The Development & Communications Manager is a new position on the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC) team, which will help achieve SAHC’s fundraising goals, boost community outreach through effective communications and events, and help keep the office systems humming. The role involves diverse responsibilities with opportunity for growth. SAHC is seeking an energetic self-starter who is passionate about our mission and desires to learn and advance all aspects of running our growing nonprofit land trust.
Development – 50%
- Work with SAHC staff Development & Engagement team to implement strategies to achieve fundraising goals, emphasizing deepening relationships with donors, developing strategic partnerships, increasing memberships; major gifts; corporate gifts and planned giving in order to meet goals in SAHC long-range plans.
- Prepare solicitations (print and digital appeal letters) and acknowledgements. Print in-house or manage vendor to outsource their production.
- Manage current donor database (Salesforce), including process gifts and update donor records. Participate in data clean-up, as needed.
- Support SAHC staff Development & Engagement team with prospect research and donor information management. Research individuals, family foundations, and corporate donor prospects in database, maintaining data quality. Manage, retrieve, and apply that information to build and leverage donor support.
- Schedule and calendar donor cultivation outreach by Development and Engagement team members and volunteer leaders. Prepare materials to support Development and Engagement team members in donor outreach.
- Assist with event planning, especially to enlarge and diversify the membership and constituent base to reflect a broader range of individuals. Contribute program ideas, develop budgets, solicit sponsorships, publicize, manage registrations, and staff events.
Finance and Operations – 30%
- Assist with keeping the office organized and well-stocked with supplies. Perform general office tasks such as getting mail. Maintain an organizational calendar of meetings, deadlines, and events. Manage volunteers to assist with routine office jobs.
- Perform limited work in QuickBooks to support monthly bookkeeping.
- Generate monthly fundraising reports to improve tracking to evaluate fundraising efforts.
- Research gifts and donor information.
- Generate monthly finance/fundraising reconciliation reports.
- Use Zoom and web-based Trustee Hub to improve cloud-based collaboration across staff, board, and committee members.
Communications and Marketing – 20%
- Get to know the full scope of the organization’s work. Translate that knowledge into communications content to cultivate new SAHC’s supporters across our 10-county region.
- Develop compelling content and coordinate other SAHC staff and volunteers to contribute.
- Manage a portion of electronic communications, including website, social media, and e-newsletters depending on volunteer capacity.
- Assist with print communications relating to outreach materials.
- Assist with SAHC merchandise and inventory.
- Actively network with other nonprofit land trust professionals and bring forward ideas.
Qualifications required to excel in this position can come from professional and lived experiences. Below we describe what we believe to be important qualifications for a candidate while remaining open to diverse backgrounds that can lead to these skill sets. Position descriptions are often presented in a way that leaves qualified candidates, particularly women, people of working-class backgrounds, people of color, and LGBTQIA applicants, feeling unwelcome, intimidated, uncomfortable, and/or unqualified to apply. Recognizing that, we strongly encourage anyone who feels passionate about this work and believes they have what it takes to thrive in this role to apply.
- Full-time work experience desired.
- Thrives in an entrepreneurial environment and enjoys diverse and varied work responsibilities. Curious self-starter. Able to work independently, while contributing to an overall team effort
- Versatile and willing to adapt to support the needs of a lean, growing organization.
- Ability to diagnose problems and identify solutions independently, efficiently and effectively.
- Collaborative and energetic work style. Sense of humor.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Attention to detail and commitment to excellent quality.
- Organized, able to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
- Strong analytical capabilities, including ability to summarize quantitative and qualitative information to help Development and Engagement team make data-driven decisions.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office required. Experience with Salesforce CRM, QuickBooks Pro; social media marketing, website management, or graphic design a plus.
- Exercises excellent judgment and ability to maintain confidentiality of sensitive information.
- Customer service skills, tact, and professionalism.
- General understanding of, and interest in, land conservation work and nonprofit management.
- Valid driver’s license or access to transportation for travel throughout the region.
- Weekend or evening work is required occasionally, as needed for events.
Salary: Salary range: $50,000 – $55,000 depending on experience.
Benefits: SAHC covers the full premium for employee medical and a portion of dependent coverage, a healthcare spending account with employer match, life insurance, SIMPLE IRA with up to 3% employer match; Generous leave policy and needs-accommodations including flex time, flexibility for a hybrid work schedule.
Supervision: This position will be supervised by the Associate Director.
To Apply: Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and 3 professional references to Kristy Urquhart, Associate Director – [email protected]. Applicants are encouraged to augment application materials with copies of written materials. Please include “Development & Communications” in the subject line. We encourage Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color to apply. However you identify and whatever your background, please apply if this is a position that excites you. No phone calls please. Open until filled.
Full Job description: https://appalachian.org/development-manager/
About Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy:
The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC) is an established land trust serving a 10-county region in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. Since 1974, we have conserved more than 80,000 acres of the region’s most important lands, including places that offer opportunities to all people to enjoy outdoor recreation, protect scenic beauty, protect rivers and streams that serve the region’s water needs, connect places for wildlife and plants to ensure resilient landscapes in the mountains, and preserve working farmland that supply local foods.
We emphasize proactively:
● Protecting high-priority tracts identified through strategic conservation planning, mapping and prioritization
● Helping government agency partners and community partners acquire their highest priority tracts for public benefit
● Protecting tracts that enhance landscape resilience to climate change
● Protecting prime soils and working farms.
● Striving to protect culturally significant sites that can help reverse inequities among racialized people(s) in our communities.
SAHC is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. SAHC recognizes historic inequities in the conservation field, access to land and ownership of land. These factors cause imbalance in communities, and we commit to purposeful action to correct them. Conservation is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people of widely diverse backgrounds, experiences and identities.