Senior Fundraising Activation Specialist

About Us:
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) was founded in 2000 with one clear objective: accelerating meaningful therapeutic advances and, ultimately, a cure for Parkinson’s disease (PD). The Foundation applies extraordinary scientific, business and media assets to this singular focus—thus creating a unique and dynamic organization. Since inception, MJFF has quickly grown into the largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson’s disease research, having funded over $2 billion in research projects in both academic and industry labs worldwide.

Core to our philosophy is how we think of our capital and its risk profile relative to other stakeholders in the drug development pipeline. We work aggressively to de-risk various therapeutic strategies and tools in the hopes of building a robust pipeline of new treatments for patients. In order to achieve our mission of finding a cure for PD it is critical that we engage with, and bring together, members of the PD community including researchers, physicians, health professionals and most important, people with Parkinson's and their families.

We believe that to find a cure for PD as quickly as possible, our capital needs to push research forward today—we therefore deliberately hold no endowment or excessive reserves. We instead seek to deploy funds raised as quickly and wisely as possible. MJFF raises over $100 million annually. Today, the Foundation has approximately 300 full-time employees. We offer a collegial and collaborative environment where optimistic problem-solvers and entrepreneurial, resourceful individuals can thrive and make a tangible difference for millions of people living with Parkinson’s disease.

Position Summary:
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (“the Foundation”) is seeking top talent for its Senior Fundraising Activation Specialist position.  The Fundraising Activation team amplifies and leads marketing and fundraising strategies across development, provides audience-specific recommendations and identifies data-driven areas for improvement across the Development business unit’s campaigns and projects. This role is on a team of marketing specialists with a specific focus on strategizing and executing projects under the Foundation’s Peer to Peer Program and plays a major role in developing paid media strategies across fundraising programs.

Reporting to the Director of Fundraising Activation, this position develops, articulates, evaluates and leads Peer to Peer marketing and promotion strategies while maintaining a holistic perspective of the Foundation’s fundraising program, with consideration for goals, budget, channels, audiences and industry benchmarks. This role synthesizes several goals and provides solutions for complex and matrixed constituencies. The position leads the execution of the unified strategies aligned across channels and Development priorities.

This position may be hybrid-flex with the opportunity to work out of the Foundation’s office in New York City or based remotely.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

• Lead creation and manage implementation of multi-channel strategies targeted to increase Peer to Peer donor engagement and registrations through conversion, renewal and stewardship campaigns
• Create marketing and promotional strategies that meet registration and revenue goals for Peer to Peer programs. With clear communication, align with Project Leads and Project Managers on timing, deliverables and tactics
• Lead paid media strategy for all fundraising programs, partnering with the paid media agency to develop and execute plans aligned with each program’s goals, objectives and audience targeting
• Oversee and execute strategies of the Peer to Peer social media platforms including Team Fox profiles on Instagram and Facebook
• Work with cross-divisional teams and external vendors with a high degree of autonomy to provide direction and oversight to ensure all strategies and tactics are executed to the Foundation’s standard with accountability for executional elements
• Primary liaison with multiple external vendors and internal partners to determine media mix, creativity, content, format, testing strategies and budget allocation for each channel to develop and execute Peer to Peer fundraising and marketing tactics
• Partner within Fundraising Activation and Fundraising Strategy & Operations to determine feasibility, operational effectiveness, streamlining opportunities, data reporting and data coordination for the Peer to Peer program efforts
• Provide analysis and recommendations for program-level campaign needs for conversion, renewal, engagement and stewardship campaigns across all Development fundraising and donor programs
• Present, contribute and influence insightful analysis of Peer to Peer program-level and campaign-level results, including testing outcomes to translate performance into actionable take-aways
• Align Peer to Peer marketing and promotional strategies within the Development Business Unit into a cohesive, united year-long cadence of campaigns that amplify programmatic strategies. Through shared goals and metrics, regularly evaluate and adjust marketing plans to improve performance and efficiency
• Design and convey messaging priorities, strategic tactics, audience details and channel-specific goals for Peer to Peer programs to share across Development, Marketing and Communications to bring uniformity, clear direction and data-driven targets to constituent touchpoints
• Coordinate with project manager group to oversee Communication, Creative, Paid Media, Social, Print, Email and other outreach tactic deliverables

Qualifications and Skills:

• Relevant experience in creating fundraising and donor marketing strategies for a variety of audiences, channels and donor types
• Relevant experience in digital channels (email, paid media, web) and direct mail for fundraising activation, metrics and insights, and messaging development
• Relevant experience designing and implementing major fundraising go-to-market campaigns with measurable outcomes and impact across multiple programs
• Strong initiative, curiosity, creativity with problem solving and a drive for personal growth, learning and individual and team success
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to communicate needs and ideas accurately, clearly, concisely and professionally and ability to translate programmatic ideas into strategic communications
• Ability to lead peers, manage deliverables from multiple teams, and delegate day-to-day tasks to Fundraising Activation team members
• Innovative and continuous improvement mindset, able to be solution-oriented with demonstrated success in converting challenges into opportunities
• Highly motivated and organized; self-starter with ability to take direction and participate effectively in a team environment
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Word)

Salary and Benefits:
The salary range for this position is $90,000 to $110,000.  In addition to salary, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research offers a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• 15+ options for medical insurance (with the Foundation paying 90 percent of the premiums)
• Competitive dental and vision plans
• 401(k) plan with 6 percent employer contribution
• Flexible spending accounts
• Employer paid life and disability insurance
• 18 Vacation Days; 12 Well-Being (Sick) Days; 2 Personal Days; summer Fridays (office closure at 2 p.m.) and a summer holiday week over July 4
• Two ways of working: hybrid-flex, or remote work.  We trust all employees to work closely with their manager and colleagues to determine when, where and how programs and projects get done. 

Employees are also eligible for a discretionary bonus on an annual basis. The Foundation provides staff and leadership cultivation through regular training courses and events. 

How to Apply: 
Interested candidates should submit a resume and thoughtful cover letter describing through examples, their specific qualifications and interest in the position. If you think that your skills are transferable and can add value to this role, please apply. Applicants who best match the position’s needs will be contacted.

MJFF is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from individuals who will contribute to our efforts to build and support a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce. Diversity may refer to characteristics including, but not limited to, race, religion, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic circumstance, geographic background, ability and disability, political ideology and age.