Company description

At The Food Project, we believe that everyone has the right to fresh, healthy, affordable food. Our goal is to transform the food system into a more just, community-engaged model that supports food security for all while connecting diverse communities to each other and to the land.

Since our founding in 1991, The Food Project has grown into a nationally recognized, non-profit organization that works at the intersection of youth, food, and community. Young people are the driving force of The Food Project and work on our farms and with community members to realize the right to food that nourishes our communities and the planet we share.

Each year, we employ 140 teenagers in this vital work on 70 acres of urban and suburban farmland across eastern Massachusetts where they grow 200,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables and use this food to enact innovative food system initiatives that increase access to fresh, healthy food for all.

We focus this work in the two communities we are most deeply connected to: Boston’s Dudley neighborhood and the City of Lynn.

Our Mission
The Food Project’s mission is to create a thoughtful and productive community of youth and adults from diverse backgrounds who work together to build a sustainable food system. Our community produces healthy food for residents of the city and suburbs, provides youth leadership opportunities, and inspires and supports others to create change in their own communities.

Our Vision

We envision a world where youth are active leaders, diverse communities feel connected to the land and each other, and everyone has access to fresh, local, healthy, affordable food.

Job description

The Director of Engagement & Stewardship will undertake the development, execution and maintenance of The Food Project’s individual giving program. The director will develop and implement individual fundraising strategies, including retention plans, goals, KPIs, data analysis, annual events, acknowledgment processes and sponsorship requests. This position will also supervise the Events & Volunteers Manager.

Responsibilities

Fundraising, donor cultivation, retention and stewardship (70%)

• Collaborate with Sr. Director of Advancement to establish annual strategy, key quarterly performance indicators (KPIs), and goals
• Maintain donor database to support donor stewardship and cultivation plans, gift acknowledgment & donor management processes
• Responsible for forecasting individual donor fundraising goals, in collaboration with Sr. Director ofAdvancement to to ensure financial stability and meeting fundraising goals
• Manage operational budgets, review financial information, and adjust expenditures to promote and meet
  fundraising goals/profitability in collaboration with Sr. Director of Advancement
• Participate in Development Committee Meetings
• Strategize with leadership around donor portfolios
• Build clear strategy and expectations for staff, youth and board for engaging with Culture of Philanthropy
• Conduct analysis of donors and member data to identify patterns, trends and opportunities for improvement of engagement and build out subsequent implementation plans
• Design and implement Spring and Fall appeals

Event support & marketing (10%)

• Develop fundraising strategy for slate of annual events in collaboration with a cross-departmental events
• Collaborate and support Events & Volunteers Manager with event production to achieve fundraising and/or philanthropy goals
• Develop event invite lists in collaboration with the development and communication teams
• Collaborate and support the Annual Report to provide individual donor information

Staff supervision and collaboration (10%)

• Weekly check ins with development, events and communications teams
• Bi-Weekly meeting with Leadership Circle
• Supervisory with Senior Director of Advancement
• Weekly supervisory meeting with Events & Volunteers Manager

Organizational Health (10%)

• Relationship and Trust Building Engagement. Includes and is not limited to the following: Staff Retreats, All Staff Meetings, Real Talk, Peacemaking Circle, Events, Trainings, Reflection Activities, Cooking Together, Dialogue Space,etc.

• Intersectional Work. Includes and is not limited to the following: Interview Committees, Recruitment, Onboarding, Orientation, Training, Culture of Philanthropy, Farm Support, Youth Support, Serve & Grow Support, etc.
• Continuous Learning. Includes and is not limited to the following: Professional Development Plans, Mentorship (internal/external), etc.

Qualifications:

We’re looking for an individual who is excited about The Food Project’s mission, and who is motivated to help us engage others more deeply in our organization through events and volunteerism. Someone who has project management experience and skills related to community and/or alumni engagement, hospitality or donor relations is likely to be a good fit for this role.

Preparation, Knowledge, Previous Experience

• At least 5 years of relevant experience.
• At least 2 years of experience supervising staff.
• Experience working in multicultural community settings.

Skills, Abilities, Competencies

• Exceptional written and oral communication skills
• Exceptional project management skills, well-organized, and strong attention to detail.
• Ability to manage time across competing priorities and meet deadlines.
• High degree of professionalism and a willingness to accept constructive feedback, including in the preparation of written materials.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to work independently.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to work collaboratively, building effective working relationships.
• Experience with nonprofit fundraising and/or community engagement in mission-driven work preferred.
• Commitment to contributing to an overall organizational culture of learning and well-being.
• Ability to balance attention to process, results, and relationships.
• Proficient in Google applications (Drive, Docs, Sheets, Gmail), Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Zoom.
• Comfort using Salesforce or a comparable CRM, project management systems (Asana), and Slack.
• Deep commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Don't have every qualification? We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organization. If you are excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. We anticipate supporting your professional development.

Location & Schedule

This role maintains a minimum of three days per week in our offices — one day in each office — with flexibility built in around site visits and meetings with donors. Each of our three offices is accessible by public transportation. However, our events are based on farms, and you must be able to provide your own transportation in order to travel to events, as needed, in Boston, Lynn, Wenham, and Lincoln. The vast majority of our in-person events are scheduled between April and November. There are occasional evening and weekend responsibilities.

Compensation

this position is: salaried, $75,000 - $100,000

Application instructions

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Deadline

no deadline