Access Reproductive Care-Southeast Director of Donor Engagement Atlanta, GA · Full time

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Director of Donor Engagement

Estimated Start Date, January 2024

Atlanta, GA

About ARC-Southeast: 

Founded in 2015, ARC-Southeast provides funding and logistical support to ensure Southerners receive safe and compassionate reproductive care including abortion services. Through education and leadership development, we build power in communities of color to abolish stigma and restore dignity and justice.  Our work encompasses three elements of transformational culture change: Services (Abortion Funding and Practical Support), Activism, Education, and Engagement leading to Leadership Development, and Building Collective Power for Systems Change. As ARC-Southeast experiences substantial growth, the ideal candidate for this role will be an adaptive and collaborative leader, capable of inspiring and guiding volunteers, Board of Directors, and future development staff.

Position Summary

Access Reproductive Care-Southeast seeks a Director of Donor Engagement with a deep commitment to reproductive justice, coupled with a proven record in individual donor stewardship and grants management. The Director of Donor Engagement’s primary role will be co-creating and implementing our values-aligned donor engagement strategy to achieve our 5-million-dollar annual revenue goal, and to ensure the organization’s fundraising success and sustainability. As the first person to hold this role, the successful candidate should have experience in implementing an individual giving strategy, guiding supporters through a moves management process, and mobilizing and expanding a donor base. Through partnership with the Co-Director and program staff, the Director of Donor Engagement will maximize institutional giving by establishing strong connections with foundations and consistently submitting grants in a timely fashion. The ideal candidate will be skilled at organizing and base-building, sustaining trust-based relationships, passionate about planning, possess exceptional written and oral communication skills, excel at balancing attention to detail while maintaining a strategic perspective, and have a talent for motivating others. 

The Director of Donor Engagement will partner with the Staff, Board of Directors, and interns to ensure our mission, vision, and values are upheld. The Director of Donor Engagement reports to the Co-Executive Directors. ARC-Southeast continues to pursue COVID policies that prioritize and center caring for all our communities. Thus, we are moving towards a hybrid working environment that includes both remote and in-office working as needed and desired by staff. We prioritize having the Director of Donor Engagement live in Atlanta, but candidates from the six states served by ARC-Southeast are also eligible. This role may require occasional travel.

Responsibilities:

Individual Giving and Stewardship: (40%) 

• Create and execute a fundraising plan to grow the organization's individual giving efforts, focusing on executing a Major Gifts outreach strategy (donors $5,000+), fostering engagement among donors, cultivating online giving engagement, and growing the base of annual gifts grounded in Community-Centric Fundraising practices
• Coordinate and carry out fundraising campaigns, encompassing e-appeals, direct mail, peer-to-peer fundraising, monthly donor drives, year-end giving, and targeted, emergency appeals
• Develop relationships with a portfolio of major and mid-level donors, institutional donors, and small businesses, including cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship activities throughout the year
• Conduct quarterly research on potential funders and analyze new funding prospects to identify potential donors who can make significant gifts with institutional impact
• Promote the visibility of ARC-Southeast among prospective donors, inspiring them into long-term action
• Lead donor communications and crafting compelling content to engage donors and prospects
• Partner with ARC staff to keep program information current across CRMs (Salesforce and Donor Box), marketing, and digital platforms
• Develop a strategy for new fundraising events; collaborate with ARC team members for planning the logistics of the organization’s fundraising events
• Support the Board of Directors and fundraising volunteers in reaching their fundraising goals
• Support fundraising-related planning, events, and meetings, including: foundation or donor meetings, preparing briefings, securing sponsorships

Grant applications and reports:  (30%)

• Maintain the organization’s grants calendar and use internal and external communications (e.g., checklists, task-management systems, reminder messages, proactive problem-solving and proper escalation) to ensure that high-quality grants and reports are submitted in a timely matter in compliance with grant guidelines
• Write, customize, and update compelling grant proposals, letters of inquiry, grant reports, and funder communications in collaboration with Co-Executive Director ensuring that ARC achieves its annual contributed revenue goals for grant funding
• Evaluate proposals for accuracy, provide guideline explanations, and conducts research for new funding opportunities
• Manage a portfolio of high-level foundation relationships and steward relationships throughout the year
• Oversee and develop a strategy for fundraising from institutional funders, including expanding the portfolio of foundations outside of traditional reproductive health funders 

Database Management and Gift Processing: (20%)

• With high accuracy and timeliness, oversee the operation, maintenance, data input, data integrity, and accuracy of Salesforce, Donorbox, and ActBlue
• Lead processing of  all gifts and pledges into CRM and ensure donor records, gift acknowledgments, and honor/memorials are accurate and timely
• Pull accurate and timely data from the database for appeals, stewardship, event invitations, and reports 
• Use data to create detailed reports for review by the Board/staff and shape an annual schedule for appeals, donor communications, and Moves Management strategies
• Conduct CRM development-related activities, including daily processing of gifts, running reports and queries, gift coding, exporting and importing data, and mail merges
• Acknowledge donors through public and private recognition, and directly respond to donor inquiries and complaints, via phone, email or letter, including problems with checks, credit cards, EFT and stock gifts (in collaboration with Operations department)
• Lead monthly reconciliation of gift data in collaboration with Operations team
• Import/enter new prospect and donor information received from events, contact referrals, meeting and other sources
• Develop comprehensive database management best practices and procedures and update the organization’s gift processing procedures as needed; troubleshoot processes and improve overall processes to ensure deadlines can be met even during periods of heavy gift volume

Strategic Planning & Leadership: (10%)

• Co-develop fundraising plans and growth strategies to meet the organization’s overall resource needs; in FY2024 ARC-SE’s fundraising goal is $5 million
• Collaborate with entire staff and Board to secure adequate funding support to deliver our leadership programs, community organizing, advocacy and culture change work in an effective, sustainable, and innovative manner
• Train and support staff and the Board of Directors in development-related concepts and tasks as needed
• Support organization’s audit, budget, and financial compliance as necessary 
• Skillfully transition between projects while maintaining attention to detail and focus on daily tasks and future objectives

Skills, Abilities, and Qualifications:

1. Commitment to abortion access and full reproductive healthcare for all people; commitment to gender and reproductive justice in a broader frame of social, economic, racial justice for all;
2. Ability to build power in communities of color using/creating values-aligned political education.
3. Self motivated, resourceful, creative, and able to work without significant day-to-day supervision;
4. Ability to clearly communicate the intersections of abortion access and other social justice issues impacting our communities;
5. Familiarity and comfort with sexual and reproductive health issues, particularly abortion;
6. Outstanding communication skills with an ability to communicate a genuine passion for reproductive justice issues in a compelling and authentic manner to various audiences;
7. Demonstrated ability to make strategic decisions in complex or fast paced situations. 
8. Collaborative spirit with an ability to maintain flexibility and effectively manage ambiguity in a responsive environment;
9. Previous management experience; 
10. Familiarity with community-centered fundraising strategies and tactics, and experience in developing and implementing fundraising plans
11. Strong interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal;
12. Organized and detail-oriented, able to prioritize and manage multiple tasks;
13. You enjoy working with a diverse staff and board; and
14. Willingness to work some evenings and weekends, required.

Outstanding candidates will also have: 

1. At least 5 years of nonprofit or grassroots fundraising experience, showcasing revenue growth, pipeline development, and successful major donor solicitations ($5,000+).
2. Leadership experience, including managing volunteers or development staff to meet fundraising and organizational goals, following fundraising best practices.
3. Experience working with nonprofit boards of directors and/or other advisory bodies.
4. Previous experience in the Reproductive Justice field;
5. Broad alliance and coalition-building experience, including working in collaboration with multiple organizations and across movements.
6. Previous experience advocating, organizing, and base-building with communities of color, low-income individuals, or immigrant communities.

In addition to the professional skills and experiences listed above, the ideal candidate will also align with ARC-SE’s core values:

• Radical Love: If we are going to unapologetically make reproductive justice a reality in the Southeast, we must change hearts and minds with unconditional, revolutionary, radical love. The work we do, how we do the work, and the decisions we make are deeply rooted in radical love that directly challenges the hateful narrative of the opposition
• Southern Synergy: We invest in building relationships and principled collaboration with people and organizations to ensure our communities are fully supported in the South and beyond.
• Autonomy and Self Determination: We believe every individual knows what they need in order to thrive and should be supported in their decisions without being limited by shame, fear, lack of resources, or discrimination.
• Collective Power: To achieve reproductive justice, we need to build a more aligned and diverse movement that centers impacted communities. Nothing about us, without us.

Compensation and Application Process: 

The Director of Donor Engagement is an exempt, full time position with a desired start date of January 2024. The salary is $95,000 and based on experience and qualifications. ARC-Southeast also provides a comprehensive benefits package, which includes health, dental, and vision insurance, monthly caregiver stipend, unlimited PTO, and more! 

Requirements: (1) 1-2 page resume; (2) 1 page cover letter, and, (3) a list of 3 professional references. Applications will be closed on December 15, 2023. No calls please. We regret that we will only be able to contact those applicants selected for an interview.  All documents should be submitted via Gusto. 

ARC-Southeast is an equal opportunity employer. We are deeply committed to creating a work environment that reflects the diverse nature of our society and activism. Therefore, an intentional effort is made to have a staff made up of various individuals from backgrounds that intersect with reproductive justice and the mission and vision of ARC-Southeast. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type and afford equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, criminal legal history, or any other characteristic protected by law.