Colorado Nonprofit Association

Fundraising & Events Manager

About Big City Mountaineers

At Big City Mountaineers, we bring the transformative power of time spent in nature to a generation of young people who face increased barriers to outdoor access, as well as other systemic challenges in their lives. A BCM experience helps youth better connect with themselves, with nature, with their community, and with a sense of joy. By providing free, fully outfitted, and professionally led day trips, frontcountry overnights, and weeklong backcountry expeditions, we’re able to give youth ages 12 to 18 the opportunity to strengthen their skills, their mental and physical health, their social-emotional well-being, and help them become better stewards of our planet.

For over 34 years, BCM’s programming has shown staying power beyond the norm, and has come to be a recognized and highly regarded national nonprofit.  BCM is at an exciting point in its history, one that holds great potential and opportunity to meaningfully scale our work and mission with fidelity. Our team includes a dedicated staff, seasonal trip instructors, and volunteers.

Though we are headquartered in Colorado, Big City Mountaineers’ reach is national. We are located on the ancestral territories of the Ute and Arapaho, (Denver, CO), the Sioux and Anishinibawaki (Minneapolis, MN), the Ohlone, Ramaytush, Chochenyo, and Muwekma (San Francisco Bay Area), the Duwamish (Seattle, WA) and the Muscogee Creek and Shawnee (Birmingham, AL).

Position Overview

The Fundraising & Events Manager plays a pivotal role in keeping BCM’s development functions healthy and strong. This position will work closely with BCM’s development team in all aspects of fundraising, and will be primarily responsible for BCM’s community fundraising events nationwide, as well as seeing BCM’s signature peer-to-peer adventure fundraising campaigns successful. These campaigns are well known and well loved, help to engage many outdoor enthusiasts in BCM’s mission, and represent an important source of revenue that support BCM’s youth programs.

This position can expect to have frequent communication with BCM’s community of supporters via phone, email, and in person, and will often be responsible for making the first contact with people interested in engaging with BCM.

Having direct prior experience in the areas mentioned below is valuable, but what is most important is being personable, engaging, and inspirational to others; creative and enthusiastic; organized, detail oriented, and fastidious. These personal characteristics will be essential in the day-to-day work of engaging BCM’s supporters around our mission. This position is an excellent opportunity for individuals who love to get others inspired and engaged with causes they care about; and are motivated to gain broad and varied mid-career experience in fundraising with a nationally recognized nonprofit focused on youth development, equity, and outdoor access.

This position will report to the Director of Development, and will work closely with BCM’s leadership, Communications Manager, Volunteer and Operations Coordinator, community volunteers and program team.

Essential Duties

Event Coordination and Management (40%)

• Plan, oversee, and Execute BCM’s annual fundraising and community events in all our program regions: With the support of BCM’s leadership, set the strategy and vision for BCM’s fundraising and community events.
• Set and track progress towards goals for BCM’s fundraising events; ensure goals are closely related to development KPIs
• In collaboration with the Communications Manager, develop and execute an event marketing strategy
• Serve as primary point of contact for all incoming inquiries related to events
• Maintain BCM’s national calendar of non-program events
• Serve as primary point of contact for event partners, collaborators, supporters, and vendors
• Manage (or delegate) all event logistics and administrative needs, both leading up to and during events
• In collaboration with the Volunteer and Operations Coordinator, ensure that all events are staffed by volunteers
• Solicit and coordinate all in-kind donations for silent auction, raffle items, venue space, catering at events; some travel within the Denver Metro area will be necessary.
• Data management of solicited in-kind donations, donors, event volunteer engagement in Salesforce
• Provide in-person management of events; some out of state travel (15%) and outside business hours will be required.
• Purchase all event materials/supplies, track budgets; participate in creation of event budget

Adventure Fundraising Campaign Oversight (25%)

• Develop and execute outreach and marketing campaigns to recruit participants for BCM’s Adventure for Someone peer-to-peer fundraising program and more structured adventure fundraising opportunities
• Prospect and recruit guide and adventure travel companies to engage with BCM as charitable beneficiaries of their services
• Work directly with peer to peer fundraisers to ensure their campaigns are successful
• Manage BCM’s fundraising platforms on Classy; create fundraising pages for and with AFS and charity climb participants
• Secure all gear and experience incentives for fundraisers and their donors; oversee and implement incentive fulfillment
• Serve as liaison between BCM and guide companies participating in charity climbs and similar as appropriate

General Fundraising and Development Support (20%)

• Attend weekly internal meetings: All Staff, Development, Communications and Program; bi-weekly Board Development/Marketing Communications meeting
• Participate in annual creation and monthly tracking/reforecasting of fundraising budget – both revenue and expenses
• Assist with Corporate, Individual and Family Foundation outreach efforts as needed
• Research and vetting of potential Foundation and Governmental grants
• Other administrative duties as directed by the Executive Director, Director of Development, Board Development or Marketing Communications Committees

Data Entry and Management (15%)

• Track and maintain the accuracy of BCM’s fundraising information in Salesforce on a weekly basis; generate reports as needed
• Process and deposit hard copy checks and ACH deposits into Salesforce
• Prepare donor acknowledgement letters to be physically printed and mailed on a weekly basis
• Participate in monthly review of Fundraising revenue accuracy in Salesforce

Role Requirements

• Personal and professional values consistent with BCM’s mission, values, and principles, including principles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Unwavering belief in the power of nature-based experiences to help youth make connections with themselves, with their communities, with nature, and with joy
• Demonstrated success recruiting and supporting others to show up and raise money for a cause they believe in
• Prior professional or personal experience in nonprofit fundraising, specifically managing events, peer-to-peer fundraising, building relationships with corporate and individual donors
• Knowledge of and experience with outdoor recreation activities
• Prior professional experience representing an organization to external parties (vendors, customers, donors, volunteers) in a customer service role, or similar
• Demonstrated ability to make meaningful, authentic connections with people across various lines of difference
• Demonstrated ability to handily and meticulously manage administrative details, including maintaining accurate and complete data that is available in real time
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in multiple formats (written and verbal) to diverse audiences
• Clean driving record and access to personal transportation
• Ability to work occasional non-traditional hours for events and some national travel
• Personal desire to expand in a fundraising focused career and commitment to increase knowledge in a development specific role
• Willingness and ability to become Games Manager certified in the State of Colorado
• Competence using technology platforms that enable effective remote collaboration (Salesforce, Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom, Classy)
• Ability to set priorities and manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Ability to work both collaboratively and independently, and to know when each is required

Additional Preferred Qualifications

• Personal experience with and passion for youth development, outdoor recreation, outdoor access, and experiences in nature
• Familiarity with the regions and local communities BCM serves
• Familiarity and connections with outdoor recreation communities that are likely to participate in Adventure Fundraising and events
• Knowledge of and connections to the communities that support – or might support – BCM’s work that operate in our current service regions and nationally.
• Interpersonal awareness, ability to cultivate trusting interpersonal relationships and connect with people across lines of difference
• Comfort giving and receiving feedback up and across a supervisory hierarchy
• Willingness to hold self and others accountable for all organizational policies
• Personal or professional experience, familiarity, and comfort in backcountry and outdoor settings
• Experience working with a remote team in multiple time zones with various communications styles 
• Candidates will ideally live in, or plan on relocating to, the Denver, CO metropolitan area. However for the right candidate, there is potential to be virtual.