Donor Relations Manager

The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC) is a nationally accredited land trust serving a 10-county region in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. Since 1974, we have conserved more than 50,000 acres of the region's most important lands. We are now pursuing land and conservation easement acquisitions to protect thousands more key acres.

Position Overview:

Under supervision of the Associate Director and working closely with the SAHC Development and Engagement team, the Donor Relations Manager helps cultivate and increase donations to SAHC from members, major donors, corporations and planned giving donors, in order to meet strategic goals in SAHC long range plan. The Development and Engagement team includes the Executive Director; Associate Director; Development Communications Director; Development Operations Manager; and the Donor Relations Manager.

Responsibilities:

• Donor Program Implementation. Understand organizational goals and mission. Assist in developing and implementing fundraising strategies to increase memberships; major gifts; corporate gifts and planned giving in order to meet goals in SAHC long-range plan.
• Prospect research and donor information management. Work with SAHC Trustees and staff, current donors, foundation and corporate contacts to identify and engage new funding prospects.
• Perform research on individuals, family foundations and corporate donor prospects. Enter information gained from research, contacts, and visits with donors and prospects in database, maintaining data quality. Manage, retrieve, and apply that information to build and leverage donor support.
• Donor outreach scheduling and support. Schedule and calendar donor cultivation outreach by senior Development and Engagement team members and volunteer leaders. 
• Prepare materials to support senior Development and Engagement team members in donor outreach.
• Follow-up. Ensure appropriate and timely follow up action is taken following a phone call or visit debrief from senior development staff.
• Moves management: Support Development and Engagement team in strategically increasing giving level of SAHC donors.
• Fundraising Committee liaison. Support the Associate Director by staffing Fundraising committee meetings, preparing materials, and assisting with scheduling meetings.
• Advisory Council liaison. Facilitate advancement of Advisory Council made up of former SAHC
• Trustees and community leaders: Engage former and current SAHC board members through the Advisory Council as volunteers to help SAHC enhance our relationships with community leaders through special events; educational workshops; one-on-one meetings, and written communications.
• Special Events: Plan and implement cultivation events to recruit support for SAHC among leaders in communities SAHC serves. Includes developing and securing event-related budgets; organizational positioning to enhance community relevance and donor enthusiasm; volunteer and committee oversight; logistical coordination of events, and related follow-up and assessment.
• Systems: Develop systems to increase organizational effectiveness and efficiency.
• Other responsibilities: Provide general support, events support, and special project support for the Development staff members as needed. Provide limited administrative support as needed.

Qualifications:

• BA/BS or Associate degree in related field and 2 years related experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Successful experience building or enlarging fundraising programs for a land trust or other non-profit, including experience managing and tracking multiple prospects and donors.
• Excellent organizational skills. Attention to detail, self-motivated with the ability to see what needs to be done, set and achieve benchmarks, work independently with little supervision and meet deadlines.
• Computer literacy (PC and Mac platforms), including competency in database management (Salesforce or a similar donor database management system), word processing, spreadsheets, and Powerpoint.
• Competency with social media outlets.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills: Ability to communicate effectively with people, agencies and organizations.
• Commitment to land conservation.
• Tact and strong diplomacy skills. Talent for maintaining forward momentum in delicate situations.
• Persistence, sense of humor, and entrepreneurial spirit.
• Ability to balance and pursue multiple projects simultaneously.
• High tolerance for meeting competing demands efficiently, without becoming flustered.
• Must be able to work under pressure with good humor and grace.
• Desire and talent for working as part of a team. Enthusiastic, creative, self-motivated individual able to work with and motivate coworkers and volunteers.
• Perform duties outside of normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed.

Compensation: Salary is commensurate with experience and skills. SAHC provides a competitive benefits package to full-time employees, which includes health insurance, retirement fund, and paid vacation.

To Apply: 

Interested applicants should email a cover letter, resume, and 3 professional references to Kristy Urquhart. Please include "Donor Relations Manager" in subject line. No phone calls please. Position open until filled.

SAHC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.