Canvass Director

Reports to: VP of Membership, The Bay Citizen

About The Bay Citizen:

The Bay Citizen is a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit journalism organization that provides in-depth original reporting on critical San Francisco Bay Area issues including public policy, education, the arts and cultural affairs, health and science, the environment, and more. 

Launched mid-2010, we are a dynamic startup of around 30 employees. Our newsroom of full-time reporters and editors, led by a Pulitzer Prize-winning Editor in Chief, has already won numerous journalism awards. Our news appears online daily at baycitizen.org and in print in The New York Times’s Bay Area report twice a week.

Position summary:

Grassroots canvassing plays a crucial role in spreading awareness about The Bay Citizen, encouraging community engagement, and recruiting donors to enhance The Bay Citizen’s financial strength and sustainability.

The Canvass Director is the key leader managing the entire Bay Area-wide canvassing program, with bottom-line responsibility for achieving fundraising and campaign goals. 

The best candidate for this position will be an experienced fundraiser, a seasoned manager, a strategic program planner, a motivating trainer and will have a deep understanding of the power the canvass builds for The Bay Citizen. This is a senior level, full-time position located in San Francisco, CA.

We are looking for candidates with a strong commitment to and desire for political and social change, and who feel passionately about the role journalism plays in our society. 

The starting salary for this position is $35,000-40,000 (commensurate with relevant experience), plus excellent healthcare benefits: comprehensive and fully-paid single health coverage including medical, dental, vision, and 401K

Responsibilities include:

You recruit, train and manage a staff of 5 to 10 people, who conduct face-to-face membership drives in the field. You train your staff in effective canvassing techniques, you identify those who show the most potential, and you teach them how to be leaders. You also enforce performance standards, which may include issuing warnings and dismissals.

You raise funds for The Bay Citizen, recruiting over 7,500 new donors each year and seeking to reach or exceed your fundraising goals. You'll go out in the field yourself two to three times a week to train staff, raise money, identify members, activate supporters and educate the public.

You raise awareness for The Bay Citizen. As the public “face” of the organization, you maintain the highest standards of professionalism among the canvass team to ensure that people’s interactions in the field with The Bay Citizen are always professional, positive, helpful, and informative. 

You create and analyze field reports each week assessing performance with an eye on income, attrition, new members per shift, monthly donors, average donation, and other key factors, highlighting any key positive or negative trends and making changes to maximize the efficacy of the canvass.

You carefully steward donors, ensuring that all donor data is collected and secured within 24 hours of receipt and that all membership data is secure at all times, that members are being debited in a timely manner after signing up on the street. You’ll regularly work with the Membership department to monitor member feedback and track cancellation trends.

You provide excellent customer service to ensure that members are receiving thank you letters and welcome calls, and that any complaints are dealt with in a timely manner. You may also coordinate our phone banking efforts, including calls to renew last year’s donors. 

You innovate by creating, testing, and implementing new methods of accomplishing fundraising goals, including new ways to motivate your team. You support your staff in creating, testing and implementing innovative ideas.

You administer a large fundraising budget and make sure the office runs smoothly, performing whatever administrative responsibilities are associated with your campaign work, including payroll and reporting for the canvassing team.

You may also play a key role in efforts to engage the community, including organizing volunteers, hosting donor meetings, helping with event organization and tabling campaigns, etc.

Experience Required: 

• Canvass Management Experience: 12+ months demonstrated success as a Canvass Director leading a face-to-face canvass program.  Assistant Canvass Director experience would be considered in exceptional cases. Bay Area canvassing experience a plus.
• Experience using appropriate data analysis to inform decision-making.
• Proven leadership skills and the ability to train and manage staff and inspire teams.
• Experience in handling and resolving customer service issues in a timely and professional manner.
• Experience analyzing data including effects of programmatic changes, scheduling, scripting and other program elements.
  
  

Skills & Characteristics: 

• Ability to manage and motivate a large team of staff.
• Ability to identify, recruit, train and retain staff.
• Short-term and long-term strategic planning skills.
• Ability to analyze data, make recommendations and turn those recommendations into action.
• Proficiency in Excel, Word, e-mail and database programs.
• Highest levels of integrity.
• Passionate about the importance of journalism’s role in our society.

If interested and qualified, please send your cover letter and resume to Rose_Roll@baycitizen.org.