Donor Relations and Engagement Manager

Friends of Zoo Boise Job Description: Donor Relations and Engagement Manager

Are you looking for a position to help change the world? Are you passionate about animals? Do you love to work with donors?

Apply to join the Friends of Zoo Boise team. Our mission is to connect our visitors with animals to inspire and involve our community in the conservation of wildlife worldwide.

Position overview: Friends of Zoo Boise is seeking a full-time Donor Engagement Manager, commonly referred to as a Major Gifts Officer. This person will be securing funds to accomplish our mission by fulfilling the interests and passions of major gift donors by providing them with giving opportunities, encouraging them to give and assuring that as many as possible are retained as continuing major gift donors to the organization and are upgraded in their giving and involvement. You’ll be responsible for managing and cultivating relationships with existing major gift prospects, as well as identifying new major gift prospects. An ability to empathize with donors and clearly communicate our organization’s mission is key.

You’ll be joining the Donor Engagement Department- a group of dedicated and passionate employees who care deeply about both the donors and the animals we work with. Working at Zoo Boise is a unique opportunity to provide donors with memorable experiences. Every day is different, and you’ll be doing everything from bringing donors to feed the giraffes or watch training with our red pandas or snow leopard to touring our active construction projects to see the Zoo Boise of the future take place.

Zoo Boise is undergoing exciting changes as we update the Heart of the Zoo to meet our community needs. You can be a part of the team building new homes for our animals and the best possible zoo for our visitors.

Employer: Friends of Zoo Boise

Reports to: Director of Donor Engagement.

Schedule: 40 Hour work week, typically 8am-5pm.The Donor Engagement Manager is a full-time position. Work week is negotiable (Monday-Friday, Tuesday-Saturday, or Sunday-Thursday)- the zoo and our office are open seven days a week. Some evenings and weekends are necessary. Position will begin in March 2025.

Compensation: This position pays $50,000 - $58,000 annually, depending on experience. The organization offers competitive health insurance coverage, retirement plan and vacation/sick leave benefits.   

Job Duties: 

• Qualify and manage a major gifts caseload of 135 donors.
• Create and manage individual goals for each person on the caseload. Create a plan for each donor that is driven by that donor’s passions and interests and communication preferences and execute that plan. 
• Work with program staff to secure project information for creating donor offers and reporting to donors on how their giving made a difference.
• Cultivate and expand planned giving opportunities with new and existing donors and integrate planned gift objectives into major individual donor requests.
• Other duties as assigned. 

Accountability: Performance will be measured by:

• Qualifying and disqualifying donors: including appropriate documentation.
• Achieving overall agreed-upon revenue goal based on individual donor goals.
• Retention and upgrading of donors: including cultivation of transformational gifts.
• Development of a personal contact and ask plan, that takes into account the

individual donor’s interests, motivations, giving patterns and ask and

communication preferences.

• Securing project and organization information and creating and writing effective offers, proposals and asks. Regular and timely reporting back to the donor.
• Creating timely reports that reflect caseload performance.
• Management of process, deadlines and budget while adhering to the

policies and procedures of the organization.

• How well you get along with peers, subordinates and management and maintain

a positive and constructive attitude while solving problems. Being a team player

and serving the mission, goals and values of the organization.

• Meets or exceeds annual key performance indicators, which are determined and reviewed in collaboration with the Director of Donor Engagement. (Such indicators could include: active portfolio of 75-100+ prospects, 80% of portfolio has at least one quality contact every 6 months; completes 10 face-to-face meetings per month and 5 or more solicitations of $25,000+ per quarter; 25 percent of their portfolio makes a major gift annually). 

Qualifications

• The preferred candidate will have at least five years of prior experience working directly with donors at a nonprofit organization or similar. 
• Excited to work with donors and has proven experience soliciting major gifts of $5,000 and above and initiating major gifts fundraising strategies. 
• Knowledge of and experience with development/fundraising concepts and techniques, as well as gift planning and procedures. 
• Demonstrated ability to forecast fundraising targets and to evaluate and report progress. 
• Ability to build and advance long-term relationships with fundraising constituents, including multiple prospects, major donors, board members, and volunteers. 
• Established experience identifying, cultivating, and soliciting many prospective donors with successful results. 
• Experience in charitable giving in the areas of capital campaigns and planned giving. 
• A passion for wildlife conservation and the mission of Zoo Boise. 
• Superior organizational, written, and oral communication skills. 
• Exceptional customer service skills. 
• Ability to maintain confidentiality of membership and donor information. 
• Capacity to work independently and in teams. 
• Conversant with required computer programs including Microsoft Office. 
• A strong working knowledge and experience using donor database systems (Zoo Boise currently uses Donor Perfect) and creating associated data queries, reports, templates, and forms. 
• Familiarity with nonprofit fundraising and membership best practices, tools, and techniques. 
•  Excellent attention to detail. 
• Energy, humor, creativity, professionalism, maturity, and strong work ethic. 
• Negative TB test. 
• Have a valid driver’s license or have the ability to obtain one. 
• Ability to work a flexible schedule to attend zoo functions, including many evenings and some weekends. 
• Excellent time management, organization and independent judgment skills. Willingness to take responsibility and problem solve in a proactive manner. Ability to follow as well as give direction.

How to apply: 

Submit a cover letter, resume, and three references to: Rachel Winer, Director of Donor Engagement, to arecords@cityofboise.org.

Deadline to apply is 5 pm February 6, 2025.

Please no phone calls.