To apply for this position please visit our listing and application form on our careers page at https://orionmagazine.org/internships-and-employment/
About Orion
Orion is a nonprofit, ad-free, quarterly magazine whose mission is to invite readers into a community of caring for the planet. Since its first issue was published in 1982, Orion has sought to explore and enrich the mysterious connections between people and the environments we inhabit, inspiring new thinking about how humanity might live on Earth justly, sustainably, and joyously.
At the heart of our current strategic plan is Orion’s New Constellation Initiative, which ensures that we pursue our mission with a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Our editorial identity is guided by this commitment and seeks to follow these guidelines: we publish increasingly diverse and global voices; work that represents the environment as inseparable from human life and culture; and work with uncompromising ethical standards and compassion for both our human and more-than-human peers. By following these guidelines, Orion is the only environmental magazine in operation today that consistently includes work from around the globe (often in English translation) and which emphasizes culture (including pop culture) through an environmental lens.
In addition, Orion publishes an annual anthology, holds an annual in-person writing workshop in New York’s Hudson Valley and several virtual writing workshops, and hosts several virtual events throughout the year in which our contributors are in conversation with thought leaders in science, art, and the environmental movement.
For more information on Orion, please visit www.orionmagazine.org.
Position Summary
Orion is seeking a Director of Development and Communications (DD&C). This is an ideal opportunity for a proven development leader to join an organization experiencing an executive leadership transition amidst a period of strong organizational clarity and emerging opportunity.
Reporting to the Interim Executive Director (IED), this position will be the lead strategist and project manager focused on expanding the $1M in annual philanthropic revenue that Orion currently receives to meet the needs of our growing organization. The DD&C will lead, manage, and coordinate all fundraising efforts to increase the organization's support from foundations, corporations, and individuals, including overseeing the planning of Orion’s annual virtual gala. The DD&C will manage two full-time staff members — the Philanthropic Strategist, who manages Orion’s annual giving program and serves in a support capacity; and the Stakeholder Engagement Manager who oversees all stakeholder communications and marketing efforts.
Major gift work across foundations and individuals will be a priority for this position. The DD&C will be responsible for deeply engaging current individual major donors and program officers at foundations, while growing the donor portfolio with prospects. The DD&C will lead Orion’s grant writing and will work with the IED on strengthening stewardship efforts for major donors. In addition, they will be responsible for identifying and cultivating new major donors to build out the pipeline. In addition, the DD&C will also seek ways to grow Orion’s nascent relationships with corporate funders.
The DD&C can expect their work to include:
Leadership and Management
- Contribute positively to Orion’s organizational culture and lead with Orion’s values
- Provide productive and positive support and management for direct reports including cultivation of skills and advocacy for professional development
- Play an active role in the operational and strategic leadership of Orion as a member of the executive team
- Participate in strategic planning processes with the executive team and board of directors
Development Strategy
- Develop, manage, and implement Orion’s development and stewardship plans to achieve annual revenue goals
- Take lead on the planning and project management of any fundraising events that Orion holds
- Update existing development and stewardship plans annually with new ideas, industry best practices, and data-driven analysis
- Ensure Orion’s development plan aligns with and is in service of the evolving organizational goals and strategic plans
- In partnership with the Interim Executive Director, set annual revenue goals
- Ensure a robust gift pipeline big enough to hit annual revenue goals by actively managing prospective and current foundations, corporations, and individual donors
- In partnership with the Interim Executive Director, drive relationship management and strategy development for the ED's portfolio of Orion's highest level donors, prospects, and key strategic relationships.
- Cultivate relationships with the Board of Directors’ Fundraising Committee to support their strategic development efforts, provide training, and facilitate the process to develop potential funder parameters
- Monitor and report regularly on the progress of the development plan, providing actionable analysis for the Interim Executive Director and Fundraising Committee
- Identify suspected revenue gaps and develop tactics to generate new leads.
Foundation and Corporate Fundraising
- Build personal relationships with foundations. Research, design, and lead moves management plans
- Ensure Orion has a robust pipeline of local, regional, and national grant opportunities to pursue
- Working with the Interim Executive Director and Philanthropic Strategist, create and manage a grant calendar to track all upcoming applications and reports
- Collaborate across teams to gather materials and requirements for grant applications and reports
- Collaborate with the Interim Executive Director to grow Orion’s nascent relationships with corporations and institutional partners to develop revenue opportunities that align with Orion’s values
Individual & Membership Giving
- Research, design, and lead the moves management plans for major donors.
- Manage a portfolio of 50 major and mid-level donors and oversee the continued development of the mid-level donor pipeline and work with the Philanthropic Strategist on a moves management plan
- Oversee the Philanthropic Strategist’s management of quarterly appeals and micro-campaigns targeted at individual-level and mid-level donors, and management of the sustaining partners program
Development Operations and Revenue Tracking
- Establish and monitor annual and long-term development revenue goals and budgets
- Prioritize and strengthen the processes, systems, and tools to support a seamless fundraising and marketing operation.
- Design and update regular progress-to-goal reports for the Interim Executive Director, the Fundraising Committee, the Board of Directors, and the bi-monthly engagement team meeting
- Oversee the Philanthropic Strategist’s work to update records and develop reports in Orion’s CRM system (Salesforce)
- Work closely with the Interim Executive Director, Philanthropic Strategist, and Database Manager to ensure the accuracy of Salesforce reports and data
- Work closely with the Interim Executive Director and Business Manager to support the management of restricted funds and donor-required reporting
Marketing and Outreach Strategy
- Lead the engagement team in developing and managing a marketing and outreach strategy for Orion including subscriptions, workshops, books, newsstand, and other events
- Identify new channels for audience growth
- Identify new placement/positioning opportunities for Orion Magazine
- Lead the development of performance metrics in sales
Communications Oversight — Development and Marketing
- Ensure that all organizational communications adhere to high standards and grow Orion’s brand.
- Develop compelling and mission-focused fundraising messaging that effectively articulates Orion’s mission and activities
- Collaborate with the Stakeholder Engagement Manager and Associate Director of Digital Product and Strategy to ensure that the communications plan and social-media calendar support development and marketing goals and are aligned and comprehensive
- Collaborate with the Philanthropic Strategist on bi-annual donor reports to major, mid-, and individual-level donors
About You
If some of these requirements feel like a reach for you but you feel confident that you are a good match for Orion, apply anyway! We encourage our employees to grow professionally. Your application will be read and considered by a real person! We do not use an AI to vet or filter candidates.
Qualifications:
- Commitment to racial, gender, and economic justice and their intersections
- Commitment to respecting all living beings, including our more-than-human peers
- A successful track record of nonprofit development experience — especially focusing on donors at the five and six figure level
- A minimum of 3-5 years of nonprofit leadership experience and supervising staff, with a strong track record of building teams and developing staff leadership
- Demonstrable experience with building successful relationships with foundations and major donors
- Experience in successfully sustaining $1M in philanthropic revenue
- Ability to weave storytelling and Orion’s values to share powerful messages about Orion’s work with current and potential donors
- Enthusiasm to propose fresh ideas without prompting by leadership, openness to feedback on those ideas, and persistence to bring those ideas to life
- An excellent working knowledge of Salesforce for donor and revenue management
- A “self-motivator” with a goal-driven mentality who is excited to initiate donor visits, fundraising calls, and funder outreach
- Outstanding time management and organizational skills, with careful attention to detail and accountability for meeting deliverables and deadlines in a fast-paced, multi-tasking environment
Preferred Competencies:
- Knowledge of the literary and/or environmental nonprofit sectors and best practices for fundraising within them
- Digital and/or in-person event planning
- A desire to promote a culture of philanthropy in an organization
- Experience with written and verbal communications that focus on environmental and literary work through a lens of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice
- Experience making data-informed decisions
- Well-developed emotional intelligence and communication skills and have strong interpersonal and organizational skills
- Experience with Orion’s systems and software including Salesforce, Asana, Slack, and Google Workspace
About Location, Travel, Compensation and Benefits
- Remote position (Note: Orion is a mostly remote organization that operates primarily on Eastern Time with offices in Great Barrington and Northampton, Massachusetts, with two in-person staff members. Orion hosts some mandatory in-person staff and team meetings during the year)
- Intermittent travel related to donor visits and Orion programming may also occur
- Salary is $75,000 - $80,000
- Benefits package includes 401k with employer match up to $1,000/year
- Medical, dental, and vision for employees and their families
- Annual $425 home office stipend
- 4 weeks paid vacation that accrues in total after 6 months of employment, and unlimited additional vacation days thereafter upon supervisor’s approval
- Paid sick days, bereavement leave, and days off for jury duty
- Half-day Fridays all year long!
- 14 Paid days off for Massachusetts and federal holidays, including Election Day and Juneteenth
- Flexible working hours options can be discussed in negotiations
To Apply:
Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis until August 21, 2024. Interested applicants should upload requested documents to this application form (https://forms.gle/SpkWHHRB7p9PcFkB7):
- A cover letter describing why working with Orion feels like a good fit for you
- An up-to-date resume
- Two writing samples
- One reflective of your development work (such as a grant narrative or appeal letter) - please feel encouraged to use material that you have already written
- One reflective of your marketing work (such as an event or product promotion) - please feel encouraged to use material that you have already written
- 3 references - at least two of these should be professionally related
Our Hiring Process
- Our hiring team will review submitted applications and evaluate whether or not to move forward with an initial phone interview (no AI will be used to filter applications)
- Those who are moving forward will be contacted to schedule a preliminary phone interview
- Those progressing from that point forward will be invited to a video interview with our hiring committee
- Candidates who are moving forward will be asked for a brief practical writing exercise - this will not be a request for strategic or implementable work, and will come with light compensation.
- Finalists will be invited back for one final interview with the committee
- Our team will endeavor to be timely in communications and will do our best to let those not moving forward know that we have selected other candidates as quickly as possible.
Orion Magazine is an Equal Opportunitity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will recieve consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status. For more information about your rights as an applicant, please see the U.S. Equal Employement Opportunity Commisssion poster. (https://www.eeoc.gov/poster)
For the complete nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy, please see the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Overview of Workplace Discrimination. (https://www.mass.gov/info-details/overview-of-workplace-discrimination)
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $75,000.00 - $80,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Vision insurance
Schedule:
Work Location: Remote
