POSITION TITLE:  Donor Communications Associate

DEPARTMENT:  Philanthropy

CLASSIFICATION:  Exempt / Grade 7

REPORTS TO:  Manager, Donor Communications

LOCATION:  Washington, DC

General Description 

Reporting directly to the Manager, Donor Communications, the Donor Communications Associate supports all aspects of the Philanthropy Department’s stewardship and cultivation efforts for high-value donors and prospects in order to broaden and deepen the relationship of our donors to The Wilderness Society.  The Donor Communications Associate will play a critical role on a three-person team dedicated to developing and providing a comprehensive and robust stewardship and cultivation program.  The Associate will be responsible for maintaining processes, systems, and information relating to donor giving, and will also ensure strong attention to detail is utilized in acknowledging and communicating with donors, including major donors, planned giving donors, corporate and foundation donors, Advocates, workplace giving and other special donor types. 

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Donor Communications

• Manages the in-house acknowledgement process for all special acknowledgments including, but not limited to major donors, foundations, corporations, Advocates, $500+, tribute gifts, matching gifts, giving networks and other special gift types. 
  • Reviews and configures all lists on a weekly basis;
  • Drafts all acknowledgement templates and refreshes templates on regular basis;
  • Develops personalized acknowledgement content when necessary;
  • Produces all acknowledgements accurately and in a timely manner to ensure fast delivery of acknowledgments;
  • Ensures content reflects current victories and TWS priorities;
  • Provides other ad hoc acknowledgments as necessary. 
• In conjunction with Manager, Donor Communications participates in the development of comprehensive annual donor stewardship plan.
• Serves as project lead on all stewardship and cultivation efforts, including but not limited to:
  • Developing production and review timelines;
  • Managing mailing and donor list reviews;
  • Tracking material reviews and approvals;
  • Coordinating logistics of high-volume, in-house donor cultivation efforts.
• Participates in and supports the execution of any donor-related events, which may include assisting with invitation lists, designing invitations design, tracking responses, and supporting event execution and follow-up.
• Conducts thank you calls to high value donors as needed (major donors, Advocates, PG donors), maintaining notes on calls and further helping to develop donor relationships. 
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

Experience, Competencies, and Education

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 2-4 years of donor development experience with strong commitment to providing excellent donor experience.
• Excellent writing skills; adept at varying tone for individual signers.
• Excellent time management, interpersonal, and organizational skills.
• Adept at working with fundraising and/or relationship databases.  Experience with Team Approach desirable.   
• Ability to work independently with limited supervision in a fast paced environment. 
• Ability to prioritize and move tasks along but also understand when to bring in additional resources.
• Desire to work as part of a team.
• Ability to multi-task and maintain attention to detail and accuracy. 
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite.  

Desired Characteristics 

• Strong customer service mindset.  Ability to work with all levels of internal management and staff as well as outside vendors and donors.

• Adept at anticipating the needs of others. 

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk or hear; taste or smell.  The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.  Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is not exposed to adverse weather conditions.  The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of the position of Donor Communications Associate and it is not intended to be an exhaustive list of experience, skills, efforts, duties, responsibilities or working conditions associated with the position.