Philanthropy Officer

Who We Are

Founded in 1889, YWCA Hamilton is known as one of Hamilton’s original social innovators and works from a feminist, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive framework. We are dedicated to strengthening women’s and girl’s voices, broadening their choices, building dynamic leadership and providing essential services that promote safe, inclusive and equitable communities.

YWork for us?

At YWCA Hamilton, we are intentional about fostering a workplace culture that values positive physical and emotional well-being through our values of Intersectional Feminism, People Centred, Belonging, Responsibility, and Partnerships. We invest in our employees so that we can bring our values into the communities in which we live. We offer our employees:

• On-the-job training and professional development opportunities
• Childcare discounts
• Opportunities to get involved in our community
• A competitive total rewards package
  
  

If you’re passionate about making a positive impact in the lives of women, children, and families every day, we would love for you to join our team!

Position Description

Job Code: 2-DEV-2024

Department: Philanthropy & Communications

Reports to: Departmental Director

Location: Hamilton, ON

Hours of Work: 37.5 hours per week

Start Date: TBD

Posting Date: July 25th, 2024

Provide leadership to members of YWCA Hamilton’s Philanthropy team and across the organization to develop, implement and evaluate campaigns and initiatives to achieve annual and/or capital campaign revenue targets with an emphasis on individual giving, major gifts and legacy giving. The Philanthropy Officer is responsible for managing a portfolio of prospective and current donors and promoting individual giving with the support of the Director. Working closely with the Director and YWCA Hamilton’s Executive Team, they will support identified Relationship Managers to achieve revenue targets and communicate donor impact. The Philanthropy Officer will build and nurture relationships with current, past and prospective donors and provide meaningful stewardship opportunities to connect donors to the impact of their work.

Individual & Legacy Giving

• Lead individual and legacy giving at YWCA Hamilton by meeting with donor prospects and actively engaging them in a way that is authentic and meaningful; individuals are exceptionally stewarded with the intention to increase philanthropic support to meet development and organizational objectives;
• Manage a portfolio of prospective and current donors;
• Plan, develop, and oversee cultivation, solicitation and stewardship strategies for current and prospective donors, and working collaboratively with other members of Philanthropy Department;
• Research interest, capacity and connections to develop a customized strategy for donors and prospective donors;
• Support major gift and legacy giving programs including the overall strategy, plan and case for support;
• Organize and supports tours for donors to visit YWCA Hamilton programs and services to see the impact of their support and/or volunteer;
• Monitor progress, provides regular reports and initiates strategies and tactics with support of the Director of Philanthropy to achieve revenue, prospect and donor activity targets.
  
  

Donor Stewardship

• Share donor impact through prudent stewardship;
• Prepare donor correspondence, thank you letters, stewardship updates, prospect profiles, proposals and solicitation packages, etc.;
• Actively contribute to the development of meaningful donor stewardship events and engagement opportunities for major and mid-level giving programs;
• Support a Relationship Manager approach and help YWCA Hamilton’s Executive Team to deliver on meaningful and memorable engagement of stakeholders and partners;
• Develop mini cases for support around key fundraising priorities;
• Serve as a YWCA mission ambassador by attending events in the community when requested to share YWCA mission impact and encourage involvement;
• Integrate fundraising opportunities within YWCA Hamilton’s signature and third-party events and works in collaboration with other Philanthropy Department staff to identify potential donors, outreach and engage in our work, and maintain above industry standard retention benchmarks;
• Liaise with YWCA Hamilton employees, clients and volunteers as needed to share inspiring stories that attract community giving.
  
  

Other

• Stays current on fundraising standards, policies, best practices, and development trends by updating job knowledge, participating in educational opportunities, reading professional publications, maintaining personal networks, and participating in professional association activities;
• Maintains appropriate recordkeeping and expense reporting in accordance with YWCA policies and procedures, and confidentiality/privacy policies;
• Conducts research using appropriate databases, the internet and other research tools and strategies;
• Provides analytic reports, prospect profiles and updates to Director as required;
• Identifies and evaluates risks associated with corporate and community giving and takes appropriate action to control the risks;
• Demonstrates and models strong leadership behaviours as a member of the YWCA leadership team;
• Fosters a safe and healthy work environment; ensures employees comply with health, safety standards that meet or exceed legislated requirements;
• Participate and provide mandatory organizational and departmental trainings and meetings.
• Nurtures and forms meaningful internal and external working relationships and partnerships;
• Supports YWCA Hamilton mission, vision and values;
• Perform other duties as required.
  
  

WORKING CONDITIONS:

• Works a standard 37.50-hour work week;
• Occasional evenings and weekends and travel may be required within the Hamilton and Halton Region.
  
  

Qualifications

• Equivalent to the completion of 2 years college in business, social services, public relations, or marketing;
• Minimum 5 years’ working in the non-profit sector with fundraising experience in major gifts, legacy/planned giving and/or soliciting donations of $10,000+;
• Outstanding success in revenue generation and the drive to achieve results;
• Demonstrated experience in building relationships with exceptional listening, networking and negotiating skills;
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, and also work effectively in a team;
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically, maintain confidentiality, exercise diplomacy, tact and good judgement;
• Ability to develop major gift cultivation and solicitation strategies, including writing custom proposals, negotiating gift terms and bringing solicitations to closure;
• Exceptional interpersonal and communications skills;
• Demonstrated knowledge of best practices in individual giving, legacy/planned giving, and donor stewardship;
• Must be able to work from a feminist, anti-racist/anti-oppressive perspective;
• Must provide a current Criminal Record Judicial Matters Police check or willingness to obtain at own cost;
• Ability to work occasional evenings and weekends with some travel as required;
• Ability to travel within the Hamilton and Halton region where public transit may not be available;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills;
• Bilingual English/French or other languages an asset.
  
  

As part of YWCA Hamilton’s commitment to Access and Equity, we strive to represent the diverse communities that we serve. Individuals who are women, First Nations, Métis, immigrant, refugee, LGBTQ2S+; individuals with disabilities; and individuals from racialized communities or other marginalized communities are encouraged to apply.

Accommodations are available throughout the recruitment process. Please inform us of any accommodation requests.

Please Note: Personal information collected during the recruitment process will only be used for employment opportunities only in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act. Only applications from individuals eligible to work in Canada will be considered.

Thank you for your interest in YWCA Hamilton. Only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.

Please visit our careers page to see more job opportunities.