Senior Director - philanthropy Planning & Operations

Senior Director-Philanthropy Planning & Operations

The Canadian Red Cross (Red Cross) – an inspirational not for profit organization, helps people and communities in Canada and around the world in times of need and supports them in strengthening their resilience. As a Canada's Best Employers 2024, we are committed to having an accessible, diverse, inclusive, and barrier-free work environment.

Reporting to the Chief Development Officer and working closely with the Senior Leadership Team, the Senior Director of Philanthropy Planning & Operations possesses a strong understanding of fundraising and provides leadership in establishing and maintaining strategic and operational planning processes and standards, data and information management, and business practices within the philanthropy division. This role is a member of the Philanthropy Senior Leadership team and supports strategic coordination and alignment among fundraising, marketing, and donor experience teams, promoting a One Red Cross approach within philanthropy. It ensures that work is integrated, efficient, and aligned with the strategic priorities of philanthropy and CRC, and that philanthropy teams achieve their key results.

This role also manages and provides leadership for Philanthropic Operations, Planning & Project Management, Information and Quality Management, CRC's Website, Technology Integration, and the Call Centre. It acts as the main link and relationship manager between philanthropy and corporate services. Working with senior leadership, this role will coordinate business development efforts, including leveraging technology, and creating and applying standardised planning and business management practices and tools. This will promote consistent implementation across teams, support the growth of business management practices, and encourage an analytical approach to informed decision-making.

In this role, you will:

Responsibility 1: Provides Leadership to Philanthropy Strategic and Operational Planning

• In collaboration with the CDO and Senior Leadership, manages the process for developing philanthropy strategic goals and priorities on a mid to long-term (3-5 year) basis with an annual update.
• Aligns with the corporate planning process by leading the development and implementation of planning tools, including creating supporting materials for long-term strategic and annual operational planning.
• In collaboration with the CRC organizational Annual Operating Plan (AOP) team, leads the planning process in partnership with the Philanthropy leadership team, using the CRC's AOP planning tools, systems, and processes, as well as the annual budget process.
• Establishes and leads the annual review of planning practices in Philanthropy, including the development cycle, tools, and processes to support ongoing improvement and alignment with long-term strategic goals, objectives, and outcomes. Ensures consistency with organizational planning documents and processes.
• Oversees and leads the coordination of reporting cycles for the Philanthropy teams, such as Monthly and Quarterly KR reporting, AOP, and Quality reporting.
• Supports the development of quarterly & AOP reporting for the CDO to the executive.
• Supports fundraising teams in developing existing initiatives or launching new ones to increase revenue. Identifies necessary investments to sustain fundraising programs, including technologies, to facilitate discussions with CRC leadership about growth potential and improvements.
• Ensures that effective coordination mechanisms are established and promotes alignment and connectedness between Philanthropy and other organizational units (Support Services, other Service Lines).
• Supports project coordination, change management, and implementation of Philanthropy's strategic priorities and projects as needed.
• Alongside the CDO and with input from the SLT, leads strategic priorities within our employee experience pillar.
• Contributes to building a winning team culture grounded in trust, openness, collaboration, accountability, results-focused, innovation, continuous learning, and fun. Works closely with SLT to develop DIB plans within Philanthropy and ensures teams and leadership reflect diverse perspectives.
• Budget and resource management. Optimizes resources to enhance revenue, impact, and efficiency.

Responsibility 2: Provides Leadership to the Implementation of Philanthropy Business Management Practices and Harnessing Technology

• Encourages an analytical approach to business strategy, management, and decision-making by supporting the development of key performance indicators (KPIs), Key Results (KRs), and processes that are informed by and aligned with national KPIs and KRs for regular review and adjustment, in collaboration with the Philanthropy leadership team.
• Ensures that business management practices are established and integrated within Philanthropy, including necessary training on tools, systems, and processes to promote best practices. Reviews and evaluates the processes of our internal team systems and functions to support effective and efficient operations.
• Establishes the business management reporting and analysis structure and process to track progress and assess the performance of the philanthropic business, workforce, and financial position. Ensures that data analysts within philanthropy can easily access the necessary data and develop the appropriate and relevant reports and dashboards to support ongoing monitoring of our fundraising and donor experience initiatives.
• Ensures philanthropy practices adhere to all CRC corporate policies and procedures, CRA guidelines, privacy legislation, and other applicable regulations, while regularly monitoring compliance. Also ensures CRC meets all external contractual obligations.
• Leads philanthropy engagements with CRC Legal/Risk (insurance) and Supply Chain for reviewing agreements, contracts, and sole source requirements as appropriate.
• Leads the coordination of information sharing and engagement with all Philanthropy staff. This includes internal communications, town halls, Philcon, and other similar events.
• Proactively monitors evolving technology, works closely with the Technology Group, develops philanthropy's technology roadmap, and contributes to the organization's overall technology strategy.
• Ensures fundraisers utilise existing and new technology platforms. Offers tailored training programs to guarantee teams are proficient with new and existing technologies and tools.
• Monitors and evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of technology, using data analytics to assess its impact on work processes and team member performance.

Responsibility 3: Provides Quality and Risk Management for Philanthropy Priorities and Initiatives

• Works closely with Corporate Services and Quality Management to implement improvement plans and promote an environment of ongoing quality enhancement.
• Assists the Quality staff in creating and overseeing a review cycle for ongoing enhancement.
• Supports the training and development of our fundraisers on essential fundraising platforms.

Responsibility 4: Provides Leadership to our Call Center

• Monitor operational performance by analyzing call centre performance metrics to ensure best-in-class service levels and improve efficiency.
• Ensure ongoing process improvement by conducting regular process audits to identify areas for enhancement and implementing best practices and standard operating procedures to boost efficiency.
• Increase revenue by identifying and leveraging customer interactions through the call centre.
• Collaborate with the Sr. Director, Donor Experience, to develop and implement strategies that enhance customer retention and foster loyalty.
• Work with fundraising teams to coordinate call centre activities with revenue objectives.
• Ensure high customer satisfaction by promptly and effectively addressing customer concerns, and continuously improving service quality through implementing customer feedback mechanisms.
• Build and sustain strong relationships with call centre vendors.
• Ensure the effective use of CRM systems and other software to streamline operations, offer data-driven recommendations for operational improvements, and stay current with industry trends and advancements in call centre technology.

What we are looking for:

• A minimum of 12 years of experience and a university degree in business, marketing, philanthropy, nonprofit management, community engagement or a related field and/or an equivalent combination of education and experience. PMP designation is an asset. It requires advanced expertise in strategic leadership, business growth, organizational initiatives, and a broad knowledge of diverse business issues. It also involves coordinating senior leadership to set and achieve long-term objectives.
• Experience and a deep understanding of successful relational fundraising, including mass, digital, major gifts, campaigns and corporate partnerships at national and international levels.
• Knowledge and experience in developing data governance, technology solutions, analytics, ethics, and compliance regulations within the charitable sector.
• Leadership and senior management experience, with the ability to provide strategic direction, mentor and motivate a diverse team, and promote a culture of collaboration and innovation.
• Proficiency in standard computer applications (Microsoft Office Suite), fundraising software and donor management systems, with the ability to analyze data and generate reports to inform fundraising strategies.
• Ability to develop, forecast and manage program budgets; implement, allocate and monitor expenditures; report on budget performance and variances to ensure financial accountability.
• Ability to address highly complex, abstract problems with visionary thinking, develop innovative solutions with long-term strategic impacts, and assess and mitigate risks.
• Communication, influence, persuasion, and negotiation skills to promote complex and sensitive ideas, facilitate consensus and commitment with strategically essential contacts or groups in sensitive, contentious, and political or controversial situations.

Working Conditions:

• As we work with and support people (managers, colleagues, beneficiaries/customers, volunteers, donors and external partners) and communities in Canada and around