Fundraising and Development Director
hace 11 días
Worcester
Job Description The Farm School spans over 200 beautiful acres of farm and forest nestled among the rolling hills of North Central, MA. We are a diverse, forward thinking and creative community. Farmer-teachers work with youth to connect to the land, honor it and steward it. The Farm School is a diverse environment seeking a candidate that is dedicated to supporting a wide range of individuals, youth groups and partners with a racial equity lens. The ideal candidate has experience in event planning, grant writing, communications/outreach, donor relations, budget tracking, creative writing and fundraising. A background in farming and/or education is a plus. The Development Director is a senior level member of the leadership team responsible for securing approximately 1 to 1.2 million dollars annually to sustain the farm’s programs. The Development Director leads the organization’s broad-based fundraising strategy, including annual giving campaigns, foundation and corporate grants, and fundraising events. The manager oversees the donor database, grant calendar, direct mail, and event logistics to acquire, retain, and upgrade donors, cultivate relationships, meet financial goals, and strengthen community engagement. The Development Director is responsible for crafting appeal messaging, and coordinating stewardship initiatives to meet annual revenue goals Required Skills & Qualifications: * Experience: 2–5+ years of experience in nonprofit fundraising, donor relations, or a related field. * Excellent Written and Verbal Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills for donor communications, solicitation letters, stewardship materials and grant proposals. * Organization: Proven ability to manage multiple projects, timelines, and budgets simultaneously. * Project Management: Proven ability to handle multiple campaigns, deadlines, and event planning. * Organization: Proven ability to manage multiple projects, timelines, and budgets simultaneously. * Data Analysis: Proficiency in Client Retention Management (CRM) software and reporting to track donor engagement and Return on Investment (ROI) preferred. * Relationship Building: Ability to engage with donors, board members, and volunteers. Responsibilities: * Campaign Management: Strategically plans, implements and executes annual giving campaigns across all platforms, including direct mail, and social media. Work with editor, artist,designer and printer to produce quality campaign materials. * Grant Management: Researches, writes, and submits proposals to foundations, government agencies, and corporations, while ensuring compliance with grant regulations and reporting deadlines. Manage and collaborate with Grant Consultant for timely submission of grant applications and meet annual grant funding goals. * Event Management: Plans and coordinates The Big Pig Gig, our annual spring fundraiser as well as other fundraising events, such as galas and luncheons, , including managing vendors, volunteers, event logistics and event budgets year-over-year. * Donor Database Management: Manages the donor database for tracking gifts, segmenting audiences, and ensuring proper acknowledgment of donations. * Strategic Planning & Reporting: Analyzes fundraising data, monitors budgets, and collaborates with leadership to meet financial targets and improve fundraising strategies. * Donor Stewardship & Acquisition: Manages donor retention, re-engagement, and acquisition strategies, recurring giving including personalized outreach to retain and grow donor base. * Donor Legacy: Create pathways to meet philanthropic needs including planned giving, multiyear funding and management of philanthropic cycles of giving. * Data Analysis & Reporting: Analyzes campaign results, segments mailing lists, maintains accurate donor records in CRM, and provides performance reports. * Content Creation: Writes compelling content for solicitations, newsletters, website and social media, ensuring consistent, farm and mission-centered messaging. * Partner Collaboration: Works with marketing/development teams to align campaigns with organizational messaging and supports event logistics. * Annual Report and Annual Meeting - Collaborative Leadership role working alongside the Strategic Planning Director, Board Chair, Admin Team and Planning Committee to produce an annual report event. Performance Indicators * Increased annual revenue from individual donors. * Improved donor retention rates. * Successful acquisition of new donors Farm School Values: * Carry out all duties and responsibilities through a racial equity and justice lens. * Create, manage, maintain and cultivate enduring relationships with the organization's donors and financial partners. * Establish and support fiscal partnerships that are aligned with The Farm School mission and vision. * Create and manage a diversified and well balanced fundraising/development strategy. * Craft and deliver narratives for promoting the organization's values, mission and vision to reach new audiences and form better relationships with donors and other organizations. * Study the Farm School’s artistic history and artfully share public facing communications to draw people into The Farm School experience, mission and vision. * Write and communicate skillfully with the ability to listen to and speak to target audiences while maintaining The Farm School's voice, reputation and presence in all communications. * Follow up with timely thank you letters to contributors of all kinds and all levels of giving. Monitoring and Reporting * Work closely and routinely with the Strategic Planning Director and Business Manager to set and monitor fundraising, grant initiatives, events and communication goals. * Use data from tuition, sales, spending and previous fundraising campaigns to guide fundraising decisions (including metrics like clicks, shares, traffic, views, purchases etc.). * Construct narrative reports to convey development strategies and needs to The Farm School’s board of directors highlighting the impact and results of development and storytelling initiatives. * Test stories with established internal and external audiences that can act as a sounding board in the creative process. Outreach and Communications * With Strategic Planning Director, increase Farm School visibility via social media, local radio, webinars, conferences, keynotes, networking events and hosting Farm School tours * With Strategic Planning Director, build the consistency of voice, tone, narrative messaging and alignment of The Farm School’s mission and values for the Annual Appeal, Newsletter and annual Big Pig Gig event. * Strategic Planning Director cultivates alumni networks of former students, staff, teachers and program participants, inviting ongoing connection, engagement, and philanthropic partnership in ways that strengthen the farm’s mission of connecting people to the land. Programmatic Engagement * Support each program as a team member in some capacity on site (for example: holding 1 or 2 program activities up to 3 hours a week Program for Visiting Schools (PVS) , Chicken Coop subbing and general farm support). * Engagement and relationship building with visiting teachers and school administrators ADDITIONAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: * Read and respond to emails, text messages and Slack messages in a timely manner. * Be in rotation for weekend Farm Chores. * Participate in Racial Equity within our Communities meetings. * Attend weekly Admin Team Meetings * Attend Board of Director meetings and point person for Development and Nominating Committees. * Point person for organizing Board and Staff Race And Onboarding Workshop training. COMPENSATION, BENEFITS AND PERKS $70,000 starting annual salary + housing as available, employer health insurance contribution, 2% annual retirement contribution, 6 weeks paid vacation, sick time and farm fresh veggies, meat and eggs, discounted Chicken Coop and Summer Program Tuition. We serve diverse communities of students and we are striving to develop a staff that reflects that. We encourage all qualified candidates to apply to our open positions. The Farm School does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, sex, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin in any of its school administered policies or programs. Company DescriptionThe Farm School spans over 200 beautiful acres of farm and forest nestled among the rolling hills of North Central, MA. We are a diverse, forward thinking and creative community. Farmer-teachers work with youth to connect to the land, honor it and steward it. We work to help connect people to the land and bring youth outside to connect to nature through farming. We host over 1500 students per year on the land, donate thousands of farm produce, meat and milk to communities facing food insecurity and provide outdoor land based experiences for youth facing economic challenges.The Farm School spans over 200 beautiful acres of farm and forest nestled among the rolling hills of North Central, MA. We are a diverse, forward thinking and creative community. Farmer-teachers work with youth to connect to the land, honor it and steward it. We work to help connect people to the land and bring youth outside to connect to nature through farming. We host over 1500 students per year on the land, donate thousands of farm produce, meat and milk to communities facing food insecurity and provide outdoor land based experiences for youth facing economic challenges.