Stewardship Lead
- Toronto, ON, Canada
Full-time
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Job details
- Job type
- Full-time
- Apply by
- Experience
- 5-8 years of progressive experience in stewardship, donor relations, fundraising, or a related field.
- Posting language
- English
- Posted
Original job description
Hybrid
Full Time, Permanent
Level 9
Requisition Number: DEV-2026-002
Covenant House helps youth ignite their potential and reclaim their lives. As Canada’s largest agency serving youth who are homeless, trafficked or at risk, we offer the widest range of services to hundreds of young people every day.
More than a place to stay, we provide life-changing care with unconditional love and respect. We meet youth’s immediate needs and then we work together to achieve their future goals. We offer 24/7 crisis shelter transitional housing options on-site and, in the community, health and well-being support, training and skill development, and ongoing care once youth move into the community.
For over 40 years, Covenant House has been dedicated to its mission of serving youth on the street and to protect and safeguard all youth with absolute respect and unconditional love. Since 1982, Covenant House has supported more than 100,000 young people.
Overview: This is a unique opportunity to help build Covenant House Toronto's stewardship program during a transformational period of growth. As Covenant House Toronto prepares for the largest capital campaign in our history, the Stewardship Lead will play a central role in designing and delivering an exceptional donor experience. As part of a $150M campaign, this role will oversee stewardship for more than 200 campaign gifts of $25,000+, helping ensure every donor receives a meaningful and personalized experience.
As an early member of the campaign team, you'll shape Covenant House Toronto's campaign stewardship program, building on the strong foundation established by our Donor Experience and Development Services teams. Working collaboratively across the organization, you'll develop campaign-specific stewardship strategies, donor recognition programs, reporting frameworks, and engagement opportunities that elevate the donor experience and support the success of the campaign. As part of a highly collaborative team, you'll balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution.
Most importantly, you'll help inspire the philanthropic support needed to ensure young people at risk of and experiencing homelessness have the opportunity to heal, grow, and build stable futures.
We are currently recruiting for 1 Full Time, Permanent Stewardship Lead. This is a new role within the organization
Responsibilities:
Stewardship Strategy & Donor Experience (40%)
- Develop and oversee individualized stewardship plans for campaign gifts of $25,000+, working closely with gift officers to ensure stewardship commitments are delivered, whether by leading stewardship activities directly or supporting the primary relationship manager in their execution.
- Develop and implement the stewardship strategy, frameworks, processes, tools, and service standards that will support campaign donors throughout the lifecycle of the campaign.
- Develop creative recognition opportunities that reflect donor impact, correspond with gift levels, and inspire future giving.
- Lead the development and implementation of campaign donor recognition programs, including naming opportunities, donor walls, plaques, signage, and digital recognition, with a particular focus on creating the recognition framework for Covenant House Toronto's new building.
- Collaborate with architects, designers, consultants, and internal stakeholders to integrate donor recognition into the new facility.
- Ensure recognition commitments align with donor agreements and organizational policies.
- Design and coordinate meaningful donor engagement opportunities, partnering with frontline fundraisers and with the Donor Experience team to deliver donor visits, tours, milestone celebrations, recognition events, and campaign experiences.
- Represent Covenant House Toronto at donor and community events, as required.
- Contribute to campaign planning, fundraising initiatives, and donor engagement strategies.
- Partner with the Donor Support team to develop and deliver donor impact reporting, stewardship communications, and measurement frameworks that demonstrate the outcomes of campaign investments.
- Maintain campaign stewardship systems and workflows to ensure donor commitments, reporting, and recognition obligations are fulfilled.
- Ensure campaign stewardship activities are accurately documented and comply with donor agreements and organizational policies.
- Monitor campaign stewardship performance and identify opportunities to improve processes, systems, and donor experience for the campaign.
- 5-8 years of progressive experience in stewardship, donor relations, fundraising, or a related field.
- Demonstrated experience building and managing donor stewardship, engagement, recognition, or donor experience programs.
- Strong project management, communication, and relationship-building skills, with experience managing multiple stakeholders and priorities.
- Experience working with donor databases, reporting tools, and fundraising technology.
- Experience supporting a large capital campaign, major gifts program, donor recognition initiative, or naming opportunities is a strong asset.
- Proven ability to enhance or build new processes and initiatives while managing day-to-day execution in a collaborative, fast-paced environment.
- A passion for creating meaningful donor experiences.
What we Offer:
- Meaningful work.
- Competitive compensation.
- Benefits such as Health, Dental, Vision, Personal Days, Employee Assistance Program, Tuition Reimbursement and more.
- Employee perks which include discounts on gym membership, city bike rentals, auto & home insurance and more.
Use of AI and Technology in the Hiring Process
Covenant House Toronto does not use artificial intelligence (AI) to make or inform hiring decisions. However, we do use an external applicant tracking system (ATS) to help manage applications efficiently.
While our ATS may apply automated filters or sorting functions, all applications are reviewed and evaluated by human recruiters. No hiring decisions are made by AI.
Commitment to Equitable Recruitment
At Covenant House Toronto we believe in a workplace culture of inclusion that is welcoming, respectful and safe for all staff. It is critical to Covenant House Toronto success to eliminate barriers and promote the inclusion of equity groups. Equity groups have been, and continue to be, underrepresented and marginalized in the workforce, leadership roles, and in some specific occupations. Equity groups include but may not be limited to Indigenous persons, racialized people, gender diverse people, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and people with disabilities.
In accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code, Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and Covenant House Policy on Accommodation, a request for accommodation will be accepted as part of the Covenant House recruitment process.
Please visit our careers page to see more job opportunities.
More about this job
Responsibilities
Develop and manage stewardship strategies and personalized experiences for campaign donors, including recognition programs, naming opportunities, engagement events, and impact reporting. Maintain stewardship systems and workflows, ensure donor commitments are fulfilled, and collaborate across teams and with external partners to support the capital campaign.
Requirements
Requires 5–8 years of progressive experience in stewardship, donor relations, fundraising, or a related field, along with experience building or managing donor experience programs. Candidates should bring strong project management, communication, and relationship-building skills, experience with donor databases and fundraising technology, and the ability to manage multiple priorities; capital campaign or donor recognition experience is an asset.
Skills
- Donor Stewardship
- Donor Relations
- Fundraising
- Project Management
- Donor Engagement
- Donor Recognition
- Capital Campaigns
- Major Gifts
- Naming Opportunities
- Impact Reporting
- Stewardship Communications
- Donor Database Management
- Fundraising Technology
- Stakeholder Management
- Process Improvement
- Relationship Building
Benefits
- Health Benefits
- Dental Benefits
- Vision Benefits
- Personal Days
- Employee Assistance Program
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Gym Membership Discounts
- City Bike Rental Discounts
- Auto and Home Insurance Discounts
Visa sponsorship
Not detected in the job text
Categories
- Management & Leadership
- Social Services
- Marketing
Keywords
- Stewardship
- Donor Relations
- Fundraising
- Capital Campaign
- Major Gifts
- Donor Experience
- Donor Recognition
- Naming Opportunities
- Donor Walls
- Plaques
- Signage
- Digital Recognition
- Donor Engagement
- Impact Reporting
- Stewardship Communications
- Donor Database
- Reporting Tools
- Fundraising Technology
- Project Management
- Stakeholder Collaboration
- Donor Agreements
- Campaign Planning
- Performance Measurement
- Process Improvement
- Nonprofit Organizations