Senior Manager, Individual Giving

Senior Manager, Individual Giving

Hours: Full-time permanent
Salary Range: $70K – $100K
Location: Niagara-on-the-Lake (some opportunity for hybrid working)

We are seeking an experienced, tenacious and relationship-driven fundraiser to join our Development team.

As Senior Manager, Individual Giving, your job is simple to describe and challenging to do exceptionally well: find the people who could become significant supporters of The Shaw, build genuine relationships with them, and help bring them closer to this extraordinary organization.

You will inherit a portfolio of approximately 200 donors and prospects with significant potential: Governors Council donors who could become major donors, long-standing supporters who could deepen their support, and new high-potential individuals who are just beginning their relationship with The Shaw. You will also become the lead for new, high value prospects introduced through our Board, Governors and wider Shaw community.

This is a hands-on fundraising role for someone who loves the work itself. You are comfortable picking up the phone to someone you have never met. You know how to turn an introduction into a relationship, a relationship into engagement, and engagement, when the moment is right, into an ask. You are persistent without being pushy, confident, and most importantly you understand that major gifts result from someone feeling genuinely seen, valued and connected.

You will have considerable freedom to do that work. We are looking for someone who knows how to build and manage a portfolio and does not need to be told what to do next.

About The Shaw

The Shaw Festival is among North America’s largest theatre companies and Niagara’s largest cultural charity, serving hundreds of thousands of audience members each year through world-class theatre, education, training and community programs.

Shaw has been producing theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake since 1962. Today, the Company is entering one of the most ambitious periods in its history.

Through All.Together.Now., The Shaw’s Campaign for Real Human Connection, we are transforming The Shaw into a centre for communication, creativity and connection: a place where extraordinary theatre remains at the core, while new spaces and programs create opportunities for people of all ages to rediscover their creativity and connect more deeply with one another.

It is an extraordinary moment to be building relationships around The Shaw, and an extraordinary opportunity to introduce many more people to this community.

The Shaw is dedicated to an ongoing process of increasing diversity and inclusion in our audiences, our programs, and in all of our hiring for staff, artists and Board members.

The Shaw is committed to a future when our theatres joyously draw on and include all peoples, fully reflective of the world around us. As such, the Shaw Festival is an equal opportunity employer committed to a barrier-free recruitment and selection process. In accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), and in keeping with our wish to ensure a fully inclusive environment, please advise Human Resources if you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process. We will be happy to assist.

We acknowledge and honour the land upon which we gather as the historic and traditional territory of First Nations peoples. In particular, we recognize and thank the Neutral Nation, the Mississauga and the Haudenosaunee for their stewardship of these lands over millennia.

Who Are You and What Will You Be Doing?

You are, first and foremost, a natural fundraiser.

You have spent enough time working with donors to understand that major gifts begin with curiosity, attention and trust.

You get a kick out of meeting new people. More importantly, you are good at building a relationship when one doesn’t exist yet.

You are at ease reaching out cold or following up on an introduction. You ask thoughtful questions, listen carefully and spot what someone cares about. And when the time is right, you are equally comfortable asking them to make a significant philanthropic investment.

You are not afraid of hearing “no.”

You understand that successful fundraising requires both warmth and discipline. Give you a list of prospects and you know what to do with it: research them, understand their history with the organization, identify connections, prioritize the strongest opportunities, develop a strategy, make contact, follow through and keep moving.

You know when to persist and when to let something go.

Your portfolio will grow to include approximately 200 relationships and prospects, likely comprising:
• around 30 Governors Council members with the potential to become major donors
• approximately 70 long-standing Membership donors with significant capacity and affinity
• approximately 100 new or emerging high-potential prospects whom we want to bring more intentionally into The Shaw community

You will also take responsibility for high-potential introductions that come through members of our four Boards.

When a Board member opens their network to The Shaw, they are placing trust in us, and in you. From that first introduction, everything you do should reinforce that trust. You naturally follow up quickly and communicate clearly and regularly.

You notice the details, do what you said you would do and make sure nothing gets lost or forgotten.

At the same time, you build trust with the person being introduced. They feel genuinely welcomed into The Shaw community, rather than worked through a fundraising process. Done well, that care and attention creates a virtuous circle: the new relationship deepens, philanthropy follows naturally where there is alignment, and the Board member becomes even more confident about opening the next door.

You genuinely like people. You are curious about them. You remember what matters to them and create experiences that make them feel part of The Shaw rather than simply part of a fundraising portfolio.

But relationship-building is only one half of the job.

You understand that relationships need to move. You know how to explore philanthropic interest, test an opportunity, make an ask and deal comfortably with whatever answer comes back.

You are proactive to the point that other people rarely have to chase you. If a Board member introduces someone on Tuesday, they are not wondering on Friday whether anything happened. You have already acted, followed through and closed the loop.

You are also analytical. You can take a large prospect pool and distinguish genuine opportunity from wishful thinking. You know how to undertake deeper research, use data intelligently, prioritize finite time and maintain a disciplined moves-management process.

Most importantly, you are self-sufficient.

You will need time to understand The Shaw, our systems, our people and our culture. After that, we expect you to run.

Success will not be measured by how many meetings you attend or how busy your calendar looks. It will be visible in a portfolio that is constantly moving: prospects becoming friends, friends becoming members, members moving into Governors Council, Governors becoming major donors, lapsed relationships being reawakened and new philanthropic relationships being created.

A strong first quarter could see 30–50 new mid-level giving relationships activated, alongside a substantially stronger and better-qualified pipeline of future major donors.

A Day in the Life…

There probably isn’t a typical day, and that is part of what you enjoy.

You might begin by reviewing your portfolio and deciding which ten relationships most need movement this week. You could spend the morning researching a new prospect introduced by a Board member, calling a few long-standing members you have never met, or arranging coffee with a donor whose giving history suggests there may be considerably more opportunity.

Later, you might welcome a new Member to The Shaw, introduce them to an artist or member of the senior leadership team, or use a performance, rehearsal, dinner or donor gathering as a natural opportunity to deepen a relationship.

You understand that events are useful because of the people that are there. You will use them brilliantly as cultivation opportunities without becoming the person planning the event.

Afterward, you follow through.

The note gets sent. The call gets made. The next step goes into the system. The Board member who made the introduction knows what happened. Nothing disappears because everyone assumed someone else was dealing with it.

You will work particularly closely with senior Shaw leaders including the Director of Advancement, Executive Director, Artistic Director and senior artistic leadership, identifying the moments when their involvement can unlock or deepen an important relationship.

And while relationship-building is at the centre of your work, you are highly disciplined behind the scenes.

Your CRM records are current. Your research is thoughtful. Your spreadsheet or dashboard tells you what is moving and what is stalled. You can explain the health of your portfolio, where the strongest opportunities sit, what the next action is and what you expect to happen.

There is always something interesting happening at The Shaw. Your ability to resist being pulled into every one of those things, and remain concentrated on the relationships and activity that will grow the major-gift pipeline will be one of your strengths.

Reporting

This position reports to the Associate Director of Development and works closely with the Director of Advancement, senior leadership, the Major Gifts team, Governors Council, Membership, Board members, Governors and other Development colleagues.

Qualifications

1. Significant Individual Giving Experience
At least 5–7 years of progressive fundraising experience, with substantial experience managing individual donors and prospects at the mid-level and/or major-gift level. You have personally cultivated, solicited and secured philanthropic gifts.

2. Exceptional Relationship-Building Skills
A demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships from scratch with donors, prospects, senior volunteers and community leaders. You are confident reaching out to people you have not met and comfortable engaging individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds.

3. Confidence Asking for Money
You have direct solicitation experience and genuinely enjoy fundraising. You know how to recognize when a relationship is ready to move toward an ask and can make that ask clearly and confidently.

4. Prospect and Portfolio Management Expertise
You know how to take a large prospect portfolio and make it manageable: researching, qualifying, segmenting and prioritizing prospects; developing individual strategies; maintaining meaningful next actions; and letting go of low-potential opportunities when appropriate.

5. Strong Data and Systems Discipline
You are comfortable using CRM systems, spreadsheets and other tools to manage a sophisticated donor portfolio. You maintain accurate records, track moves and outcomes, and can provide clear reporting and forecasting on portfolio activity and pipeline development.

6. Initiative and Independence
You are highly self-directed. Once objectives and parameters are clear, you are comfortable developing the strategy, taking action and driving the work forward without significant day-to-day management.

7. Excellent Communication and Judgment
You communicate warmly, clearly and professionally in person and in writing. You understand the discretion required when working with significant donors and senior volunteers and demonstrate excellent judgment around confidential and sensitive relationships.

8. Follow-Through
You are exceptionally reliable. You do what you say you will do, communicate proactively and ensure that important relationships and opportunities never fall through the cracks.

9. Genuine Connection to The Shaw
A genuine interest in theatre and the arts is important. Previous professional experience in an arts organization is not essential, but you need to be excited by what The Shaw creates, committed to our values of Excellence, Inclusion, Compassion, Sustainability and Community, and able to translate that enthusiasm authentically to others.

10. Flexibility
Fundraising happens when donors are available. You must be willing to work some evenings and weekends during the Festival season and to travel within southern Ontario and, periodically, the northeastern United States as required.

CFRE designation is considered an asset but is not required.