Philanthropy Officer

Deadline for Applications:16 June 2024, 11:59pm EDT

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 feminist philanthropy. Launched in 2019, the Equality Fund has committed $86 million to date which flows to more than 800 organizations working across 100 countries.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Reporting to the Manager, Major Gifts, the Philanthropy Officer supports the execution of philanthropic strategies to generate philanthropic revenue in support of the work of the Equality Fund. The Philanthropy Officer leverages an understanding of donor moves management and major gift experience to identify prospective donors, establish relationships through various formal and informal cultivation activities, support the team in soliciting and closing $10,000 plus donations, all while providing meaningful stewardship to donors.

SCOPE & RESPONSIBILITIES

Donor Communications and Philanthropic Activation

• In consultation with the Associate Vice President of Philanthropy, Director of Philanthropy, and Manager of Major Gifts, assists in implementing strategies for identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of major gift prospects and donors, prioritizing transformational gifts ($10,000 CAD and above);
• Contributes to designing and executing multi-year donor programs, including philanthropic learning events, stewardship opportunities, giving circles, etc.;
• Organizes and prepares regular solicitation for annual donors;
• Liaises with teams across the organization, namely Communications, to create and/or adapt philanthropy materials for individual philanthropists, e.g. case for support, 2-pager, infographics;
• Supports the development and deployment of annual cultivation and solicitation collateral, inclusive of appeals;
• Supports the development of stewardship materials, including regular written and verbal updates, impact reporting to donors, and recruitment and stewardship materials for individual donor programs;
• Supports annual report content and distribution, including the management of donor outreach for inclusion in the annual report, as well as other external stakeholder reports;
• Leads donor acknowledgments, inclusive of individualized thank you letters;
• Supports event outreach and represents EF on occasion at external donor meetings 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;
• Liaises with Salesforce Advisor to ensure database design meets team needs;
• Issues tax receipts for all eligible donations;
• 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;
• 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 at least two in major gifts, with a track record of establishing meaningful donor relationships and programs at the $10,000+ level;
• At least two years of experience supporting various forms of donor communications, such as written impact reports, thank you letters, fundraising appeals, and donor presentations;
• At least one year of experience in administrative coordination;
• At least one year of experience supporting fundraising events;
• 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 oral and written communication skills;
• Ability to organize and manage various deadlines and priorities while guiding strategic fundraising goals;
• Strong relationship management skills with the ability to communicate effectively with a diverse group of donors, volunteers, and other stakeholders;
• 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;
• 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;
• Degree in international development, communications, or related field or CFRE (Certified Fundraising Executive) designation is considered an asset, but is not required;
• 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 totravel, approximately 20% of the time;
• 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

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