Specialist, Stewardship

Accelerating Impactful Ocean Action

ABOUT OCEAN WISE

• Through deep knowledge and investment, Ocean Wise creates impact in the water that protects and restores the ocean. Ocean Wise is working to scale game-changing solutions that fight climate change and rewild the ocean through seaforestation;
• feed people by scaling demand for sustainably sourced seafood; clean the seas by working to reduce plastics headed to the water;

save whales from being hit by ships; and grow a pipeline of ocean leaders through global education programs. With a focus on meaningful action, Ocean Wise is an exciting organization to work for.

With deep experience in the field of ocean conservation, strong corporate partnerships, and support from everyday citizens, Ocean Wise is taking a critical moment to create lasting change for the ocean.

Ocean Wise's core values - Knowledge, Integrity, Extreme Collaboration, Impact, & Optimism - guide our highest priorities.

These values are at the heart of how we do our work and serve as cultural cornerstones exemplified by all members of our team.

Ocean Wise is at an important moment of growth and is building a first-class fundraising operation to support expansion across Canada, into the United States, and around the world.

• With an ambition of raising $45 million annually by 2030, Ocean Wise is seeking a Specialist, Stewardship with a strong understanding of the landscape of philanthropic giving for the environment;
• a track record of identifying, stewarding and closing significant philanthropic gifts; a network of prospects in Canada and / or the US;

and a passion for managing a dynamic team across annual giving, major gifts, and legacy giving.

ROLE SUMMARY

Reporting to the Vice-President, Philanthropy & Partnerships, and working in partnership with the directors and staff of the Philanthropy and Partnership team, the Specialist, Stewardship will play a key role in nurturing a culture of gratitude by establishing and implementing a meaningful donor recognition program, delivering impactful reports, and in creating engaging donor experiences across all of the various portfolios.

They will be responsible for a range of integrated, consistent, and sustainable programs and process that appropriately contribute to a best-in-class donor experience.

This new position will work in close collaboration with primary relationship managers, support teams and conservation leaders.

The ideal candidate is a builder, and is passionate about delivering excellent donor engagement that will inspire supporters to continue investing in the Ocean Wise mission.

The candidate is an experienced project manager, skilled communicator, meticulous in their attention to detail, and experienced with databases and the concept of management.

They model collaboration, creative thinking, a solutions-oriented approach, and systems thinking.

Ocean Wise is a remote-first organization with beautiful headquarters in downtown Vancouver. This position will be based in Vancouver, Canada with consideration for remote work in Toronto or Halifax, Canada.

This full-time position comes with excellent benefits including employer paid health, dental, vision, short / long term disability and life insurance for employees.

In addition to a generous paid time off policy and paid holidays, Ocean Wise also offers a generous matching opportunity for retirement accounts.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Donor Recognition & Stewardship Activities

• Ensure that Ocean Wise recognition policies and practices are current and reflect best practices in donor / supporter relations, address any gaps, and ensure that policies are followed with consistency and integrity.
• Identify and develop inspiring engagement opportunities for donors / supporters to strengthen engagement and prospecting.
• Drive the planning and implementation of flawless donor relations events, including coordination of supporting materials, production and strategizing to create excellent donor / supporter experiences.

Occasional collaboration with outside vendors or providers is also expected.

• Develop custom stewardship and engagement plans for major giving and top-level supporters, in collaboration with the appropriate Ocean Wise teams.
• Support primary relationship managers to ensure that donor / supporter / sponsor benefits are delivered and align with a, to be developed, donor recognition program.
• Maintain accurate records in central database and ensure that all gift agreement documentation is accessible to appropriate teams.

Donor Communications

• Create, along with the marketing and communications team, a wide variety of donor / supporter relations and stewardship communications, including but not limited to, event collateral, as well as custom and targeted reports that convey to donors the impact of their giving.
• working in collaboration with the communications team to express gratitude and demonstrate impact of donor support on Ocean Wise materials, including the annual report, blogs, and media releases.

Promote a culture of Philanthropy at Ocean Wise

Involve the appropriate ocean wise program staff, senior leaders and board members in thanking donors / supporters.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education and Experience

• Post-secondary education or an equivalent combination of education, training and experience. Further professional development training and experience is an asset.
• Minimum 4 years' experience in a fund development setting, with an emphasis on stewardship and donor relations responsibilities.
• Proven ability to plan, implement and coordinate with any outside vendors.
• Demonstrated success in writing a variety of donor correspondence, impact reports and other stewardship collateral.
• Experience working with a diverse array of stakeholders.

Skills

• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal).
• Ability to multitask and strong time management skills.
• High comfort level with data management, including list management and sophisticated relational databases (e.g., Razor's Edge, Salesforce) and preferably other emerging donor communications platforms (e.

g., MailChimp, Thank View).

• Resourceful and independent, but comfortable working with the framework of an integrated development program and team-oriented environment.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office suite of products, salesforce or similar databases.
• Creative, positive, team building approach with a strong donor in client service mindset.
• Knowledge of donor relations best practices.
• flexibility to work evenings and weekends on occasion. Some travel may be required.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

This position is a full-time, benefits-eligible position. Ocean Wise offers a competitive salary based on experience and provides an excellent range of benefits, including :

• Extended health and dental coverage
• vision coverage.
• RRSP matching.
• Group term and supplemental life insurance.
• Short-term disability.
• Long-term disability.
• Position also eligible for paid vacation days, paid sick days, and paid personal days

LOCATION / WORK HOURS

• Remote-first with the possibility to work at headquarters in downtown Vancouver, if desired. A home base of BC, ON, or NS is preferred.
• Flexibility to work occasional weekends, evenings.

Equity and diversity are essential to our mission at Ocean Wise. We believe that an open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been historically underrepresented or discouraged.

We encourage applications from individuals belonging to groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Human Rights Codes, including but not limited to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, religion, marital or family status, age, and / or status as a First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Indigenous person.