Reporting to the Director of Development as an integral part of the Development Team, the Donor and Family Engagement Specialist will play an important role in engaging with, showing hospitality towards, and stewarding both donors and clients. The Donor and Family Engagement Specialist will provide and ensure project management and coordination for fundraising and engagement events to meet revenue goals, raise awareness, secure in-kind gifts, build relationships, and meet clients’ evolving needs. Events and projects include but are not limited to Gladney Night at Six Flags, Gladney Adoption Day, Adoption Rocks Concert, Holiday Angel Tree Gift program, holiday cards and gifts for donors, and regional events (Oklahoma Dining and Dancing with Daddy and Larchmont Picnic). The Donor and Family Engagement Specialist will work closely and collaboratively with the Director of Development to implement the Development fundraising plan that is based on Agency strategy and with the Development team to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives, including executing a 4M+ annual fundraising budget.
Responsibilities:
- Be a positive representative for Gladney with community members, clients, donors, staff, and volunteers, to maximize giving to the organization.
- Support cross-departmental teams across the agency when they are engaging groups of clients on campus, including but not limited to greeting, hospitality, and campus tours for client orientations and trainings.
- Implement an agreed-upon stewardship plan for all fundraising and engagement events in line with the Development team’s overall stewardship plan.
- Utilize CRM tools and collaborate with the Development and IT teams to evaluate progress, ROI, retention rates, and giving trends in events and projects.
- Collaborate with the Development team to review and update report criteria and individual donor records prior to each event or project.
- Collaborate with the IT (Information Technology) team to update or create reports to pull distribution lists for each event or project.
- Review each distribution list for necessary manual edits on the list and for necessary updates in individual donor records.
- Run frequent reports to gather, analyze, and share metrics and results for each event or project and present recommendations, anticipating issues and addressing problems judiciously.
- Coordinate and execute holiday donor stewardship (according to Development team’s identified plan), including ordering, packaging, and shipping gifts and cards.
- Plan, coordinate, execute, and review Gladney’s Holiday Angel Tree Gift program.
- Maintain master files and documentation to aid in planning and executing program in future years, including event timelines, action items, and improvement ideas.
- Collaborate with the Communications team in developing social media graphic and social media strategy.
- Collaborate with Direct of Development to coordinate email strategy.
- Recruit individual and corporate gift givers.
- Create and maintain digital records in donor database for all gift givers.
- Communicate with program staff to invite clients and to notify them which clients participate.
- Match gift givers and clients and send deidentified client wish lists to gift givers.
- Recruit and manage volunteers.
- Manage receiving, organizing, wrapping, and shipping all gifts.
- Plan, coordinate, execute, and review fundraising events and social engagement events for Gladney’s Development team.
- Act as event liaison between Gladney and vendors, donors, clients, staff, volunteers, and event participants.
- Maintain master event files and documentation to aid in planning and executing future events, including event timelines, action items, budgets, and future plans.
- Determine benchmarks for success prior to each event, evaluate their effectiveness after the event, and recommend and document improvements to incorporate in future planning.
- Develop and maintain an extensive network of contacts, both internal and external, to facilitate event coordination.
- Research, propose, and secure possible venues for events, based on budget, geography, accessibility, aesthetic appeal, and availability.
- Research, propose, and secure contracts with event vendors, including caterers, florists, parking services, photographers, etc.
- Develop and manage budgets for assigned events, in coordination with the Director of Development.
- Verify invoices against contracts and arrange for payment of approved event expenses.
- Ensure events stay on budget, monitoring financial commitments during lead-up to event and making alternate arrangements if cost overrun appears likely.
- Research, cultivate, and solicit new and existing individual and corporate donors to support special events by securing sponsorships and donations.
- Create and maintain digital records in donor database for all events, donors, and their guests.
- Run frequent reports to self-audit the coding of event contributions and collaborate with the Development team to make necessary corrections.
- Oversee and provide technical support for event donors and participants on online fundraising platforms.
- Support fundraising event committees through record keeping, planning meetings, preparing notes, and sending correspondence.
- Collaborate with the Communications team in developing event concepts, designs, invitations, and social media graphics. Then:
- Coordinate mailing of invitations.
- Coordinate email strategy with Communications team.
- Coordinate social media strategy with Communications team.
- Post events on community calendars.
- Obtain all necessary supplies for events.
- At the conclusion of each event, ensure that event supplies and used materials are organized and stored in their designated place.
- Contribute to the overall success of the Development department by performing all other duties as assigned.
- Maintain master event files and documentation to aid in planning and executing future events, including event timelines, action items, budgets, and future plans.
- Act as event liaison between Gladney and vendors, donors, clients, staff, volunteers, and event participants.
Skill Required:
- Above average writing ability for correspondence, social media, and partner contracts and communications.
- Detail-oriented, process-minded, and extremely organized.
- Outgoing personality, professional, positive, energetic, proactive, tactful, and diplomatic.
- Strong work ethic with project management skills of planning ahead, establishing priorities, and managing time effectively, in order to meet deadlines.
- Willingness to work a flexible schedule that includes long hours near/during assigned events and projects.
- Demonstrated interpersonal, verbal, listening, and written communication skills to share organization’s mission, vision, and goals with clarity, passion, and persuasion.
- Must possess positive energy, have a client-focused attitude, be self-motivated, and be able to consistently contribute towards a positive work and team environment.
- Strong customer service skills and flexible and controlled emotional mindset required to handle all situations, including emergency, confidential, and emotional situations.
- Must be able to work in a fast-paced environment and able to juggle multiple competing tasks and demands.
- Must have the awareness and initiative to identify problems, gather information, and seek out answers and resources independently.
- Ability to work both independently and collaboratively.
- Solution-focused. Notice trends/challenges/successes, think creatively, and adjust strategies and processes accordingly.
- Ability to work well with diverse groups of constituents and colleagues.
- Proficient in Office 365 applications and Google applications.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree and 2 or more years of professional experience in event coordinating, marketing, and fundraising.
- High school diploma (or equivalent) and 4 or more years of professional experience in event coordinating, marketing, and fundraising.
- Demonstrated success coordinating fundraising and/or engagement events for three and four-figure level audiences.
- Ability to use data, CRM systems, Office 365 applications, and Google applications to set strategy for event/project priorities, create and maintain event/project budgets, document processes, manage events/projects, run reports, measure outcomes, and drive superior performance.