Events & Development Coordinator

**Who You Are**

You follow a passion for people and the environment and want to work towards a greater good by contributing to a diverse team. You understand that your success is only as good as the whole, and you contribute in a humble way, for example by being the key lead on major events from planning to volunteer coordination to being the go-to person on the day-of. You have high expectations for yourself and your work and a healthy appetite for risk and experimentation while willing to learn from failure. You are someone who enjoys being independent and the freedom to develop yourself over being micromanaged. You are excited to represent rare and increase our visibility around town through collaborations and attendance at events. You are keen to ask donors and supporters for what you want and are prepared to get it and celebrate

**Who We Are**

We are a community-based urban land trust and environmental institute that stewards over 1,500 acres of land in Waterloo Region/Wellington County. The lands we live on, work on and derive benefit from were taken away from the original stewards, and it is our goal to restore that connection and to work towards building ethical, reciprocal relationships. This includes learning about and acting on our responsibilities as settlers and unlearning our cultural and historical biases. Most of the land currently in our care is located within the Haldimand Tract, which is territory of the Onkwehon:we peoples of the Six Nations of the Grand River and the Mississaugas of the Credit Anishinaabe First Nation. In addition, we steward land at the border of the Upper Canada Treaty No. 3 and Treaty 19 which is also territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. We honour and respect the sovereignty of these First Nations and their ancestors.

**The Role**

Reporting to the Major Gifts Manager, the Events & Development Coordinator will work collegially as part of the fundraising and communications team with program advisors, colleagues and volunteers, to represent rare and our needs to the broader community to build support - both social and financial - for our mission and programs. You will work in close collaboration with the Communications Officer.

The role requires sensibility, creativity and flexibility to build a strong community outreach and engagement system, with the ultimate goal to support rare’s major campaigns. You will have three overlapping areas of responsibility all with a focus on community engagement - events, annual fundraising, and volunteer and alumni engagement:
**1. Planning, overseeing and leading rare’s all-hands-on-deck fundraising and community events, including the**:

- Annual Trail Party, a family-friendly walk and fun run event with a community BBQ and peer-to-peer fundraising component
- Spring Art Auction or similar engagement-based online fundraising event
- Annual Pickleball tournament or similar in-person fundraising events
- Annual Spring Plant Sale & Eco Market
- Annual Ambassador donor recognition event
- Annual Volunteer recognition event
- Annual Long Dash Festival bringing together art and science
- Events related to the annual Eastern Comma/Question Mark Butterfly art fellowships
- Conversations for Conservation in-person speaker series
- Staff holiday party and other staff social events, including the JEDDI (Justice, Equity, Decolonization, Diversity and Inclusion) Snack ‘n Learn

All these activities involve planning the event, recruiting and leading volunteer teams and leading the day-of activities. Many of these events involve raising cash and in-kind sponsorships where needed, or leading peer-to-peer fundraising efforts. In addition, you will support your colleagues in hosting occasional program-specific events that occur on a less frequent basis, for example bioblitzes, environmental career fairs, donor cultivation events, etc. Many events involve tasks such as setting up online registration, organizing food, rentals, entertainment, soliciting items, sharing information for promotion etc.

**2. Supporting two key annual fundraising activities - grant management and direct mail, including**:

- Overseeing the grant management process by proactively researching upcoming grant opportunities and deadlines
- Hosting the grants meetings and bringing grant opportunities forward to colleagues for consideration and assignment
- Overseeing the direct mail process by working with the fundraising team to develop an annual plan for direct mail and ensure it coordinates with the annual communications plan
- Researching and developing direct mail themes and topics
- Writing direct mail letters
- Coordinating the printing and distribution of direct mail, including pricing and assembly - recruiting volunteers, as necessary
- Tracking and analyzing results in relation to previous years

**3. Volunteer and alumni engagement, including**:

- Working with colleagues to identify volunteer opportunities and needs
- Working with colleagues to draf