Business / Development Manager

The mission of The Good Dog Foundation, Inc. (Good Dog) is to ease human suffering from anxiety and trauma, support childhood learning, and assist people overcoming disability and disaster using Animal Assisted Intervention. To do this, Good Dog trains volunteers with especially loving, well-mannered pet dogs to be Certified Therapy Dog teams, deploying hundreds of them for hour-long visits to hospitals, schools, universities, nursing homes, libraries, special needs facilities and workplaces across the Greater NYC / Tri-State Area. Good Dog is the only therapy dog organization in the area offering authentic Certification, which requires annual re-evaluation. We also provide Professional Certification training for educators and others intending to partner with their dog in a professional practice. Good Dog’s mission also includes scientific research on the biochemical, emotional and social wellbeing of our human handler volunteers, their dogs, and those they visit The Business / Development Manager reports directly to Good Dog’s Vice President for Business Development. The successful candidate will be part of a team working under the strategic guidance of the organization’s Executive Director and, on occasion, its Founding President. Key responsibilities : Secure new accounts and associated revenue acting as an employee amenity sales rep for Good Dog’s Corporate Partnership Initiate - Workforce Wellness visit program . The program, whose clients include some of the world's largest banks and law firms, utilizes expertly trained and certified therapy dog teams (dog + human handler) to provide highly valued visits for employees and executives helping to ease stress, improve collaboration, and build trust among employees. NIH and other research data show a surge in feel-good hormones is an instant outcome of these visits, which are joyous, cost-and time-effective for Good Dog corporate clients. Note: The growth of earned income as a proportion of annual revenue is a strategic goal for the Foundation. Cultivate and steward major charitable donors and find new ones , following up on leads provided by Good Dog's volunteers and Volunteer Manager, other staff members, Board of Directors, current donors, and others. In addition to growing earned income, donated income remains the most significant source of revenue for nonprofits like Good Dog. With the support of Good Dog's Chief Content Officer (among others), spearhead development of Good Dog communications for charitable income , including the foundation's Annual Appeal and Gala-related direct mail; create an annual report and other communiques that help in donor acquisition; track donor giving, create and disseminate timely acknowledgements and donation reports ; and support the VP for Business Development in creation and updating of sales materials for the Corporate Partnership Initiative. Skills Needed : The chief skill sets required for this job are grounded in excellent sales practices! B2B Prospecting : This is a very dynamic position for an energetic listener and "closer," skilled at finding, reaching out, building, leveraging and sustaining relationships with corporate executives and their employees (and occasionally HR Directors and Facility/Workplace Experience Managers) as well as with Good Dog volunteers (human handlers and their dogs). It includes substantial local travel to locations around the NY metro area in addition to work from home (all Good Dog staff work from home). Counselor Selling : The Good Dog Development Manager is a great listener/communicator, someone who strives first to understand individual corporate concerns about employee wellbeing and then focuses the pitch on the data needed to demonstrate that Good Dog's workforce wellness program supports these concerns, delivering a joyful, efficient, economical solution. Acquiring knowledge of Good Dog operations, research, and the examples of other corporate clients is essential. Account Management : Ongoing cultivation of each account is essential. This requires attending all or most scheduled therapy dog visits at your clients' workplaces to ensure a smooth Workforce Wellness experience for the clients and the visit volunteers, taking every in-person opportunity to deepen the relationships with employees and executives for potentially growing further engagement, including annual corporate memberships, support of the gala, or other sponsorship opportunities. Development Professionalism : The above skills, applied with nonprofit-appropriate sensitivity, inderlie acquisition and stewardship of individual donors and the cultivation of major donors. This may include one-on one engagement with potential major donors through phone conversations, accompanying them on therapy dog visits, lunches, coffees, etc. to deepen their interest in and support of Good Dog. Communications: Excellent written communication skills are essential for both earned and donated revenue generation including proposals, invitations to events, updates on newsworthy developments at Good Dog, etc. This includes assisting in the presentation of slide shows, print collateral and website materials. Details : Corporate Partnership Initiative - Reporting to the VP for Business Development, this role requires cultivating new and sustaining existing relationships with corporate partners through Good Dog's Workforce Wellness program, and encouraging partners to expand their support through annual membership and support of the Good Dog Gala. Converting Corporate Inquiries into WW Visit Sales - This also includes scheduling, tracking, voicing and otherwise coordinating the details of the visits, as well as following up and sustaining regular contact with the corporate clients. Participating in the Corporate Partnership Council - This is an advisory group of professionals who support Good Dog's efforts to develop corporate support. These individuals also contribute an annual fee to Good Dog. The Development Manager will provide administrative support to plan 3-4 Corporate Partnership Council meetings per year. Developing the Annual Appeal Theme - Under the guidance of the Executive Director, help determine the "focus" of Good Dog's annual appeal, the centerpiece of which is a calendar with exquisite portraits of Good Dog volunteers and/or their pets. This includes writing a draft of the calendar preface and website descriptive information and instructions for donating and/or purchasing additional calendars. Gala Production - The annual gala is our biggest fundraiser of the year. And the Development Manager will play an important role in ensuring its production. Prospect Research - M ining our growing constituency for potential supporters, and helping to develop appropriate outreach to engage them. Capital Campaign - Assist in planning for an upcoming capital campaign. Qualifications: Dog lover - big time Bachelor's degree required 5+ years of proven successful sales experience and/or nonprofit development experience Strong interpersonal skills; community-minded, relationship-oriented Interest in or familiarity with Animal Assisted Therapy and the ability to galvanize donors behind our healing mission The ability to work remotely and in person, both with energetic independence and collaborative zeal with a small staff, including handling administrative tasks and multitasking, when needed, and with the self-starting drive to achieve deadlines and revenue goals Mastery of the MS Office suite (especially Excel, Word, Power Point) or equivalent as well as fundraising/CRM software, particularly Salesforce Careful attention to detail is a must, along with solid writing and editing skills A "people person" who derives joy from helping others, who has empathy and simultaneously can act with boldness and resolve in supporting The Good Dog Foundation Apply : Please, no calls. Submit your resume and cover letter with references for consideration to: [email protected] Resumes without cover letters will not be reviewed. Salary : Base pay $75,000 - $86,000 (pending experience, proven sales record, and other factors) plus an opportunity for bonus compensation for surpassing budgeted goals (TBD), with salary increases contingent on performance and goal achievement Location: Greater NY Metro / Tri-State area; work from home plus regular, in-person attendance helping supervise therapy dog visits at client venues primarily in Manhattan and occasionally in other boroughs or nearby suburbs. Benefits: Health insurance plan Paid time off ______________________ The Good Dog Foundation strongly encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, religion, age, color, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, marital status, or veteran status.