Director of Direct Response - Defenders of Wildlife
Washington, DC 20022
About the Job
DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE
POSITION DESCRIPTION
JOB TITLE: Director of Direct Response
CLASSIFICATION: Professional 6
SALARY: $93,000 - $102,000
FLSA: Exempt
DEPARTMENT: Integrated Marketing
LOCATION: Headquarters, Washington, DC
REPORTS TO: Vice President for Integrated Marketing
NUMBER OF DIRECT REPORTS: 2
LAST REVISED: December 2023
POSITION SUMMARY
The Director of Direct Response is responsible for developing strategies to cultivate, retain and upgrade Defenders’ supporters. The Director will take an active role in developing the short and long-term plans to retain and upgrade donors while meeting the revenue goals of our mid-level, membership and canvassing. The Director will be a creative thinking individual who embraces continuous process improvement and innovation and is detail-oriented and data-driven. This position is expected to coordinate closely with the Director of Digital Fundraising and Director of Marketing Operations to ensure campaign coordination, exceptional donor stewardship and fundraising best practices.
The Director will manage two full-time employees.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Establish offline constituent performance goals and priorities including the development of an annual budget to reflect both revenue and expenses; coordinate with other stakeholders within Integrated Marketing to maximize ROI (Return on Investment), donor conversion and retention.
- Identify, influence and execute donor journeys to grow and diversify our membership; coordinate with other Directors and the Vice President of Integrated Marketing to ideate new strategies to expand and retain various audiences; provide results to understand impact against multiple departmental priorities and across all channels.
- Lead Defenders of Wildlife’s mid-level and membership fundraising campaigns via direct mail, telemarketing and canvassing, including:
- Setting messaging priorities, determining campaign strategies, testing priorities and audience segmentation to meet fundraising goals and annual budget.
- Growing Defenders’ mid-level giving program through cultivation and fundraising to ensure a continuous pipeline for the mid-level program to maximize performance.
- Manage Defenders’ strategic, production, design, list processing, modeling and analytics vendors to maximize efficiencies and execute strategies in support of direct mail acquisition, renewals, appeals, sustainer, upgrading and fulfillment programs.
- Identifying key audiences and stewarding them appropriately across channels.
- Accepting accountability for the quality and accuracy of all outbound content.
- Evaluating campaign performance against the performance benchmarks.
- Maintaining reporting and measuring performance against budget and organizational goals.
Manage and serve as the point of contact for Defenders’ canvassing vendors to support canvassing campaigns and ensure fundraising best practices; set pacing with vendors to meet annual goals and track against budgeted expenses to ensure we remain on track.
Lead member stewardship across all channels. Work with the Integrated Marketing team to proactively address membership needs and expectations, coordinate welcome and acknowledgement processes, and oversee the fulfillment of back-end premiums; help craft talking points and responses when needed.
Facilitate and promote the integration of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice strategies.
Perform all other related duties as assigned.
QUALIFICATIONS
Education: Bachelor’s (B.A./B.S.) degree or equivalent
Experience: 10 years of relevant experience; 5 years supervisory experience
An equivalent combination of education and experience may be accepted as a satisfactory substitute for the specific education and experience listed above.
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities for All Defenders
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities for All Defenders
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities for Professional 6
Administrative:
- Ability to accurately maintain electronic and physical records
- Anticipate and meet the needs of internal and/or external stakeholders delivering excellent service
Communication:
- Ability to clearly and accurately communicate with internal and external stakeholders
- Ability to articulate complex ideas clearly, accurately and concisely
- Ability to convey effective messages to broad and diverse constituencies
- Ability and willingness to effectively represent Defenders’ interests in external environments
- Ability to exert influence and build consensus with internal and external stakeholders
Critical Thinking:
- Ability to handle sensitive and confidential matters with discretion
- Strong research and data analysis skills, including ability to gather and synthesize information from multiple sources to produce high quality work products in a consistent, efficient, accurate, and timely manner
- Creative problem-solving and troubleshooting skills with willingness to experiment and innovate new methods.
- Facilitate and promote the integration of diversity, equity and inclusion strategies into Defenders’ work
- Ability to independently exercise appropriate judgment in response to complex and/or fluid environments
- Strategic thinker with the ability to create high-level strategy, identify organizational-level impact, and translate strategy into relatable points and action steps.
Project Management:
- Ability to work well under pressure and tight deadlines while balancing competing assignments
- Ability to remain flexible and adaptable to shifting priorities while remaining responsive to urgent requests
- Ability to take ownership of a project or process and to use problem solving skills to resolve issues
- Ability to manage deadlines on multiple cross-functional projects in a dynamic environment
- Demonstrated ability in managing competing interests on complex issues
- Ability to independently initiate project and initiative ideas; managing projects and initiatives through to completion
Leadership and Management:
- Ability to foster a team culture which models the tenets of the Commitment Statement
- Ability to connect employees and their work to Defenders’ mission
- Ability to set and maintain clear expectations, ensuring clarity of roles, accountabilities, and responsibilities
- Ability to ensure that staff have the skills and support required to perform at the highest level
- Working knowledge of Defenders’ business and people systems and processes
- Ability to create and maintain a diverse, inclusive, and high-functioning environment
- Ability to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in team/department-level decisions
- Ability to manage employee conflict and resolve escalations in an inclusive and healthy manner
- Ability to effectively lead and manage change
- Ability to develop staff to their highest capabilities, through delegation, coaching, empowerment, and professional growth opportunities
- Ability to provide effective feedback in real-time
- Ability to create and implement team/department strategies in support of Defenders’ Strategic Plan
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities for Director of Direct Response
- Expertise in implementing donor conversion strategies, including segmentation, copy and creative development.
- High level understanding of direct response metrics and key performance indicators (KPI’s)
- Integrated/multichannel marketing experience
PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES, ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS, PHYSICAL DEMANDS
Physical Activities:
| Check all that apply | Frequency |
Ascending or descending ladders, stairs, scaffolding, ramps, poles and the like. | N |
Moving self in different positions to accomplish tasks in various environments including tight and confined spaces. | N |
Remaining in a stationary position, often standing or sitting for prolonged periods. | C |
Moving about to accomplish tasks or moving from one worksite to another. | N |
Adjusting or moving objects up to 10 pounds in all directions. | N |
Communicating with others to exchange information. | C |
Repeating motions that may include the wrists, hands and/or fingers. | C |
Operating machinery and/or power tools. | N |
Operating motor vehicles or heavy equipment. | N |
Assessing the accuracy, neatness and thoroughness of the work assigned. | C |
Environmental Conditions:
| Check all that apply | Frequency |
Low temperatures. | |
High temperatures. | |
Outdoor elements such as precipitation and wind. | |
Noisy environments. | |
Hazardous conditions. | |
Poor ventilation. | |
Small and/or enclosed spaces. | |
No adverse environmental conditions expected. | C |
Physical Demands:
| Check only one | |
Sedentary work that primarily involves sitting/standing. | X |
Light work that includes moving objects up to 20 pounds. | |
Medium work that includes moving objects up to 50 pounds. | |
Heavy work that includes moving objects up to 100 pounds or more. |
Visit www.defenders.org to apply.
All employees are required to satisfactorily perform the essential duties and responsibilities of their positions. The essential duties and responsibilities listed above are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.
Defenders of Wildlife requires employees who engage in in-person work activities, including business travel or onsite work, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. An applicant (i) who is disabled or pregnant or who has a qualifying medical condition that contraindicates a COVID-19 vaccination or (ii) who objects to being vaccinated on the basis of a sincerely held religious belief, observance or practice may request an exemption from this vaccination policy. This determination will be made on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with applicable law. Any medical information concerning an applicant's disability will be treated as a confidential medical record in compliance with applicable federal, state and local laws.
Defenders of Wildlife provides equal employment opportunity to all qualified individuals without regard to their race, color, creed, religion, sex national origin, ethnicity, age, physical or mental disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, personal appearance, family/parental status, matriculation, political affiliation, genetic information, or any other legally protected characteristic in all personnel actions.
Please be advised this position is NON union-eligible.