Position: Sponsorship Manager
Location: St. Paul Office
Reports to: Director of Finance and Administration
Conditions: Full-time with benefits
Common Hope seeks a Sponsorship Manager for our U.S. office. The sponsorship program grows and maintains the partnership that plays a vital role in Common Hope’s mission of bringing hope and opportunity to Guatemala. The program brings together donors and sponsored students and coordinates the efficient flow of information and financial support that is the basis for their long-term relationship. S/he is responsible for the quality of Common Hope’s sponsorship program, striving for balance between personal relationship and transaction efficiency and also between effective donor development in the U.S. and sustainable human development in Guatemala.
Primary Responsibilities
- manage the sponsorship program and staff in Common Hope’s U.S. office
- provide excellent customer service to sponsors
- create departmental goals that reflect goals for the broader organization
- set revenue and expense budgets for department and monitor progress relative to goals
- work under guidance of Development Director to develop and execute growth strategies
- provide leadership and build teamwork with sponsorship staff in Guatemala
- maintain thorough understanding of Guatemala programs to communicate effectively with sponsors
- represent sponsor perspective when addressing program policies
Principle Accountabilities
Program Management:
- Ensure all sponsorship-related customer service tasks are completed promptly by staff, volunteers, or technology.
- Innovate, retrain, and re-balance workload as needed to deliver the highest quality sponsorship experience to donors, consistent with Common Hope’s mission.
- Develop an annual plan for sponsorship revenue and expenses aligned with Development Director’s plans for organizational revenue growth.
- Oversee the implementation of this plan, collaborating with different groups within organization.
- Identify opportunities for deeper engagement or additional giving from existing sponsors through routine communication and collaboration with Development Team.
- Track monthly progress relative to plan to identify and understand emerging trends among donors.
- Communicate weekly with Sponsorship Director in Guatemala and exchange monthly reports to recap successes, challenges, and upcoming initiatives at respective sites.
- Plan and attend annual sponsorship meeting in Guatemala to synchronize efforts of U.S. and Guatemala sponsorship staffs.
- Oversee timely translation of letters and their delivery to Guatemala and to sponsors.
- Develop collaborative working relationships with U.S. staff, effectively communicating goals and strategies, teaming to create efficiencies, and actively partnering on initiatives that advance both sponsorship and our mission as a whole.
Donor Relations:
- Ensure sponsors receive excellent customer service, characterized by timely and professional communication that provides context for our work in Guatemala and the vision and needs of Common Hope.
- Oversee successful implementation of Sponsorship Lifetime Communication Plan; build and maintain strong relationships with current and potential sponsors through phone calls, visits, printed materials, and events.
- Establish standards for responding to time-sensitive sponsor issues and policies around common sponsor questions.
- Ensure the Raiser’s Edge donor database is fully utilized to provide necessary donor history to U.S. staff as efficiently as possible.
Communication:
- Provide regular updates to sponsorship publications to convey up-to-date and compelling information about the realities faced by families in Guatemala and our programs to address their needs.
- Collaborate with Guatemala sponsorship staff to improve the content and quality of sponsorship materials originating in Guatemala.
- Work with Development Team to maintain a consistent message and look in all sponsorship materials.
Required Qualifications
- Demonstrated passion for Common Hope’s mission for human development
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
- Minimum 5 years of experience in non-profit or relationship management leadership roles
- Experience recruiting, cultivating, and deepening relationships with key donors/clients, both individuals and organizations
- Effective communicator: represents the organization’s mission to a wide variety of stakeholders and engages the public in that mission
- Excellent communication skills, including effective listening, writing, and public speaking
- Experience with planning, budgeting, and reporting at operational and strategic levels
- Project management experience, with attention to detail and ability to problem-solve
- Effective organization leadership skills, contributing to a team-based, collaborative work environment
- Experience working in international organizations preferred, ideally in Latin America
- Language facility in both English and Spanish preferred
If interested, email Colleen Tracy at colleent@us.commonhope.org with cover letter, resume, and salary requirements.
