Department: Membership/Development
Full-time, Salary, Exempt
Salary Range: $75,000 - $85,000
Salary negotiable based on qualifications
Reports to: VP of Development
Position Location: Based out of Creek Farm in Portsmouth, with some travel to Concord and around the region. Hybrid work is possible.
Position Summary:
This position will cultivate a community of supporters in the Seacoast who feel connected to the Forest Society and excited about its role as a conservation leader addressing issues such as climate change and offering a wide variety of recreational and educational opportunities.
This position is designed to develop consistency in relationship building and constituent engagement in a part of the state where we have a variety of conservation, education, and recreation activities on an ongoing basis, and to engage Seacoast-area supporters in the Forest Society’s statewide work. The position may extend beyond fundraising to additional outreach work, as it is one of the primary Forest Society positions located at Creek Farm and in the Seacoast region.
This is a new fundraising position that centers on building, cultivating and stewarding relationships with current Forest Society members and supporters, donor prospects, and community partners in the Seacoast Region.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Annual Giving - Individuals
• Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward individual donors at a variety of giving levels, generally $500 to $10,000.
• Develop and implement interesting engagement opportunities for a subset of donor prospects.
• Collaborate with VP for Development and President to deepen relationships with major donors ($10,000+) and ensure consistent communications with the leadership level of supporters.
Annual Giving – Businesses
• Work with existing business supporters and grow the program by identifying and cultivating new business prospects as annual members or supporters.
• Identify and solicit business supporters for sponsorships or special event partners.
• Refresh the business member program to better suit Seacoast area businesses.
Program-Related Fundraising
• Foster strong active relationships with existing donors, develop and implement strategies for current and new donor engagement with emphasis on places in the Seacoast region where the Forest Society has a long-term investment in conservation, education, and recreation.
• Implement fundraising strategies to increase support from individuals for ongoing volunteer, education and stewardship programs or periodic special campaigns.
Events
• Plan and implement annual donor/member engagement events.
• Attend professional and networking events, providing a public face of the Forest Society.
• Collaborate with colleagues to oversee and support education and outreach programs held at Creek Farm.
Development Outreach and Education
• Collaborate with the Membership, Communications & Digital Outreach staff to develop electronic and social media outreach strategies to engage current and new donors and members and analyze performance/results.
• Assist in keeping fundraising web content and electronic outreach fresh and speaking to our key donor constituencies.
• Contribute content to enews, Forest Notes, and Annual Report and help develop relevant collateral to support Forest Society messaging.
• Collaborate on development and implementation of digital fundraising and marketing initiatives.
Contributions/Outcomes: The Regional Development and Engagement Manager will play a vital role in raising funds that support both operations and ongoing programs, with special attention to developing new relationships and deepening existing relationships with Forest Society members and supporters.
This is a position with room for growth, entrepreneurship, and creativity. Performance measures will include financial results, positive feedback from supporters, as well as success in collaborating with colleagues and contributing to an energized, positive, and creative working environment.
Qualifications and Skills Required:
1. Experience communicating with, cultivating, and soliciting a broad variety of donors with a record of success.
2. Must be able to articulate and be fluent on the Forest Society mission, its current and future vision and priorities, substantive conservation issues, and be comfortable and poised in a range of social settings.
3. Exhibit a high degree of self-motivation, judgement, and discretion.
4. Strong strategic thinking skills, and efficient, timely plan execution.
5. Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. The ability to write a compelling letter or grant proposal and comfort with public speaking is expected.
6. Experience/ability to learn donor management systems – experience with Raiser’s Edge NXT and Luminate Online (Convio) and Salesforce helpful.
7. Gregarious and outgoing personality; passion for the Forest Society’s mission
8. Curiosity and ability to learn through experience.
9. Ability to meet deadlines and advance initiatives on a timeline that often involves coordination with other staff and external partners.
10. A minimum of five (5) years of experience in Development in responsible positions that include face-to-face donor solicitation.
11. Minimum education of a Bachelor’s Degree is strongly preferred.
Working Conditions:
1. This position will be based at Creek Farm in Portsmouth, NH with some expected time spent in Concord for meetings and interacting with colleagues at The Forest Society headquarters (the “Conservation Center”).
2. Creek Farm has an open office layout with summer campers or events often nearby – must be able to tolerate sharing space and communicating with neighbors.
3. This position will have the opportunity for telework and balancing the time at Creek Farm office.
4. Travel throughout the State of New Hampshire is required, including occasional overnight travel and evening or weekend events.
Physical Requirements:
1. Ability to sit or stand while working at a computer.
2. Ability to drive, sometimes for extended periods of time in a variety of weather conditions. Must have valid driver’s license.
3. Ability and willingness to walk/hike several miles of incline and decline, over varying terrain, in a variety of weather conditions will be helpful but not required.
Direct Reports: None at present.
Equity, Inclusion & Collaboration: The Forest Society is an equity-based employer. We value a diverse staff and an inclusive culture. We value staff that work for the good of the whole; that can effectively collaborate to achieve shared goals of their department, as well as the organization. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other protected status as required by applicable law.
Questions & Application
Questions regarding this position should be directed to:
Anne Truslow, VP of Development at atruslow@forestsociety.org
Resume and cover letter should be sent to:
Stephanie Milender, HR Director at smilender@forestsociety.org