The Tyee Is Hiring a Manager of Supporter Engagement

Love independent media and the engaged readers who give it life? We may have a job for you.

The Tyee is hiring a manager of supporter engagement to work out of our Vancouver, B.C., office. The position is full time, Monday to Friday.

The Tyee’s business model is centred on earning revenue through our reader support program called Tyee Builders. Over the last 10 years, revenue from Tyee Builders has increased 10-fold and has supported the growth of our non-profit newsroom.

As manager of supporter engagement, you’ll play a critical role in our business operations by supporting the Tyee Builders program. You’ll provide prompt and helpful responses to supporter inquiries, make sure supporter swag is mailed out and keep our donor records up to date and accurate in our Salesforce database.

You’ll work as part of our audience development team to come up with new initiatives to retain supporters, improve their user experience and act as a conduit of feedback from our supporters back to our editorial team.

The manager of supporter engagement also helps to plan and execute reader engagement events put on by The Tyee.

The Tyee is on the cusp of an exciting new development — in the next year, we expect to gain registered journalism organization status, which means we’ll be able to issue tax receipts to our supporters. When we gain that status, you’ll work to make sure our new receipting system is working properly and getting Canada Revenue Agency-compliant tax receipts sent out to donors.

This job is ideally suited for someone who is an empathic and organized communicator. We’re looking for someone who will treat our Tyee Builder members as the highly valued community they are. You’re comfortable picking up the phone to call our supporters and approaching all manner of feedback with humility, diplomacy and creative problem-solving. It very much helps if you are an avid reader of journalism and a fan of The Tyee, as you’ll be connecting with other readers and supporters.

Work will mostly be done out of our office in downtown Vancouver, but there is some flexibility to work some days from home.

The position is full time (37.5 hours per week). The salary range for this role is $54,000 to $59,000 per year. Benefits include starting with three weeks' paid vacation, phone and computer allowance and extended health benefits.

Responsibilities:

• Responding to supporters’ needs and queries by email and phone
• Executing a Tyee Builder stewardship plan that is developed in collaboration with the publisher
• Measuring success of our stewardship activities
• Testing and tweaking our onboarding and stewardship activities to improve our retention rates and reduce churn, and encourage referrals
• Assisting in membership campaigns (sending out swag, lining up books to give away, etc.)
• Keeping donor records up to date in Salesforce database
• Acting as the main database (Salesforce) administrator
• Developing how-to manuals to document standard operating procedures for records management
• When The Tyee achieves qualified donee status, ensuring donors get accurate, CRA-compliant tax receipts
• Assisting in planning and executing online and in-person reader engagement events

Requirements (the right candidate ticks these boxes):

• At least two years of experience working in a donor relations or customer relations role
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Demonstrated ability using database to maintain contact records, ideally using Salesforce
• Effective time management skills and self-regulated work ethic

Bonus skills (great to have, but not a deal-breaker if you don’t have these right now):

• Experience organizing events
• Donor stewardship and fundraising experience
• Familiarity with online events platforms (Eventbrite, Zoom events, etc.)
• Experience working in a charitable organization

If you think you’d be a good fit, please submit your cover letter and resumé explaining why you are interested in this opportunity to jobs[at]thetyee[dot]ca. Please put "Manager of Supporter Engagement" in the subject line. The deadline for applications is midnight Pacific time on Friday, Feb. 2. Read the full job description.

The recruitment process will include at least two rounds of interviews and may include a paid skills test.

We recognize the importance of a diverse workforce. We encourage applications from people who may be underrepresented in the industry and are committed to fostering a welcoming culture that encourages flexibility and inclusion.

If you’re a people person, love independent media and want to be part of growing a non-profit news outlet, we’d love to hear from you.