Remote Stewardship and Research Officer

Stewardship and Research Officer 

Contract type: Full time, Permanent, 40 hours per week

Location: This is a virtual role, based in Canada. The successful applicant must reside in the Eastern Time Zone with preference given to candidates in the Ottawa and Gatineau region. 

Salary: CAD 60,000 with excellent benefits. 

Change starts with water. Change starts with you. 

Every day, millions of people live without clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. WaterAid exists to change that – for everyone, everywhere. Join us, and your energy will help unlock people’s potential and create a fairer future. 

About WaterAid 

We’re a global federation driven by one vision: a world where everyone, everywhere has clean water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030. Powered by our values of Respect, Accountability, Courage, Collaboration, Integrity and Innovation, we work alongside communities, partners and supporters to make change happen. 

About the role 

The Research & Stewardship Officer is a key member of the Philanthropy team, providing high-quality research, prospect intelligence, stewardship and relationship-management support to fundraisers working across corporate partnerships, foundations, major gifts and legacy giving.  This role helps ensure that fundraisers have the information, tools and materials they need to build strong donor relationships, identify new opportunities, deepen existing partnerships and secure increased philanthropic support.  The successful candidate will be an excellent researcher and communicator who can turn information into useful insights and compelling donor communications. They will be highly organized, curious and collaborative, with strong attention to detail and an understanding of the importance of thoughtful, timely and personalized donor stewardship.  

Prospect research & fundraising intelligence  

• Conduct research on prospective and existing major donors, foundations, corporations and legacy prospects to identify philanthropic interests, giving capacity, priorities, connections and potential opportunities.  
• Prepare concise and actionable prospect profiles, briefing notes and research summaries to support fundraiser strategy and donor engagement.  
• Monitor developments relating to priority donors, companies, foundations and sectors and proactively share relevant intelligence with fundraisers.  
• Support prospect identification and qualification, including researching new sources of individual and corporate funding.  
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date prospect information in the fundraising database.  
• Support portfolio and quarterly Business Strategy reviews by identifying gaps, opportunities, upcoming milestones and next steps.  
• Research corporate, foundation and philanthropic trends to inform fundraising strategy and business development.  

Donor stewardship  

• Support the development and delivery of thoughtful, timely and personalized stewardship for donors.  
• Draft impact updates and other stewardship content.  
• Coordinate stewardship activities and ensure donor commitments, recognition opportunities and reporting requirements are tracked and delivered on time.  
• Work with program and communications colleagues to gather compelling impact information, stories, data and visuals for donor communications.  
• Support the development of donor reports, presentations and impact updates tailored to different audiences.  
• Help ensure that stewardship reflects donor interests while maintaining strong alignment with organizational priorities and brand.  

Fundraiser support  

• Provide day-to-day research and administrative support to fundraisers managing corporate, foundation, major donor and legacy portfolios.  
• Track follow-up actions, proposals, reports, stewardship activities and other relationship-management milestones.  
• Lead proposal development, including gathering organizational, programmatic and donor-specific information.  
• Support funding requests, reports and other donor-facing materials.  
• Coordinate information and inputs from internal teams to support timely and high-quality donor communications to keep donors informed and engaged.   
• Help fundraisers maintain strong portfolio hygiene and accurate records in Raiser’s Edge.  

Legacy fundraising support  

• Provide research and stewardship support for the legacy program, including researching prospective legacy donors and maintaini