Development Specialist #2025659

World Relief • Durham, NC

6d • Hybrid

About The Position

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization whose mission is to boldly engage the world’s greatest crises in partnership with the church. The organization was founded in the aftermath of World War II to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs of war-torn Europe. Since then, for 80 years, across 100 countries, World Relief has partnered with local churches and communities to build a world where families thrive and communities flourish. Today, organizational programming focuses on humanitarian and disaster response, community strengthening and resilience, and refugee & immigrant services and advocacy. World Relief seeks a full-time Development Specialist for the Durham office. This position furthers the mission of World Relief by cultivating and expanding partnerships with current and prospective individual donors, churches, foundations, grantors, businesses and others to fund World Relief Durham’s privately funded programs for refugees and other immigrants.

Requirements

• Mature and personal Christian faith
• Committed to the mission, vision, and values of World Relief
• Desire to serve and empower the Church to impact vulnerable communities
• Able to affirm and/or acknowledge World Reliefs Core Beliefs, Statement of Faith, Christian Identity and National Association of Evangelicals' For the Health of The Nation document
• Exceptional writing, communication, and organizational skills.
• Strong self-starter and ability to work autonomously while prioritizing within deadlines.
• Strong team player, willingness to learn and ask for help and a self-starter.
• Two+ years of development and fundraising experience, including donor relationship management, or transferable experience (such as sales, account management, etc.).
• Proficient in Microsoft Office suite and database management.
• Valid driver’s license and vehicle required.

Nice To Haves

• Certification or continuing education in grant writing, proposal development and/or fundraising a strong plus.
• Cross-cultural experience.
• CRM experience preferred.
• Experience managing others preferred.
• Comfort with public speaking.

Responsibilities

• Lead in the creation and implementation of an annual fundraising strategic plan to accomplish agency-wide fundraising and business development goals.
• Lead in the creation and implementation of the long-range organizational development plan and development calendar, establishing achievable deadlines for all staff on the fundraising team.
• Supervise staff on the fundraising team (grants coordinator, grant writers, etc.) toward the achievement of World Relief Durham’s fundraising and development goals.
• Engage in regular meetings with the Church and Community Engagement Manager, Executive Director, World Relief’s United States Advancement Department, and program managers to review fundraising goals and clearly establish roles for shared fundraising activities and events, including making initial contacts, grant writing, donor reports, etc.
• Serve as the primary liaison between World Relief Durham and World Relief’s United States Advancement Department to coordinate fundraising campaigns, manage incoming fundraising requests, and resolve miscategorized funding.
• Maintain a thorough understanding of WRD programs and projects in order to communicate these to donors and inspire their partnership.
• Collect and maintain internal communications and records on activities, contacts and proposals acquired through meetings, phone calls, emails, and donor management software.
• Maintain donor data in the organization’s database, confirming that expected awards appear in World Relief Durham records, deposited checks are assigned correctly, fundraiser relationships are assigned correctly, etc.
• Actively seek and develop new relationships with individual donors, churches, business/corporate donors, and philanthropic foundations.
• Understand and effectively communicate the mission and vision of World Relief to a wide range of donor constituencies to reach or exceed annual private fundraising goals.
• Speak to church and community groups about the mission and work of World Relief Durham, as directed by the Church and Community Engagement Manager.
• Manage relationships and donor care through personalized gift acknowledgements, new donor communications touchpoints, one-on-one meetings, annual thank-a-thon coordination, etc.
• Organize and/or support events that increase WRD’s visibility in the community.
• Work with the Church and Community Engagement Manager, staff fundraising team, and the volunteer Development Team to plan and execute fundraising and outreach events throughout the year, such as our 5k and impact picnic.
• Collaborate with the marketing staff on the local and home office levels to develop marketing and communications collateral that enhances WRD’s visibility, highlights program impact for donors, and supports overall fundraising goals.
• Maintain and expand WRD’s portfolio of private donors, prospective donors, foundation officers, and key community relationships as part of a coordinated effort to raise support; as appropriate, pass leads to the Executive Director, Church and Community Engagement Manager, or other members of the staff fundraising team for outreach.
• In collaboration with the Church and Community Engagement Manager and Executive Director, develop quarterly and annual work plans and metrics to measure success.
• Maintain a working knowledge of grant writing skills and resources. When needed, share in grant writing responsibilities.
• Supervise the Grants Coordinator in seeking out foundation and local government grant opportunities that contribute to WRD’s financial stability.
• Supervise the creation and execution of the Grants Coordinator’s work plan, including generating letters of interest, completing applications, meeting deadlines, maintaining communication with program and foundation staff, and submitting needed reports.
• Collaborate with Grants Coordinator for top-of-funnel donor acquisition.
• As directed by the Church and Community Engagement Manager, collaborate with World Relief’s Director of Strategic Partnerships and related networks of private donors to raise more local funds.
• Other tasks as assigned.
• Monitoring daily work activities.
• Tracking and approving timesheets including approving time off.
• Monitoring performance including entering goals, progress check-ins, and weekly or bi-weekly check-ins.
• Documenting performance concerns.
• Entering staff promotions, transitions, and separations in HRIS within required time frame.
• Lead staff in a manner consistent with Christian values, including praying with staff, leading devotionals, and fostering a Christian environment.

Benefits

• Competitive benefits package
• Employee discount program for full-time, Regular, employees
• Gold-level Cigna Healthy Workforce Designation for exceeding the core components of our well-being program including leadership and culture, program foundations and execution, and whole person health

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees