Program & Development Associate - 16 month contract

The Toronto Star is Canada’s largest daily newspaper and is read in print and across desktop, mobile and tablet platforms by more than 6 million readers every week. Online, thestar.com is one of the most-visited newspaper websites in Canada.

The Toronto Star Children's Charities has been bringing hope and joy to kids since 1901 through initiatives like the Santa Claus Fund and the Fresh Air Fund.

Our Commitment To Diversity: We strive to be a leader in building and cultivating an employee community framed around fairness, support and opportunity. We believe that what makes us different, makes a difference. And as a team, the diversity of our backgrounds, interests and experiences is what enriches our work, and our workplaces. We welcome all, and we strive for an inclusive culture that allows individual growth and shared success.

Support the programs and fundraising of The Toronto Star Children’s Charities, working under the direction of the Senior Manager, Toronto Star Children’s Charities. 

This position may require weekends and/or evenings on occasion.  

Fundraising Activity & Donor Engagement

• Shapes and executes strategic fundraising initiatives, taking ownership of key areas like asset development, donor relations, and database management to drive growth for the TSCC.
• Leads community fundraising efforts by serving as the primary liaison for event organizers, guiding them through every phase of their event, from planning to stewardship. This includes designing and maintaining all essential support materials.
• Develops and implements impactful engagement materials, such as newsletters and thank-you letters, to strengthen donor connections and encourage continued support.
• Support donor stewardship activities including thank you calls, volunteer days, etc. 
• Support the entire grant application process, from initial research to submission, ensuring a robust pipeline of funding opportunities.

Social Media

• Shapes the social media brand and voice, building a strong, consistent digital presence for the Toronto Star Children’s Charities.
• Directs the social media content strategy and calendar, transforming brand identity into tangible engagement and support.

Database Maintenance 

• Leveraging NXT knowledge, lead on-going database maintenance through de-duplication, gift coding, constituent record maintenance, etc.  

Volunteer Management

• Develop and implement volunteer recruitment and retention strategies.
• Manage Santa Claus Fund delivery volunteers including building the volunteer scheduling website, organizing each depot needs, responding to volunteer inquiries and training volunteers.
• Build, deploy and evaluate the volunteer survey at the end of gift box deliveries.

Program Support 

• Manages the training of agency partners for the Santa Claus Fund (SCF) gift box program, creating and delivering essential training materials and webinars.
• Support the entire data import process for SCF registrants, ensuring data integrity and accuracy for successful deliveries.
• Support the organization of depots and depot coordinators for Santa Claus Fund gift delivery. 
• Support Fresh Air Fund grant applications deployment and evaluations.   

 Donor Relations & Other Inquiries 

• Working in tandem with the Senior Manager, Toronto Star Children’s Charities respond to inquiries to Toronto Star Children’s Charities phone and inboxes, as required. 
• Refer/escalate severe public issues to the Senior Manager. 
• Provide general program information to public inquiries and prepare standard answers to common inquiries – i.e. campaign launch date, fundraising goal, number of children served per program, area served, eligibility criteria, etc. 

Donation Processing 

• Scan cheques to the bank when needed.   
• Support other donation processing as needed and advise on process updates. 

• A certificate in Fundraising Management or equivalent.
• 2-3 years’ experience with a comprehensive understanding of charitable organizations, fundraising, and CRA requirements. 
• Expertise in RE NXT’s robust functionality, including data integrity, donor segmentation, email marketing, and report builder.
• Experience managing and organizing large groups of volunteers is considered an asset.   
• Interpersonal skills
• Verbal and written communication
• Analytical/organizational skills
• Time management
• Detail oriented
• Teamwork/Collaboration
• Customer service
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office
• Web Savvy

We are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process ensuring equal access to employment opportunities for candidates, including persons with disabilities. In compliance with Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and Ontario Human Rights Code we will endeavour to provide accommodation to persons with disabilities in the recruitment process upon request. If you are selected for an interview and you require accommodation due to a disability during the recruitment process, please notify the hiring manager upon scheduling the interview of your requirements.

This posting is for an existing vacancy. Our Applicant Tracking System (ATS) uses AI for initial screening and assessment; however, all final selection decisions are made by our Hiring Managers.