Senior Manager, Events

Position Associate Director, Events

Status Full-time

Department Development

Location Norwalk, CT

About SeriousFun Children's Network

Founded by Paul Newman, SeriousFun Children’s Network is a global community of 30 independently run camps and programs across five continents. Together, these camps provide transformative experiences — always free of charge — for children with serious illnesses and their families, reaching more than 150,000 individuals annually.

Each camp and program is locally led and tailored to its community, while connected through the

global Network for shared learning, support, and standards of excellence.

The SeriousFun Support Center, based in East Norwalk, CT, is a team of 33 staff who provide

services that ensure program and operational excellence, create awareness, and support the

continued growth of the Network worldwide.

We are committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion by valuing the experiences and

voices of all who carry out our mission.

To continue this mission, we are seeking a talented finance professional to join our Support Center

team.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Chief Development Officer, the Associate Director of Events is responsible for

creating the short and long-term strategic vision for SeriousFun Children’s Network events

programming which complements the overall fundraising strategies.

This position oversees planning, budgeting, and execution of events, creating donor engagement

opportunities for existing event donors, and outreach to potential event donors.

The Associate Director of Events, in coordination with the Development team, develops and oversees

identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship for event donors to ensure event donor

acquisition, retention, upgrade, and transition to other revenue streams if that meets donor needs,

while also managing and ensuring implementation of appropriate back-office systems to support

successful implementation.

Individuals at the Associate Director level at SeriousFun Children’s Network are expected to:

• Lead their department and ensure it is high performing.
• Lead and contribute to the implementation of departmental strategic initiatives and business process improvements.
• Coordinate, collaborate, and work directly with other Development and other staff as well as senior leadership.
• Engage and interact with camp and partner program staff, donors, third-party vendors, partners and/or service providers to provide support while best-representing the organization.
• Work well independently, as well as proactively and effectively manage-up and across

within the organization.

• Set priorities for, supervise, and coach more junior team members.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Events Strategy

• Develop a SeriousFun short-, mid-, and long-term event strategy designed to include peer-to-peer, virtual (if appropriate), and face-to-face events.
• Work with Chief Development Officer to create strategy for, and execute events throughout the year, such as annual events to supplement gala, which may include additional special events, cultivation events, and other one-off events.
• Develop annual calendar of events to meet fundraising and donor cultivation needs.
• Ensure team engages, recruits, stewards, and manages relationships with volunteers and customers to successfully execute fundraising plans and achieve revenue goals.
• Lead and manage gala budget, planning and solicitation of support through the months leading to the event to maximum support of the galas (via ticket purchases, tapping into networks, auction donations, and/or other avenues of support.)
• Work in collaboration with SeriousFun Board and camps to support and develop gala leadership.
• Liaise with members of the SeriousFun board and leadership staff to determine event/galas pricing structure and income projections and event implementation to facilitate successful event planning.
• Work with the appropriate Event/Gala volunteer committees to support event implementation.
• Lead event implementation with collaboration from Corporate and Individual Giving teams leads to coordinate corporate and individual involvement with SeriousFun events.
• Oversee all logistics for events including venues, vendors, consultants, etc.
• Work with Marketing & Communications and external designers to develop printed and digital invitations and other materials.

Fundraising Support

• Participate with the Development team leadership to ensure event strategies and objectives are integrated in strategic development department decisions.
• Take accountability for the team's achievement of significant revenue targets for a portfolio of priority relationships, account management, fundraising activities, and events.
• Ensure the implementation of best practices for revenue growth, adjusting to customer-experience survey results and feedback; drive and encourage creativity and innovation resulting in new revenue opportunities.

Perform other responsibilities as needed to support the development team and organization.

Key Competencies

• Job-Specific Skills: Demonstrates strong technical accounting knowledge and nonprofit finance expertise.
• Authority & Accountability: Provides direction for processes, projects, and staff; accountable for results.
• Critical Thinking & Decision-Making: Solves problems with sound judgment in complex situations.
• Planning & Organizing: Defines tasks and milestones; manages resources effectively.
• Interpersonal Skills: Builds productive relationships, collaborates respectfully, and communicate inclusively.
• Adaptability: Adjusting one’s own behavior to work efficiently and effectively in light of new information, changing situations, and/or different environments.
• Prudence and Discretion: Using good judgement and taking great care in fulfilling one's responsibilities and working with others; knowing when, what, how and to whom to communicate regarding sensitive information.
• Leadership: Setting a positive example, encouraging and supporting collaboration and teamwork, exhibiting humility, helping others achieve success, being honest and trustworthy.
• Management: Mentoring, coaching and providing feedback, direction, development opportunities, and positive reinforcement to employees. Inspiring commitment, providing vision, promoting and ensuring alignment with organizational goals and values

Organizational Values:

• Inclusion - As a global network, we welcome and celebrate diverse voices and perspectives, and create communities and experiences based on inclusion and belonging.
• Possibility - We create opportunities for everyone impacted by our mission to explore their unique talents and abilities, discover their own potential, and imagine what’s possible.
• Collaboration - We know we are stronger together. Purposeful collaboration and knowledge-sharing across our Network results in greater efficiency, reach, and impact.
• Innovation - Inspired by our founder Paul Newman, we continuously innovate and evolve to meet the needs of the children and families we serve and positively impact the world around us.
• Safety - Safety and security are cornerstones of SeriousFun’s work. As a Network, we create environments and experiences that prioritize the medical, physical, and emotional wellbeing of all.
• Fun - We take our work seriously so children and families can focus on having fun.

Minimum Qualifications & Job-Specific Skills

• Education: Bachelor's Degree (e.g. BA, BS) or equivalent
• Years of Relevant Work Experience: 5-7 years Proven skills in:
• Ability to cultivate and maintain good interpersonal relationships across all levels of the organization.
• Excellent influencing, negotiating, communicating, project-planning, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Proficiency in CRM systems and data management.

Preferred Qualifications & Job-Specific Skills

• Experience in working in NGO’s or other non-profit organizations, particularly those with federated/networked structures.

Salary Range: $80,000–$95,000, based on qualifications and experience.

As part of our commitment to equity and fair pay practices, offers are not negotiated. Our

transparent pay bands ensure consistency and fairness for employees of all identities and

backgrounds.

To apply for this position, please submit your resume, and cover letter and complete an application

here:

https://form.jotform.com/humanresources620/seriousfun-events