Strategic Advisor for Individual Giving

Job Title: Strategic Advisor for Individual Giving 

Reports To: Executive Director 

Location: Remote

Status: Contractor, one year 

Salary: $75,000 - $80,000 DOE 

Description of Mycelium Youth Network 

Mycelium Youth Network prepares frontline youth for hopeful and imaginative leadership in climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience through hands-on ancestral approaches and STEAM that emphasize stewardship and relationship-building. We support youth to reduce eco-anxiety by promoting all the ways in which they can positively impact their local and regional environments. 

Position Overview 

The Individual Giving Coordinator is responsible for fundraising efforts with individual donors, as well as developing and maintaining strategic relationships with external partners, public relations, and communications. They will be responsible for cultivating compelling narratives about Mycelium’s work; communicating about topics like environmental justice, racial justice, and liberatory education in order to garner attention, support, and resources for our growing organization; and support in creating and leading individual donor giving campaigns across a range of platforms for fundraising and community building purposes. 

INDIVIDUAL GIVING RESPONSIBILITIES (70%) 

Individual Giving Strategy and Leadership: 

• With support from the Executive Director and the development team, develop annual fundraising strategy for individual giving that aligns with overall Mycelium programming, including stretch goals 
• Participates in overall planning and execution of Mycelium’s major gift fundraising
• Prepares research on each prospect to include wealth engine rating, giving history to Mycelium and other organizations that are similarly aligned, and capacity
• Identify, cultivate, and solicit prospects for major gifts and bequests for the purpose of supporting programming, operations, and site-based capital improvements as evidenced in our Youth Leadership Council program 
• With assistance of our Executive Director, Program & Grants Manager, and a select group of the Board, schedules monthly donors and prospects visits for cultivation and solicitation purposes. 
• Based on research, recommends solicitation strategy and prepares background information for each visit and generates timely and thorough follow-up correspondence and call reports 
• Manages a comprehensive cultivation tracking system for all major and planned gift donors and prospects – both in the donor database in Salesforce and in google drive
• Identify ways to increase the cultivation and involvement of donors in visits, meetings, and activities as appropriate 
• Prepares major gift proposals in response to inquiries and/or cultivation of major donors and prospects 
• Establish and maintain respectful, supportive and compassionate relationships with staff, volunteers, and participants 
• Support the Executive Director and Board of Directors members in the creation of a Giving Circle to increase donors at a multitude of levels and through all aspects of the gift cycle 
• Develop relationships with assigned donors and prospects through in-person & virtual meetings, as well as written communication 
• Lead individual donor cultivation and research for the development team
• Lead in the creation of an annual fundraiser 
• Support Executive Director in national donor cultivation through the ED’s public speaking and national engagement work 
• Support in the creation of a strategic plan for Board engagement around individual giving

COMMUNICATIONS RESPONSIBILITIES (30%) 

Communications Strategy 

• Develop overall communications strategy and workplan with Mycelium leadership and staff to promote our programming and increase our influence 

Content Creation 

• Support the Executive Director and Mycelium staff in securing public speaking engagements and support staff with strategic development of speech/presentation content
• Create engaging and memorable fundraising materials 
• Oversee production and organization of all communications collateral, including videos, social media graphics, and materials used with donors 
• Pitch to reporters, and engage with media, and build relationships with local, regional, and national journalists towards partnerships and in service of the organization 

Communications Implementation 

• Manage the creation of our monthly social media calendar for our platforms: Twitter, Facebook/Instagram, & TikTok 
• Oversee the production of a monthly email newsletter highlighting campaign work and other updates for our general audience and a quarterly newsletter for our donors
• Oversee the maintenance of our website and update content on monthly or bimonthly basis (in collaboration with program staff) 
• Organize a story bank and collection of audio, video, and photo documentation in collaboration with the development team to meet community and donor needs 

TEAM RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Participate in staff meetings, internal training, and retreats 
• Along with other staff, contribute to occasional event planning support and implementation 
• Support “all hands on deck” culture in which other staff request active participation from all staff during critical moments of work which may include attending community mobilizations, participating in voter outreach, making grassroots fundraising asks or other activities as needed 

Technical Skills: 

• Google Ads, Analytics, and GMB 
• Wix or other backend website coding experience 
• Digital Fundraising Tools (Go Fund Me, GiveLively etc.) 
• Donation Platforms (Donorbox, Paypal, Venmo, Stripe, Meta, Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable etc.) 
• CRM Systems 
• Project Management Tools (Trello, Asana etc.) 
• Data Analysis & Reporting 
• Photo & Video editing experience preferred 

Qualifications 

• Committed to racial justice, environmental justice, liberatory education, and movement-building 
• 3+ years of experience in individual donor solicitation 
• 5+ years of experience in communications 
• 3+ years of experience in a supervisory role 
• Excellent writing, editing, interviewing, presentation, problem-solving, and project-management skills 
• Ability to lead projects balancing self-management and self-direction with feedback from supervisor 
• Well-organized and able to manage multiple projects 
• Demonstrated commitment to environmental social justice, anti-oppression work, youth leadership, and LGBTQ+ rights 

Equity-Centered Employer 

We do not approach our work from the mentality that we need to ‘save’ communities. We live and work alongside our youth using our collective ancestral traditions and practices along with the best of scientific thinking in order to radically improve our community from within. It is our firm belief that our youth should see themselves reflected at all levels of leadership as a model for the leaders they can become. Hence, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities. 

Benefits information: This is a contracted position. No benefits are offered.