The Role

The purpose of the Supporter Relationships Manager is to ensure the provision of excellent supporter relationships activities in the Funding and Partnerships (F&P) team to support appeals, campaigns, virtual events, online lead generation and other programs designed to achieve fundraising revenue targets. The role manages a small team who nurture and grow relationships with our donors through best-practice care, engagement and retention initiatives.

The Supporter Relationships team process high volumes of donor data, and deliver high-impact donor care activities via inbound and outbound phone, email, mail and SMS. The Supporter Relationships Manager oversees the design, delivery and optimisation of these processes to ensure their efficiency and to enhance the value and lifetime of Black Dog Institute’s donor relationships.

Duties & Responsibilities

Supporter Relationships

• Oversee the efficient delivery of customer care to Black Dog Institute donors and supporters by Supporter Relationships staff, including the professional and timely handling of inbound requests for assistance via phone, email, mail and SMS.

• Establish customer care KPIs for the Supporter Relationships team, including measuring the financial impact of Supporter Relationships initiatives and overall community sentiment monitoring, regularly reporting on progress to the broader team.

• Design, implement and monitor proactive and reactive phone retention initiatives to reduce the cancellation and downgrades of regular gifts to Black Dog Institute.

• Train, monitor and improve upon Supporter Relationships team members’ skills in persuasive communications.

• Oversee the recording of donor feedback in the fundraising database and report on this for the broader Funding & Partnerships team with relevant recommendations for improvements to fundraising initiatives.

• Oversee the complete and up-to-date documentation of Supporter Relationships procedures.

• Regularly audit and update Supporter Relationships templates for donor communications to ensure the latest mental health content is shared and the Black Dog Institute brand is consistently applied in all communications.

• Design and deliver organisation-wide efforts to acknowledge and thank donors on a regular basis, e.g. Annual donor thank-you calling.

• Own and administrate key Supporter Relationships technologies such as the inbound phone and email enquiry systems to ensure full coverage during business hours.

• Support the implementation and integration of third-party fundraising technologies to support a seamless donor experience.

• Identify and implement automation opportunities for regular Supporter Relationships tasks.

• Oversee all donation processes (manual and automated), receipting and invoicing to ensure accuracy and efficiency.

• Lead on Supporter Relationships’ contribution to achieving complete and accurate financial reconciliation.

• Oversee PCI compliance, data privacy and security in all Supporter Relationships activities.

• Ensure best-practice user experience, accessibility and cultural safety are prioritised and maintained across all Supporter Relationships activities.

• Ensure all Supporter Relationship processes are kept up to date and loaded into Confluence.

Team Advancement 

• Recruit, train and support the ongoing professional development of Supporter Relationships staff to meet individual and organisational goals.

• Train and support the Supporter Relationships team to leverage telemarketing techniques to retain and upgrade the support of existing donors, to meet individual financial targets.

• Support all teams to advance in their understanding of key competencies which are relevant to team activities: mental health awareness, data security and privacy, and cultural competency.

• Drive wellbeing initiatives for high job satisfaction, work-life balance and staff retention.

General Duties

• Work toward achieving the overall objectives of the fundraising team and the organisation.

• Build trust within the fundraising team and with key stakeholders across Black Dog Institute by demonstrating consistent communication and transparency.

• Demonstrate value by establishing benchmarks and regularly reporting on improvements.

• Oversee the comprehensive documentation of key processes to ensure consistent and sustainable delivery of regular team responsibilities.

• Collaborate with front-facing staff in other BDI teams (such as reception and the clinic) to ensure a seamless inbound contact experience for donors.

• Attend team and all staff meetings, team meetings and Directorate-wide office days.

Skills & Experience Required 

1. Experience managing a customer service-focused team to meet revenue goals, preferably in a not-for-profit/fundraising context.

2. Minimum of 3 years' experience in a customer service management role, with demonstrated delivery of analytical and creative projects

3. Proven experience in generating revenue and managing budgets to optimise return on investment in customer retention campaigns, preferably in a fundraising context

4. Strong understanding of how impactful digital content and telemarketing techniques can drive effective customer service campaigns

5. Experience leveraging CRMs (preferably Raisers Edge/NXT) to draw and act upon strategic customer insights

6. Experience optimising the flow of data between a primary database and other data sources including marketing or peer-to-peer third party fundraising platforms

7. Experience designing, automating and optimising customer communication journeys

8. Demonstrated experience training, mentoring or managing staff to deliver on KPIs

9. Advanced internal stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.

10. Highly organised approach to project management, with the proven ability to prioritise and deliver several projects at once

EOO Statement
Black Dog Institute is committed to achieving a diverse workforce that reflects our wider community. We ensure equal opportunity for all, regardless of age, culture, appearance, sexual orientation, lived experience, gender identity, disability and/or family status.

How to Apply

To become a part of the Black Dog Institute team, follow the link to ELMO to apply and submit your most up to date resume. If you are shortlisted for the role, we will call you and let you know you are successful. Please do not respond to any suspicious emails requesting you to upload your ID or personal details. We are a 2022 Circle Back Initiative Employer and commit to respond to every applicant.