Now Hiring - The Home for Little Wanderers - Nonprofit And Ngo Director of Development - Donor Experience in Boston, MA

When you join The Home for Little Wanderers, you join a team of professionals dedicated to creating better, brighter futures for kids.

For over 200 years, The Home for Little Wanderers has helped build stable lives and hopeful tomorrows for vulnerable children and their families. Our 25+ community-based and residential programs serve thousands of at-risk youths from birth to age 26. Many of these children have experienced abuse, neglect, trauma, or a disrupted family life. As the oldest child welfare agency in America, we provide them with safe surroundings, permanent loving relationships, and a secure path toward a better, brighter future.

The Donor Experience director/manager “DX” will be part of The Home’s new Donor Experience Program, which focuses on integrating development communications efforts with fundraising workflows in order to engage and grow the next generation of supporters of The Home.
The DX will provide the organization with strong, energetic, and strategic leadership in all matters related to donor and volunteer stewardship. Help design and implement a creative, comprehensive and integrated stewardship program that results in stronger brand connection, better retention rates and higher lifetime value. Execute with the staff, volunteers, Leadership Giving, Mid-level, all key revenue programs (Walks, Galas, Golf outings, Rides etc.), Corporate, Board members and supporters.
We define stewardship as the process responsible for transparent and appropriate promised uses of donors’ and volunteers’ investments, demonstrated appreciation for those investments and strategic communications and experiences that connect donors and volunteers to the impact of their investments in meaningful, productive and personal ways.

The DX will provide a first-class philanthropic experience for donors by leveraging digital and in-person engagement to build relationships based on what is important to each individual donor. The DX works as part of a dynamic, high-performing team that achieves advancement goals at The Home. Using a variety of technology tools, including the Raisers Edge/NXT platform, the DX develops personal relationships in a targeted, high-velocity manner with an assigned portfolio of current, former and potential donors that will result in renewed or increased support to The Home. The DX cultivates donors, provides information that strengthens the donor relationship with The Home, and solicits them for annual giving while helping to build a leadership giving prospect pipeline. This role is critical in helping The Home achieve both its near-term campaign and long-term fundraising objectives.

The Director of Development Donor experience is a senior member of the Development leadership team and reports directly to the CDO/Vice President of Development. She/he plays a major role in ensuring that The Home for Little Wanderers achieves its philanthropic goals and objectives. Development is charged with the responsibility of identifying, cultivating, and soliciting charitable donations for The Home and its programs.
This person must also be able to collaborate equally well with our executives, board directors, and support staff.
In addition to joining The Home’s talented team of development professionals, the candidate will have the opportunity to take part in extensive training, professional development and learning both within The Home and across the industry.
This position is responsible for the donor experience across all programs and for seeking input, facilitating problem solving and communication, and tracking and reporting on progress against newly adopted retention and upgrade goals.
The DX, working with marketing and communications, ensures a fresh, compelling catalogue of stewardship tools, communications and experiences and easy access to these tools and experiences for field staff, programs and users.
As an individual contributor, the DX participates in major gift strategy sessions for past and current major gift donors, helping development officers maximize stewardship opportunities to advance the relationship towards a next gift.

Specific responsibilities include

• Assess, on an annual basis, the effectiveness of the stewardship program based on agreed upon metrics and goals.
• Develop a comprehensive, integrated stewardship plan with measurable goals and objectives that will provide appropriate levels of stewardship, as defined above and guided by the plan, for all donors and volunteers. This plan will cover all giving channels, giving levels, constituents and volunteers. It will include a comprehensive stewardship calendar and budget.
• Provide a baseline of stewardship and accountability reports, letters and/or audio and visual information and experiences to all volunteers, and restricted and unrestricted donors.
• Create, maintain, refresh in collaboration with marketing and communications, a catalog of stewardship materials and experiences. Keep the catalog fresh, meaningful and productive.
• Work closely with gift officers, researchers, board members, staff leaders and volunteers in order to provide the most personal stewardship experiences possible for top donors and highest performing volunteers.
• Ensure proper training for staff and volunteers involved in delivering stewardship, and for all staff on delivering outstanding customer service. Provide training for incorporating stewardship in donor plans, using stewardship impact statements and recognition opportunities at the time of solicitation, and on re-purposing and maximizing stewardship experiences and communications.
• Develop policies and standard operating procedures guiding the philosophy and implementation of the stewardship program.
• Test the effectiveness of the stewardship program through donor and volunteer satisfaction surveys and other feedback mechanisms including retention, and upgrade metrics.
• Test organizational buy-in and culture change through staff surveys.
• Facilitate problem solving, co-ownership of the program and organization wide celebrations based on the success of the program.
• Actively participate in major gift strategy development, helping incorporate stewardship into donor engagement plans.
• Keep the stewardship program visible throughout the organization, elevating understanding and perceived level of importance.

Stewardship components include

• Thanking donors and volunteers promptly (24-72 hours)
• Understanding donors’ and volunteers’ intent in giving and honoring those intentions
• Documenting intent and motivation
• Recognizing investments in fair and appropriate ways; working with communications to develop and build suite of engagement opportunities along with appropriate treatments/assets
• Spending money wisely and being fiscally responsible, transparent and accountable
• Developing a stewardship matrix for donor recognition that includes meaningful donor engagement activities
• Connecting donors and volunteers through experiences and communications with the impact of their investments
• Keeping stewardship experiences, materials, and communications fresh, relevant and as engaging as possible
• Providing meaningful and timely reporting where appropriate; and
• Customer service at the highest levels and determining what and how-to scalable deliver.

Other Essential Functions

• Research potential donors, foundations, and other development opportunities
• Represent the organization’s mission to donors, potential donors, and other external stakeholders
• Review/Approve all written fundraising and outreach materials
• Maintain database of donors, track gifts, and fulfill reporting requirements to all stakeholders
• Interacts regularly with Vice-President, Directors and staff in order to accomplish their goals
• Establishes and manages a comprehensive stewardship program in which The Home’s donors and volunteers are thanked for their contributions in a timely manner, where our goal of developing stronger relationships with funders is achieved, and where the CEO, Board, staff, and key volunteers are personally involved in this process.

Requirements

• 5+ years of success professional individual and foundation major gift fundraising experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Bachelor's degree required.
• Track record of working effectively with volunteers and staff through effective persuasion and influencing techniques.
• Strong organizational, managerial/mentoring and leadership skills; able to quickly address conflicts to achieve effective solutions.
• Able to effectively establish priorities and work in a fast-paced environment. Highly efficient in time management and ability to meet deadlines under pressure.
• Strong background working with cross-functional teams to achieve unified goals.
• Superior active listening, observation, analytical, and problem recognition and solving skills.
• Ensure that the confidentiality and security of all information under his/her supervision is maintained.
• Perform all other responsibilities and projects as assigned by his/her immediate supervisor and senior management.
• Understand of various computer systems and databases. Proficient in
• Raiser’s Edge, Microsoft Office, including Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel.
• Experience in developing budgets.
• Ability to travel, including overnight travel and weekends.

Valuing Diversity

We are committed to excellence in diversity, equity, and inclusion, while simultaneously creating a culture that supports those values. We believe the differences we bring enhance our ability to provide exceptional service and care to diverse children, families, and communities. Moreover, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging align with our values and our mission to help vulnerable children and their families build permanent, positive change.

What The Home Can Offer You

In addition to the chance to make a lasting impact on the lives of the youth we serve, The Home for Little Wanderers offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package including:

• Generous time off including up to 20 days per year for new full-time employees, plus 11 holidays, 5 sick days, and 2 personal days
• Health and Dental Insurance that is effective immediately upon hire
• Extensive training to new staff
• Tuition reimbursement of up to $2,400 per fiscal year
• 403(b) Retirement Plan with employer match
• Employer paid Long-term and Short-term Disability Insurance, plus Basic Life and AD&D Insurance
• And more!

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)