Mission Advancement Manager

Mission Advancement & Marketing Manager

• Organization: Heartland Animal Shelter
• Type: Full-time
• Location: Hybrid
• Department: Mission Advancement & Marketing
• Reports To: Mission Advancement & Marketing Director

How to Apply: Email a cover letter and resume to [email protected]

Overview:

Looking to match your professional drive with a passion for animals? Welcome to Heartland Animal Shelter. We are a progressive, community-forward organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting human-animal bonds, and redefining animal welfare. For an ambitious professional, Heartland isn’t just a place to work—it’s a launchpad. Here, you will find an energetic, collaborative environment where your ideas are valued, your network will expand, and your hustle directly impacts hundreds of homeless animals and the people who adopt them every single day.

Heartland Animal Shelter is seeking a highly organized, strategic, and results-driven Mission Advancement & Marketing Manager to split their expertise between high impact fundraising (70%) and digital storytelling (30%) . This dual role is responsible for raising $250,000 in event and campaign revenue, while simultaneously owning Heartland’s day-to-day social media ecosystem to drive audience engagement, adoptions, and donor stewardship.

The ideal candidate is a collaborative project manager and creative storyteller who excels at direct sponsorship solicitation, community relationship-building, on-site event operations, digital content strategy and storytelling.

Core Responsibilities:

Revenue Generation (45% – Fundraising Component)

● Target Ownership: Drive strategies to meet or exceed the annual $250,000 revenue target across ticketing, table sales, peer-to-peer registrations, live/silent auctions, Fund-A-Cause appeals, and third-party events.

● Fundraising Professionalism: Actively identify, cultivate, and steward new and existing supporters, donors, and corporate partners across all events, campaigns, and advancement initiatives to deepen their connection to Heartland.

● Sponsorship Procurement: Conduct proactive outreach to local businesses, veterinary clinics, pet stores, and community shops to secure mid-level cash sponsorships, vendor village booths, and gala program advertisements. Partner with the Director on high-level corporate outreach ($2,500+).

● Fulfillment & Benefit Management: Serve as the primary point of contact for sponsors. Collect logos, manage the master fulfillment checklist, coordinate guest lists, and ensure all marketing/promotional deliverables are perfectly executed.

● Auction Procurement: Oversee all aspects of live and silent auction solicitation for the Gala. Source in-kind items, manage procurement letters, bundle items into high-value experiential packages, write descriptions, and manage inventory tracking in the event software.

Event Strategy, Marketing & Fundraising Support (15% – Fundraising Component)

● Associate Board & Third-Party Support: Provide strategic support for fundraising events driven by Heartland’s Young Professionals cohort. Serve as the primary contact for external, community-led third-party fundraising events.

● Campaign Strategy: Evaluate digital and physical asset requirements needed to drive ticketing, peer-to-peer fundraising, and auction engagement. Draft and submit comprehensive marketing requests to the Director.

● P2P Fundraising Enablement: Develop and design fundraising templates, sample social media copy, and tip sheets to empower peer-to-peer fundraisers.

● Recruitment & Outreach: Analyze registration platform data and conduct targeted engagement touchpoints with past top fundraisers, table hosts, and attendees to drive participation.

● Communication Mapping: Draft automated confirmation forms, email copy, and operational instructions for all event payees regarding next steps (e.g., meal selections, waivers, registration details).

Event Operations, Logistics & Day-Of Execution (10% – Fundraising Component)

● Project & Committee Management: Establish timelines, milestones, and physical layouts for major events. Identify, recruit, onboard, and facilitate monthly meetings for volunteer event planning committees.

● Vendor, Infrastructure & Permitting: Source in-kind partners and serve as the main operational contact for event infrastructure partners (catering, AV, rentals). Submit necessary applications for municipal park use, street closures, amplification permits, and required insurance.

● On-Site Leadership: Serve as the primary point of contact for site execution, volunteer mobilization, vendor load-in, space adjustments, and minute-by-minute timeline management on event days.

● Post-Event Evaluation & Stewardship: Coordinate comprehensive post-event thank you campaigns for participants, committees, and sponsors. Design and execute a formal event evaluation process (debriefs, feedback) within 7–10 days of event completion.

Social Media Content Management & Strategy (30%)

● Content Acquisition & Process Design: Create, implement, and maintain a streamlined internal process and strategy for acquiring compelling, real-time multimedia content (photos, videos, stories) from Heartland staff, medical teams, and volunteers.

● Calendar Management: Build, curate, and manage a robust weekly schedule of high-quality content across all active social media platforms, ensuring a consistent and engaging brand voice.

● Representation & Audience Alignment: Maintain a diverse, balanced, and equal representation of Heartland’s cats, dogs, and shelter priorities. Strategically tailor content to engage all core audiences: adopters, fosters, volunteers, donors, and the general public.

● Analytics & Reporting: Track, measure, and analyze social media metrics and KPIs to evaluate content performance, audience growth, and campaign conversion rates.

● Team Collaboration: Actively participate in weekly marketing team meetings to align digital content with organizational priorities, shelter promotions, and upcoming development goals.

Experience:

● 2–5 years of professional experience in non-profit event fundraising, peer-to-peer campaign coordination, and digital marketing/social media management.

● Experience balancing both community engagement and revenue-driven goals is highly preferred.

● Experience independently initiating donor prospecting, solicitation and stewardship.

● Exceptional written and verbal communication skills for drafting fundraising appeals, corporate sponsor proposals, and compelling social media copy.

● Comfort working alongside finance teams to propose event budgets, meticulously track active event expenses, and maximize net profit projections to hit revenue targets.

● Experience with fundraising CRM systems (e.g. DonorPerfect, Bloomerang, Salesforce or similar), Event Management Systems (e.g. GiveSignUp, Clickbid, Givebutter, Give Smart, OneCause or similar)

● Proficiency with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other social channels.

● Proficiency with social media management and analytics tools (e.g., Meta Business Suite, Hootsuite, Canva, or similar

● Track record of building an internal content-gathering pipeline, maintaining content calendars, analyzing digital metrics, and creating inclusive stories that engage diverse audiences.

● Strong interpersonal skills to effectively collaborate across shelter departments, coordinate volunteer committees, and interview staff/volunteers for content creation.

Core Values & Culture Expectations:

At Heartland Animal Shelter, our choices and actions are guided by our commitment to create a world where animals and people thrive. As a representative of the Mission Advancement and Marketing Team, this role is expected to fully embody and exhibit the core values of compassion, community-oriented, respect, collaboration, safety, trust, and integrity.

Compensation and Benefits:

The salary range for this position is $50,000-$55,000 for a full-time role (40 hours/week) depending on experience. Benefits include flexible schedule, paid time off, health insurance, retirement plan and at-cost veterinary services and medications.

Physical Requirements:

Ability to lead physical event day setups, handle event supply transport, and work flexible hours including select nights or weekends for major events.