Employment Status: Full Time

Department: Foundation

Union: NON UNION

Job Code: 24257

✓ Pension ✓ Dental Insurance ✓ Disability Insurance ✓ Health Insurance ✓ Life Insurance

✓ Weekdays

Status: Full-time

Salary Grade: 5

Position Purpose

Windsor-Essex is embarking on one of the most exciting chapters in its history with the formal approval to construct a new state-of-the-art acute care hospital for the region. The Fancsy Family Hospital will transform healthcare for the Windsor-Essex community for generations to come. The capital campaign for the Fancsy Family Hospital will be the largest fundraising effort in our community’s history.

Reporting to and working with the Manager, Philanthropy, the Donor Relations Specialist plays a key role on the Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation team, ensuring that the Foundation consistently exceeds donor expectations. The role fosters positive and long-term donor relationships that are critical to philanthropic support and will help build a culture of gratitude, inspiration and accountability by stewarding donors and by providing meaningful recognition programs, timely and impactful reports/communications, and engaging donor experiences and events. The Donor Relations Specialist develops and executes a range of integrated, consistent, and sustainable programs and processes that appropriately contribute to best-in-class donor experiences.

Key Responsibilities

• Personalized Recognition: Develop and implement customized recognition plans for donors, working closely with major gift officers to ensure alignment with Foundation standards.
• Physical Recognition: Design mock-ups and visuals for donors, coordinate the installation of physical recognition elements, and liaise with vendors to ensure timely, high-quality outcomes.
• Stewardship Reports: Oversee the creation and delivery of stewardship reports, donor communications, and compelling donor story features.
• Strategic Organization: Maintain accurate donor listings, uphold a detailed stewardship calendar, and ensure all deadlines are met.
• Innovative Storytelling: Lead the production of Donor Spotlight stories for digital platforms and other communications, collaborating with the Marketing and Communications team.
• Accuracy & Compliance: Review and verify gift documentation, donor listings, and recognition materials for accuracy and adherence to agreements.
• Recognition Displays: Manage updates to the donor wall and digital display, ensuring accurate records and effective vendor coordination.
• Acknowledgment Letters: Draft personalized acknowledgment and stewardship letters that meaningfully convey donor impact and gratitude.

DONOR STEWARDSHIP & IMPACT REPORTING (45%)

• Develop and execute a robust calendar of donor communications including regular, in-depth stewardship reports and the production of in-person and virtual engagement events to support capital campaign and other fundraising goals.
• Responsible for the creation, accuracy, timeliness and quality of a wide variety of donor relations and stewardship communications, including personal communications, event collateral, as well as custom and targeted impact reports that convey to donors the impact of their giving.
• Lead collaborative development of custom stewardship and engagement plans for pacesetting campaign donors by providing direct value-added service to relationship mangers.
• Accountable for the information gathering associated with donor stewardship and impact reporting process.
• Create new and/or enhanced impact reporting tools and suite of standardized templates with accompanying process documentation to ensure quality, accuracy and uniformity of reporting by multiple users.
• Establish and manage information-tracking processes regarding acknowledgement, recognition, ongoing communications and continued cultivation of past and current donors to enhance their relationship with donors and increase the likelihood of continued contributions.

DONOR ENGAGEMENT & RECOGNITION (45%)

• Donor Events & Strategic Touchpoints

o Identify and develop inspiring donor engagement opportunities to strategically support pacesetting donor engagement and prospecting.

o Plan and implement virtual and in-person events and other opportunities (including info sessions, donor appreciation events, cultivation trips, facility tours, and other gatherings) to identify specific donor interests and deepen their connection to the hospital.
o Plan and execute flawless events, including volunteer recruitment and coordination, project management and post-mortem evaluation.

o Plan and implement impactful gift announcements, groundbreaking events, receptions and other campaign events, as appropriate.

o Develop strategies for virtual donor focused events, as well as digital engagement opportunities.
o Evaluate events (internal and external) and provide recommendations based on ROI and alignment with campaign and other fundraising goals.

• Giving Circles

o Design and facilitate year-round giving circles and programs that offer members the opportunity to participate in meaningful, impactful philanthropy and connect them to the work of the new hospital and maximize their support.

o Conceptualize, plan and deliver events and communications designed to enhance membership growth and retention, as well as alignment with campaign and other fundraising priorities.

o Lead donor recognition and engagement for circle members to ensure this cohort of donors receives timely and personal thanks and appreciation, appropriate impact reporting, as well as opportunities to engage with hospital leadership and physician champions.

o Monitor and evaluate to ensure alignment with best practices.
o Cultivate and solicit giving circles’ internal and external champions.

• Recognition & Naming

o Implement a thoughtful and sustainable donor recognition plan to meet the current and future philanthropic goals of the foundation.

o Develop, update and track donor recognition and naming opportunities for the new hospital and current sites (physical and non-physical assets) and work with the Executive Director to obtain approval and presentation in a timely manner.

o Ensure donor recognition practices for the current sites as well as the new hospital align with campaign and fundraising objectives, as well as industry best practices.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT & OTHER (10%)

• Operationalize Donor Recognition Plan, including timely and consistent gift acknowledgment, impactful donor appreciation and stewardship, and meaningful recognition.

• Monitor, assess, update and develop policies and processes to improve Donor Recognition procedures, reports, tools, and controls in accordance with established guidelines and policies. Ensure policies and procedures are followed to provide consistency and integrity.

• Evaluate impact reports, events, projects, email and digital communications and other key outputs via benchmarks and metrics and adjust course as needed.

• Maintain accurate, up-to-date Raiser’s Edge records of donor stewardship activity (including giving clubs and other recognition elements).

• Support the timely resolution of donor relations and stewardship-based inquiries through research, problem solving, and communication with relevant staff members and community partners.

• Provide coordinated project management for special donor relations initiatives and projects.

• Stay abreast of industry trends in stewardship and seek to identify new methods which can be implemented. Ensure donor recognition program aligns with sector best practices and comply with fundraising policies, goals, and procedures.

• Responsibilities may shift over time, as priorities evolve, and based on an annual assessment.

Skills & Capabilities

• Analytical with an exceptional ability to pay attention to detail, great organizational skills, and high-level accuracy in completing complex tasks.

• Ability to work quickly and under pressure; Demonstrated ability to deliver quality outcomes on time and with limited supervision.

• Results-oriented and forward-thinking; able to anticipate and identify needs of internal and external stakeholders and proactively and creatively explore alternate approaches, identify problems, and seek solutions.

• Ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise considerable judgment, tact, and discretion while working with sensitive and confidential information.

• Extremely strong relational and teamwork skills with ability to work proactively, collegially, and constructively with others, both within the team and across the organization and beyond.

• Ability to be adaptive and work in a complex and ever-changing environment.

• Demonstrated knowledge and experience working with donor stewardship and giving circles is highly desirable.

• Excellent interpersonal skills with a strong sense of diplomacy and professional integrity

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• 5+ years of experience in donor relations and conceptualization and execution of donor-centric cultivation and stewardship events and experiences.

• Proven track record in successful fundraising communications for major donors and/or annual appeals.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with prior experience in crafting bespoke donor correspondence, impact reports and other stewardship collateral (such as videos).

• High comfort level with data management, including list-management and sophisticated relational databases (e.g., Raisers Edge) and preferably other emerging donor-communications platforms (e.g., Mailchimp).

• Demonstrated understanding of the donor cycle and knowledge in the cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of major gift donors.

• This position requires occasional attendance/participation at events in the evening or on weekends.

Contributes to improve outcomes of safety, increased quality and delivery of care to reduce injuries, near misses, complications, infection and mortality rates by:

• Maintaining and promoting a safe and clean working environment for all employees, students, visitors, patients/clients, family members and physicians and fulfilling the duties of workers under the Occupational Health and Safety Act

• Having the right to be part of the process of identifying and resolving workplace health and safety concerns. This right is expressed through worker membership on joint health and safety committees, or through worker health and safety representatives.

• Having the right to know about any potential hazards to which they may be exposed. This means the right to be trained and to have information on machinery, equipment, working conditions, processes and hazardous substances.

• Having the right to refuse work that they believe is dangerous to either their own health and safety or that of another worker. Members of the joint health and safety committee who are "certified" have the right to stop work that is dangerous to any worker

• Reporting and documenting any observed risks or hazards to management personnel and taking immediate corrective action whenever safe and feasible

• Acting in accordance with hospital patient safety policies and programs

• Responding to safety risks to clients and takes action in situations where client safety and well-being are compromised.

• Reporting any observed risks to the appropriate authority whose actions or behaviours towards clients are unsafe or unprofessional

Enhances quality of care and contributes to the development of a client centered, team-based, learning environment by:

• consistently contributing as a member of the program team and practicing the values of Windsor Regional Hospital;
• participating as a member of project teams or committees as appropriate;
• participating in activities of organizational renewal and development;
• sharing expertise and knowledge with other team members and other teams throughout the organization;
• demonstrating respectful, courteous, caring attitudes in all interactions;

maintaining and fostering confidentiality in all aspects of written and verbal communication;

Windsor Regional Hospital is an equal opportunity employer. In accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, upon request, accommodation will be provided by WRH throughout the recruitment, selection and/or assessment process to applicants with disabilities.