada;
• Willing and able to work remotely on mostly computer-based work;
• Willing and able to travel, approximately 20% of the time (2-3 trips of 2-5 days each);
• Occasional evening and weekend work may be required.

OUR ENVIRONMENT OF CARE

• We trust our talented team and are pleased to offer a flexible and virtual work environment.
• We are driven by our values: anti-racism, anti-oppression, and intersectionality; feminist leadership; accountability; and radical love. We believe our values are realized through collaboration, a growth and learning mindset, emotional intelligence, diversity, authenticity, a global perspective, care, and building networks. We work to share power and create space for everyone to lead.
• Equality Fund is proud to offer a comprehensive compensation and benefits package which has no waiting period and includes 4 weeks paid vacation, paid sick time, parental leave top up, medical benefits, life insurance, Group RRSP, paid birthday off, and more.
• Equality Fund is committed to providing and maintaining a safe and respectful workplace. We do not tolerate harassment, coercion, sexual exploitation, or abuse of any form. We recognize that those behaviors are often rooted in abuse of power, which is contrary to EF's mission to make a more equitable world for women, girls, and gender expansive people.
• Equality Fund is an equal opportunity employer. We believe deeply in equality and value diversity of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, national origin, disability, and all other protected grounds under the Ontario Human Rights Code. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and positionalities, and are committed to providing an accessible candidate experience. To let us know how we can make an accommodation or adjustment to facilitate the selection process and beyond, please reach out to people@equalityfund.ca

SELECTION PROCESS

• Equality Fund’s People, Equity, and Culture team will work with the hiring manager to do an initial screening of applicants. Please make sure to detail your experience in your resume/cover letter to ensure the committee has the information they need to assess your qualifications for the role. This process takes about 1 week from the application deadline.
• When there are many candidates who pass the initial screening, the People, Equity, and Culture team may conduct 15-30 minute phone screening calls.
• The hiring committee will conduct first round interviews with selected candidates. Candidates will be sent the interview questions 48 hours in advance of their scheduled interview. Candidates are welcome, but not expected or required, to send any questions they have for the hiring committee in advance of the interview. These interviews usually occur 1-2 weeks after the application deadline.
• The hiring committee may conduct a second round of interviews, which may include an assignment.
• The People, Equity, and Culture team will conduct reference checks for the candidate to whom they intend to extend an offer. This process usually takes about 1 week.
• The People, Equity, and Culture team will initiate a background check. This is intended to safeguard Equality Fund employees, grantees, and the organization. We recognize that some communities experience systemic over-policing. As such, only findings related to harassment, exploitation, coercion, sexual exploitation, fraud, abuse, or other findings specifically relevant to the duties of the role will be considered in relation to one’s eligibility for employment.
• The People, Equity, and Culture team will send the selected candidate an Employment Agreement, which the candidate will have time to review and return.

JOIN US!

Apply: Apply here. 

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Though we work to respond to all applicants, at times we may only be able to follow-up with those selected for an interview.