Donor Engagement Specialist

JOB TITLE: Donor Engagement Specialist

LOCATION: Remote position. Candidates must have a personal office location suitable for work purposes, with broadband internet access, access to a local post office, and must work from a city/state location approved by Xerces as their assigned work location.

COMPENSATION: $28.11 per hour.

STATUS & SCHEDULE: Full-Time, hourly, non-exempt position, scheduled to work ~ 40 hours/week.

JOB START DATE: September 1, 2025

APPLICATION DEADLINE: June 27, 2025

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

All applications must be submitted via our application website at: xerces.org/jobs

Xerces provides accommodations for the job application process if needed. If you need an accommodation to complete the job application process, please email reasonable.accomodation@xerces.org with your specific request.

JOIN US!

Come join a growing team of professionals at the Xerces Society who are dedicated to protecting some of the world’s most important animals. We are seeking candidates experienced in planned giving and major donor stewardship to help us grow our fundraising.

At Xerces, we harness the knowledge of scientists and the enthusiasm of the public to implement conservation programs. We take action by helping farms and public agencies develop conservation plans for pollinators and beneficial insects, producing ground-breaking publications on insect conservation, training thousands of farmers and land managers to protect and manage habitat for beneficial insects, protecting endangered species and their habitat, and engaging the public to raise awareness about invertebrates found on farms, forests, prairies, deserts, streams, wetlands, towns and cities. Our methods focus on habitat conservation planning, education, scientific analysis, advocacy, and applied research to conserve invertebrates, such as bees, butterflies, mollusks, and fireflies.

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:

Reporting to the Membership Director, and working closely with all staff on the membership team as well as the Executive Director and other senior conservation staff, the Donor Engagement Specialist will play an active role in supporting donor cultivation, stewardship, and engagement. This position will focus specifically on major donors and planned giving prospects with the long-term goal of building Xerces fundraising capacity.

This position will require the successful candidate to connect with donors (both virtually and in person) to cultivate and solicit planned gifts and major gifts. The Donor Engagement Specialist will also facilitate communication and meetings between major donors and the Executive Director as well as select other senior staff.

Working with leadership the Donor Engagement Specialist will help design and implement Xerces planned giving strategy. This will include developing goals, designing promotional materials, conversion targets, work plans to follow, and evaluating success in this area.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Respond to donors in a timely, professional, and courteous manner with accurate information. We use shared team email addresses and all of our communications with donors are shared among the team so that other team members are kept in the loop and can provide back-up assistance to donors when needed. This includes providing phone coverage (answering phones and returning voicemails, and following up if needed) for our main line.
• Understand the fundamentals of 501(c)(3) nonprofit donations and be able to guide donors in the donation process and understand the basic rules for giving including restricted, donor advised giving, IRA giving, and stock gifts.
• Understand the fundamentals of planned giving and be able to guide donors in the planned giving process.
• Act as the primary staff connection for major donors (900+) and bequest committed donors (200+). Actively steward these individuals by designing ways to thank, engage, and open lines of communication with them. This can include a mix of writing, calling and one-on-one meetings with donors. Set target actions to complete on a weekly and monthly basis. Maintain excellent notes on these activities for reporting, and determine methods to share and evaluate the effectiveness of this work.
• Work to convert 600+ bequest hand-raisers to bequest committed donors over time.
• Develop strategies and execute marketing plans to promote planned gifts among Xerces constituents through mail, surveys, web, e-mail, and print media.
• Participate in major and planned gift donor events for Xerces, including planning, execution, and speaking roles, as required.
• Plan and facilitate the scheduling of cultivation engagements between donors and key Xerces Senior Staff.
• Ability to complete data entry. Data must be accurate well organized. This includes promptly documenting all contacts with donors and other essential donor information in Salesforce.
• Provide regular reports to leadership on prospect management and fundraising results.
• The ability to travel to serve donors nationally.
• Understand and follow all department donation processing and data entry procedures.
• Other duties as assigned.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE: REQUIRED

• Exceptional attention to detail and ability to follow through with actions
• Excellent organization skills and ability to manage a wide scope of work, meet deadlines, prioritize tasks, deliver only the highest quality results, and implement sound solutions when problems arise
• Persuasive and professional communication with excellent interpersonal, over-the-phone and written communication skills, building trust and rapport with donors
• Quality public speaking skills with the ability to give clear and engaging presentations
• Experience working with a donor database/CRM, and experience keeping extremely accurate data
• Knowledge and experience with planned giving fundraising
• Knowledge and experience working with major donors
• Knowledge and experience with donor stewardship and the ability to move individuals through a process of developing deeper appreciation for the mission of an organization and increasing their giving
• Knowledge and experience with designing and creating promotional/marketing materials and have sample materials to share with the hiring team
• Ability and eagerness to work collaboratively and effectively with colleagues in the team and across departments, ability to work with diverse teams and constituents in a respectful, equitable, and inclusive fashion
• Demonstrated successful project management ability
• Extremely dependable, motivated, and ability to develop work plans and work independently on assigned tasks
• Ability to understand the importance of maintaining confidentiality
• Ability to work independently and design, execute and evaluate work that promotes and increases organizational funding.
• Excellent computer skills, including strong familiarity with the following programs: MS Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint), Google Suite, Adobe Acrobat, and general internet usage.
• Mid-level Excel skills, including the ability to complete mail merges, conditional formatting, and sorting and filtering. This job requires regularly sorting large spreadsheets of data.

PREFERRED

• Experience with Salesforce database
• Experience with Canva design program or other design software
• Knowledge about and dedication to environmental conservation, and issues related to invertebrate conservation.
• Strong cultural competence and experience with diverse communities
• Experience working closely with high net-worth individuals, families, and professional advisors
• Knowledge of estate planning techniques and principles

QUALIFICATIONS:

REQUIRED

• More than 4 years of experience working in the non-profit sector in a fundraising role
• Experience discussing legacy giving or estate planning with donors (or clients)
• Experience cultivating relationships with major donors
• Experience developing and implementing multi-media marketing
• Valid driver’s license in the United States and a motor vehicle records check prior to employment allowing employee to be insured under Xerces corporate liability insurance. Essential Functions of this position require the employee to drive a vehicle, and an offer of Employment will be contingent on this record check.
• Must have current authorization to work in the United States with any employer. Visa sponsorship is not provided for this position.
• Be able to receive mail and packages including office supplies, boxes of thank you cards, stamps, brochures and other materials for donors, stamps, etc.

PREFERRED

• Degree or certificate in nonprofit management

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

Be able to perform the following with reasonable breaks and/or reasonable accommodations:

• Handwrite donor thank you cards and notes, up to 100 per week. Handwriting must be neat and legible and proper snail mail formatting followed. A sample will be required by the hiring team.
• Operate a computer and other office productivity machinery, such as a telephone, copy machine, and computer printer for periods of 1-8 hours.
• Be able to travel to a local post office to deliver mail at least once per week.
• Ability to participate in donor events, including occasional evenings and weekends, and occasionally travel overnight when necessary for donor meetings throughout the country, team meetings or educational conferences
• Seldom to Occasionally lift and move supplies, materials, equipment weighing up to 20 pounds (for example boxes of thank you cards and other office supplies).

BENEFITS: This position includes a generous benefits package including; thirteen paid holidays, paid time off accrued starting at a rate of 1.73 hours for every 30 hours of pay (15 days per year for a 40 hour/week schedule), medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage, the option to participate in a pre-tax flexible spending account for medical and dependent care expenses, short-term disability insurance where not provided under state law, long-term disability insurance, participation in a 401k retirement program with employer contribution match upon meeting eligibility requirements, and a flexible work environment.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information on the Xerces Society and our programs, please see our website: xerces.org

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

All applications must be submitted via our application website at: xerces.org/jobs

TERMS: The Xerces Society is an at-will employer. Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

MUTUAL ARBITRATION: Xerces policies require that employees accept a binding mutual arbitration agreement and process for dispute resolution as an alternative to a jury/trial process. Acceptance of the agreement is a condition of employment, and candidates are offered a position with a minimum of 72 hours to

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

The Xerces Society is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or disability.

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