Hiring Organization Information
Position Information
Washington Trails Association (WTA) is the nation’s largest state-based hiking and trail maintenance nonprofit. For over 55 years, we've been mobilizing hikers as public lands advocates, trail stewards and on-the-ground experts to ensure Washington's trails stand the test of time. Each year, 3,600 WTA volunteers perform over 125,000 hours of trail maintenance across the state. We also connect an online community of over 400,000 to the outdoors, from everyday adventures to backcountry explorations, through our Hiking Guide and Trailblazer app. With more than 23,000 donating members, WTA's strength is our community. Our vision depends on fostering an inclusive organization where everyone feels welcome and represented. Together we can ensure there are trails for everyone, forever.
WTA seeks a results- and people-oriented fundraising and communications professional to lead our mid-level giving and annual fund programs with a goal to grow revenue and participation across both. The Member Engagement Manager will look to data, member insights, sector trends and community-centric fundraising principles to inform their decisions and plans. They should be willing to test and innovate and be passionate about WTA’s mission. They should be able to demonstrate a track record of successfully driving fundraising results, multi-channel communication campaigns, constituent engagement and outcome-oriented partnerships.
The person in this role will partner with a collaborative Development Team, other staff, members and donors to contribute to the successful growth of WTA’s comprehensive individual giving program. The Member Engagement Manager is a full-time, exempt position based in WTA’s downtown Seattle headquarters. The person in this role supervises a coordinator-level position and reports to the Development Director.
Primary Responsibilities:
Mid-Level Giving (est. 45%)
● Develop and implement strategies for WTA’s mid-level giving program, focusing on revenue growth, donor retention and experience, and pipeline development. This includes cultivating, soliciting, stewarding and reporting to ~1,200 individual members and donors, as well as budget management.
● Create and manage segmentation plans and scalable strategies for mid-level donors, ensuring communications and engagement opportunities feel personalized, meaningful and outcome-oriented.
● Customize, adapt and leverage existing materials and outreach methods to increase mid-level donor engagement and giving, as well as create new materials and methods, coordinating as needed across the team and organization.
● Develop and manage WTA’s donor pipeline processes, including identification and moves management, in partnership with the Development Team.
● Maintain records in Salesforce and leverage data to evaluate the program’s effectiveness and help set and evolve strategies.
Annual Fund (est. 25%)
● Set priorities and develop strategies for WTA’s annual fund program to acquire, cultivate, solicit, steward, upgrade and retain ~23,000 individual members and donors, focusing on general operating revenue and participation growth, especially via monthly giving.
● Oversee the planning, goal-setting, execution and evaluation of multiple segmented donor campaigns annually, using multi-channel approaches (e.g., direct mail, web, email, targeted social media ads) to meet goals.
● Work closely with internal teams to oversee the writing, approval, delivery and evaluation of donor communications that engage, demonstrate impact, highlight fundraising priorities and generate results.
● Manage WTA’s fundraising-related web pages and donation form optimization.
Management (est. 15%)
● Supervise coordinator-level position focused on donor communications and annual fund program.
● Provide reporting, insights and recommendations to leadership.
● Manage, evaluate and recommend resources needed across programs, including budget, systems and vendors. Support revenue projections across programs.
● Collaborate with other Development Team members to ensure a high-quality donor experience.
Member and Donor Events (est. 10%)
● Set priorities and develop strategies for member events.
● Oversee the planning, goal-setting, execution and evaluation of fundraising and donor stewardship events annually.
Experience, Skills, Knowledge and Values:
WTA is committed to supporting professional development, so we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet all the qualifications listed. Competitive candidates will highlight the following in their application, or express willingness to learn:
● Demonstrated commitment to WTA’s mission and values on diversity, equity and inclusion.
● Cultural competency experience and demonstrated ability to work with people of diverse races, ages, genders, abilities and economic backgrounds.
● 3-5 years of experience in fundraising, with a focus on mid-level giving, annual fund or donor relations.
● Proven track record of developing and executing multi-channel fundraising campaigns.
● Strong, persuasive, people-oriented communication and marketing skills, especially written.
● Strong understanding of individual giving, donor segmentation and data analytics.
● Ability to leverage data to build fundraising strategies that achieve income growth through a
combination of proven approaches and explorations of new funding opportunities and innovations.
● Skilled project manager who can switch between multiple projects and tasks while managing multiple deadlines.
● Good supervisory skills, including managing staff to high performance and encouraging individual and team professional growth.
● Ability to work with multiple stakeholders at all organizational levels, internally and externally.
● Ability to devise and execute strategies and plans with minimal oversight and to ensure execution with team peers across boundaries.
● Demonstrated strength at working independently and collaboratively, maintaining flexibility to adapt to the organization’s evolving needs.
● Highly adept at fostering collaboration within and outside of their team.
● High ethical standards and record-keeping diligence to maintain confidential donor information.
● Ability to accept and integrate feedback graciously and give effective feedback to team members.
● Technology proficiency and relationship management database familiarity, ideally with Salesforce or similar CRM.
Location and Schedule:
This position is based out of WTA’s Seattle office. WTA follows a hybrid model of two days in the office (currently Tuesdays and Thursdays) and three days working from home. Some tasks may require occasional evening or weekend work.