Development Engagement Manager

Overview

The U.S Soccer Foundation helps young people embrace an active and healthy lifestyle and cultivate critical life skills through soccer. The Foundation’s programs are the national model for sports-based youth development in underserved communities. Since its founding in 1994, the Foundation has impacted thousands of children through its cost-effective, high-impact initiatives, which offer safe environments where kids and communities thrive. For more information, visit www.ussoccerfoundation.org. The Foundation’s headquarters are located in Washington, D.C. and remote candidates will be considered.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The U.S. Soccer Foundation’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) is at the core of our mission and who we are. It fuels our work as we continue to create opportunities for underrepresented populations and fight systemic inequalities through soccer. This is a shared commitment with our partners, within our organizational systems, across all the programs we offer, and within the communities we work with, as we continue to do our part to build a better future for children. We value our diverse team and are committed to creating and sustaining a culture of respect and inclusivity in which they can thrive. To read the Foundation’s detailed goals, please visit our website.

About the Role

The Development Engagement Manager is responsible for managing cultivation and stewardship efforts and events for the Foundation’s constituents, such as individual donors, corporate partners, dignitaries, and others. We are seeking a team member with a solid foundation of success in building strong engagement amongst diverse constituent groups in a mission-driven environment ​and supporting the development of a strong donor pipeline. This role is responsible for strengthening partnerships and relationships to support our impact, visibility, and financial resources and will be instrumental in hitting the team’s overall fundraising goals.  The Development Engagement Manager is a major contributor to the Revenue team and will work effectively across departments to ensure high-quality events, ​prospect research, meetings, and effective stewardship. We are looking for someone who has experience in fundraising and has the attention to detail and ability to multitask. They will develop new and creative storytelling opportunities to communicate our impact to our constituents and support national and local stakeholder groups to successfully advocate for the Foundation. 

About the Team

At the U.S. Soccer Foundation, the Revenue department supports the mission and vision of the organization through the engagement, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of donors, corporate partners, and foundations. The department oversees the entire development enterprise, unifying all elements of the fundraising operation, driving innovation and outreach across multiple channels, maximizing impact, and achieving significant, sustained revenue growth. 

Responsibilities

• Executes a comprehensive donor, partner engagement and stewardship plan to include relationship management, communications, and special events for all Foundation donor and influencer constituencies.
• Measures, tracks, and reports on activities and results of constituent engagement and stewardship programs by maintaining records in SharePoint and Salesforce.
• Serves as liaison to key constituents through correspondence, digital newsletters organizational updates, and other activation and gratitude correspondence.
• Plans and executes, in collaboration with leadership, special events, and projects to engage, recognize, cultivate, and steward donors.
• Ensures that regular stewardship calls and cultivation touchpoints to constituents are made by appropriate parties as part of the overall cultivation and stewardship plan.
• Coordinates the annual stewardship plan and associated stewardship materials and creates innovative programs and projects to recognize and steward donors.
• Creatively synthesizes programmatic outputs and impact for donor outreach, annual appeals, special campaigns, event invitations, and other constituent communications.
• Manages engagement, meetings, and events for the Young Professionals Council, and the Foundation’s regional Leadership Councils, to include regular stewardship, personalized acknowledgments, coordinating and planning Council activities, creating program materials, identifying prospects and working with staff to increase donors at this level.
• Manages the planning and tactical execution of specific events and memorializing the impact resulting from these events.
• Prepare pre-meeting briefings for Foundation executives and senior leaders.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

About You

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required with at least 5 years of work experience in fundraising, event management, partner relations, or donor relations.
• An expert in engagement planning, project management, relationship building, and a self-motivated team player.
• Demonstrated abilities in planning high touch events, and meeting coordination and other engagement activities or equivalent professional experience.
• Excellent written, oral, and interpersonal skills and ability to interact with executive leaders and influencers as well as cross functionally.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (verbal and written), including exemplary poise, tact, discretion and diplomacy when working with a wide range of constituents and diverse audience.
• Advanced computer skills (Salesforce preferred) and expertise in Microsoft Office. 
• Passion for the vision and mission of the U.S. Soccer Foundation.  A strong interest in sports-based youth development is a plus.
• Commitment to high ethical standards. 
• Detail-oriented and timely with all communications, files, and documentation.
• Results-driven to accomplish individual and team goals.
• Ability to analyze, organize, and prioritize work while meeting multiple deadlines.
• The ability to travel 25-30% on behalf of the U.S. Soccer Foundation.
• The team is a fully remote team and we’re seeking someone who thrives working in a remote environment
• Willingness and ability to work nights, weekends, and holidays as required.

Salary

The Foundation offers a market competitive compensation package. We are committed to incorporating DEI practices and accounting for inequities as we conduct an annual salary planning process to include merit increases, promotions, bonuses, and equity analysis across the entire organization. Foundation benefits include generous medical and dental insurance plans; 401(k) retirement plans with employer match; professional development; mobile data plan reimbursement; and generous vacation.

Vaccination Policy

Effective January 1, 2022, all current and newly hired Foundation employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they have been granted a medical or religious exemption. Individuals who accept employment with the Foundation will be required to provide proof that they are fully vaccinated or received approval for a medical or religious accommodation prior to starting employment.