Position Overview
Reporting to the Executive Director, the Director of Philanthropy provides strategic leadership for Action Canada's fundraising program, with a focus on building long-term, sustainable philanthropic revenue and strengthening organization-wide engagement in fundraising and donor relationships.
The Director is responsible for developing and implementing Action Canada's fundraising strategy, including strategic oversight of government grant opportunities, while cultivating and managing a portfolio of major donors, foundations, and philanthropic partners. They will oversee all aspects of donor cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, forecasting, and fundraising operations, ensuring that revenue development align with Action Canada's mission, strategic priorities, and anti-racism and anti-oppression framework.
As a member of the Senior Management Team, the Director will collaborate across departments to build a strategic, integrated organizational culture of philanthropy and fund development, establish and maintain strong relationships with donors and supporters, and identify opportunities to diversify and grow organizational revenue.
Who We Are
Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights is a progressive, pro-choice charitable organization committed to advancing and upholding sexual and reproductive rights in Canada and globally. To achieve our mission, Action Canada engages in health promotion, legal and policy advocacy, campaigns, and movement-building.
We believe in a world where every person controls their sexuality, reproduction, gender expression, and health. In our fight for sexual and reproductive rights for all, Action Canada challenges the systems that create unequal access to information, health care, and rights.
For more information, visit www.actioncanadashr.org.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities include, but are not limited to:
Strategic Leadership
- Develop and implement a fundraising strategy aligned with Action Canada's strategic priorities and revenue diversification plan and fundraising audit conducted in 2025.
- Establish annual fundraising goals, revenue targets, budgets, forecasts, and performance measures.
- Monitor and evaluate fundraising performance, using data and insights to continuously improve strategies and results.
- Identify and action opportunities to diversify revenue through major gifts, foundations, institutional fundraising, corporate partnerships, annual giving, planned giving, and other philanthropic initiatives.
- Oversee and support institutional grant fundraising by identifying and assessing opportunities and coordinating the development of submissions.
- Participate as an active member of the Senior Management Team.
- Provide strategic fundraising advice to the Executive Director and Board of Directors.
- Contribute to organization-wide planning and decision-making.
Major Gifts & Donor Relations
- Build, manage, and grow a portfolio of major donors and prospects through all stages of the donor lifecycle.
- Develop and execute individualized donor engagement strategies, and lead donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship in partnership with the Executive Director, Board members, and other organizational leaders.
- Identify prospective major donors through annual program, prospect research, and relationship mapping.
- Conduct prospect research on current and prospective individual, corporate, and foundation donors. Identify philanthropic interests, giving capacity, and relationship opportunities.
- In collaboration with the Donor Relations Officer, develop proposals, briefing materials, cases for support, donor reports, and stewardship materials.
- Maintain strong relationships with existing donors while identifying opportunities to deepen engagement or grow philanthropic opportunities.
- Ensure donor activity is documented within the organization's CRM.
- Lead annual fundraising planning and campaign strategy.
- Collaborate with the Communications team to align fundraising campaigns with organizational messaging.
- Ensure fundraising activities comply with CRA regulations and organizational policies.
Funder & Partner Stewardship
- Manage relationships with foundations, major donors, corporations, and other philanthropic funders.
- Coordinate funding agreements, reporting requirements, and stewardship commitments.
- Collaborate with program and finance teams to ensure timely reporting.
- Identify renewal and expansion opportunities with current funders.
- Support proposal development and funding strategies where appropriate.
- Lead the submission of grant proposals and applications to individual family foundations or philanthropic opportunities, in partnership with Programs, Finance, Senior Management Team, and Donor Relations Officer.
Leadership & Team Management
- Supervise, coach, and support the Donor Relations Officer.
- Establish priorities and annual workplans for the philanthropy function.
- Serve as the fundraising subject matter expert for integrated fundraising campaigns by partnering with the Communications team to shape strategy, represent the donor perspective, and provide guidance on fundraising best practices, while Communications leads campaign execution.
- Foster collaboration across Programs, Communications, Finance, and Operations.
- Promote a culture of philanthropy throughout the organization by engaging staff, leadership, and Board members in fundraising activities.
- Model donor-centred fundraising practices and relationship management.
Operations & Reporting
- Oversee fundraising systems, processes, and donor management practices.
- Monitor fundraising revenue, pipeline activity, forecasting, and donor engagement metrics.
- Develop reports for the Executive Director, Board, and Senior Management Team, as required.
- Support annual budgeting and revenue forecasting.
- Ensure donor stewardship commitments are fulfilled.
Other
- Attend Action Canada all-staff meetings.
- Participate in organizational planning initiatives.
- Provide information and support to other departments as required.
- Other duties as assigned by the Employer.
Qualifications
- University degree or college diploma in Fundraising, Major Gifts, Sales, or related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Minimum seven (7) years progressive fundraising experience.
- Demonstrated success securing and stewarding major gifts and high net worth donors.
- Experience leading fundraising strategy and revenue growth.
- Minimum of three years’ staff management/supervisory experience.
- Experience preparing fundraising strategies, proposals, and donor communications.
- Strong understanding of donor stewardship and relationship management.
- Experience working with Boards and senior volunteers.
- Knowledge of CRA charitable receipting regulations and giving vehicles.
- Experience using donor CRM systems (CiviCRM, Raiser's Edge, or similar).
- Eligible to work in Canada.
Required Knowledge, Experience & Competencies
- Exceptional relationship-building and interpersonal skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong presentation and facilitation skills.
- Strategic thinker with excellent planning and organizational abilities.
- Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
- Strong analytical and financial forecasting skills.
- Strong project management skills.
- Strong computer skills, including with Microsoft Office (Word and Excel skills required), online conferencing tools (Zoom), project management (Asana), and cloud-based document management (Dropbox, SharePoint);
- Knowledge, understanding, and commitment to sexual and reproductive rights and a person’s right to determine their own sexual and reproductive choices;
- Commitment to anti-racism, anti-oppression and intersectional feminist practice;
- Commitment to and demonstrated effectiveness working as part of a participatory, cross-professional team; ability to develop strong working relationships with coworkers;
- Demonstrated experience with CRM databases.
Hours, Compensation and Benefits
This is a full-time (37.5 hours per week), salaried position, on a two-year contract with the possibility of renewal. Starting salary for this position is set at $95,000 per year, with annual increases for years 2-5. Action Canada also provides a generous benefits program, including extended health and dental benefits, leave allowances, and RRSP contributions.
Location
Action Canada's offices are based in Ottawa, Ontario. Candidates for this position may be based in Ottawa (and may work either from the office or from a remote work location, e.g. home office) or elsewhere in Ontario. All candidates must be legally able to work in Canada.
To Apply
Please submit your application using the form on Action Canada’s website by 11:59pm EST on Friday, October 30. You will be asked to submit your cover letter, resumé, and answer a few short questions. Should you have difficulties with the application form, or should you require any accommodations or assistance, please email jobs@actioncanadashr.org.
Please ensure all application components are submitted, as incomplete applications will not be reviewed. You may submit your cover letter and resumé as Word documents or PDFs, and a combined document is preferred.
Hiring Process and Timeline
Applications will be accepted until Friday, October 30. Interviews will be held the weeks of November 9 and 16, with an ideal start date of January 11, 2027.
The hiring process will include a panel interview to take place over video conference (Zoom). We will provide the interview questions by email, one hour before the interview. Candidates will be asked to provide three references, and those moving to the next round will have references checked.
Action Canada is committed to working within an anti-racism and anti-oppression framework and dismantling the white supremacy inherent to the SRHR movement. We are explicitly inviting women and gender diverse members of Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities to apply and self-identify in your cover letter. We welcome applications from people living with disabilities; please let us know, by emailing jobs@actioncanadashr.org, if you require accommodations at any stage of the recruitment process.
We thank all applicants in advance, however, only those invited for an interview will be contacted.
We sincerely appreciate your time and interest in Action Canada.