Direct Marketing Officer

The Garvan Research Foundation is the fundraising and marketing arm of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, tasked with raising and administering vital funds from private individuals, trusts and foundations and corporate and community groups. The Foundation also delivers Garvan’s public engagement and awareness activities. These educate and advocate the need for and importance of Garvan’s medical research as well as share news of its progress with the broader community.

The Foundation’s income has grown from a fundraising base of $110,000 in its first year to more than $40 million in 2018. The remarkable success of the Foundation’s activities is having a catalytic impact on the Institute’s ability to make scientific contributions that will improve human health.

The Opportunity

Reporting to the Fundraising Manager, this is an opportunity for an enthusiastic professional to develop and implement a strong, compelling and personalised appeals program to achieve income targets and the Foundation’s objectives of:

• engaging existing donors in the mission of the organisation;
• retaining existing donors and increasing their level of giving;
• attracting new supporters to help grow and diversify Garvan’s income sources

The Foundation’s direct marketing activities include donor appeals, acquisition appeals, engagement and supporter care communications. Channels used include direct mail, email, telemarketing, online, social media and potentially television and radio.

The Direct Marketing Officer (DM Officer) position requires an enthusiastic, skilled and strategic person who can work autonomously. The DM Officer must work collaboratively with the wider Foundation team, including Marketing & Communications, Philanthropy and Supporter Services.

Key Responsibilities

The DM Officer is responsible, in collaboration and consultation with the Fundraising Manager, for:

• Developing fundraising plans aimed at acquiring new donors, retaining and upgrading existing donors and achieving income targets

Implementing all aspects of a strong, compelling, personalised appeals program and supporter care communications

Managing income and expenditure budget for campaigns

• Liaising with the Supporter Services team to ensure all communications are donor-centric and briefing all campaigns so they are accurately and efficiently integrated into the database
• Identifying and evaluating new fundraising opportunities through testing and creative thinking and continuously developing fundraising and marketing knowledge

• Producing post campaign reports working with the data team, and implementing learnings in future initiatives

About You

• Tertiary qualifications in marketing and/or ADMA certification and/or Fundraising Institute Australia certification would be highly regarded
• Previous experience (3 years or more) in strategy and implementation of direct marketing campaigns
• A strong understanding of direct marketing principles in NFP is desirable
• Strong experience of print production and print management;
• Ability to think through, and manage, a project through its lifecycle;
• Donor-oriented, with good customer service skills;
• Good copywriting skills;
• Excellent computer literacy, including intermediate to advanced experience with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
• Experience in high level database use; Raisers Edge highly desired