The Donor Stewardship Officer will work toward meeting the strategic priorities of the stewardship team by developing and implementing robust stewardship plans and ensuring adoption of stewardship best practices to provide best-in-class stewardship for the Conservancy’s principal gift donors with a focus on both corporate/institutional donors and individual donors. They are responsible for developing, enhancing and implementing strategies and processes supporting gift acknowledgements, comprehensive donor stewardship strategies, and grant management and tracking for the Worldwide Office Development team.
The Donor Stewardship Officer will maintain an active principal-gift level stewardship portfolio. They will work closely with principal gift officers, foundation relations, leadership, communications experts, legal and finance staff to manage all aspects of the gift and grant process from pre-award to gift closeout, including helping to carry out donor strategies, supporting the preparation and submission of accurate and compliant funding proposals, ensuring stewardship reporting and engagement opportunities are timely and of consistent high quality, providing guidance on the preparation and negotiation of complex gift/grant agreements, and developing, tracking and managing customized stewardship plans and deliverables.
They will collaborate across multiple teams and departments to promote a culture of stewardship and stewardship best practices across the organization. They will also serve as a subject matter expert to build and enhance the systems necessary to support that culture, by providing guidance, advice and trainings to drive organization-wide adoption of stewardship best practices.
- Have regular meetings with relationship managers to develop and update annual stewardship plans for the Conservancy's most generous donors.
- Oversee the stewardship tracking process for institutional donors; ensure the information remains current. Make sure teams receive timely notification of upcoming stewardship deliverables, and coordinate and project manage the resources needed to deliver excellent materials to the donor (writing support, design/media expertise, financial review, etc.).
- Use BB CRM donor database, Connect (intranet) and other tools to manage the information flow related to gifts and grants—from pre-award to gift closeout.
- Collaborate with the Donor Communications Team and with Program, Finance and Legal staff during the proposal development process to avoid potential stewardship concerns and to ensure compliance with Conservancy policies and procedures.
- Review proposals, reports, letters of inquiry, and other donor correspondence, as needed.
- Monitor progress on gift/grant spending and progress on deliverables. Coordinate with staff to ensure that the terms and conditions of grant/gift agreements are being met and are properly documented, any issues are identified in a timely fashion, and Relationship Managers are kept apprised of information and outcomes to share with donors throughout the life of the grant.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCOPE
- Accountability for strategic goals related to functional area.
- Act independently and in supervisor’s stead as needed, exercise independent judgment to identify and solve problems.
- Decisions may bind the organization financially or legally.
- Demonstrate sensitivity in handling confidential information.
- Develop and implement new initiatives that will ensure department and organization-wide goals and strategies are achieved.
- Ensure programmatic commitments, TNC policies and procedures, financial standards, and legal requirements are met and managed for compliance.
- Financial responsibility includes assisting with the development of a budget, working within a budget, and negotiating and contracting with vendors.
- Manage and implement multiple projects, including managing budget, setting deadlines and ensuring accountability.
- May manage or participate in complex negotiations.
- May supervise one or more administrative or professional staff, responsibility includes training and professional development.
- Travel occasionally, work long and flexible hours as needed.
- Work environment involves only infrequent exposure to disagreeable elements and minor physical exertion and/or strain.
- Work is diversified and may not always fall under established practices and guidelines.
- Experience managing and implementing multiple projects.
- Experience working with budget teams to track gift spending and provide stewardship deliverables.
- Experience working in a development office.
- Experience with donor database software.
- Experience working with cross-functional teams.
- Experience building processes to increase efficiencies and streamline workflow.
- Experience, coursework, or other training in principles and practices of relevant field.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Multi-lingual skills and multi-cultural or cross-cultural experience appreciated.
- Ability to manage and implement complex processes.
- Ability to work in partnership with others in a collaborative role.
- Advanced knowledge in current and evolving technology related to field of experience.
- Demonstrated ability to conceive and write creatively for various audiences.
- Experience working on a stewardship or foundation relations team.
- Knowledge of current and evolving trends in a non-profit environment.
- Proficient in interpreting guidelines and manipulating, analyzing, and interpreting data.
- Strong organization, planning, and problem-solving skills.
- Successful experience implementing strategic program goals.
- Understanding of accounting practices.
The Nature Conservancy offers competitive compensation, 401k or savings-plan matching for eligible employees, excellent benefits, flexible work policies and a collaborative work environment. We also provide professional development opportunities and promote from within. As a result, you will find a culture that supports and inspires conservation achievement and personal development, both within the workplace and beyond.