1. Fundraising Role and responsibilities - a) Role

This section aims to clarify the roles and responsibilities of individuals and departments in managing individual revenue opportunities at Tides Canada, including donations and fee for service contracts. This document aims to:

  • define the specific fundraising roles that exist for each opportunity and how these should be assigned;
  • define the specific responsibilities and accountabilities of each role with respect to the full range of activities involved in managing revenue opportunities.

a) Roles

Each revenue opportunity will have staff assigned to the following roles (note: the same person may be assigned to multiple roles):

Role Primary Responsibilities Guidelines and Considerations Recorded Where
Account Lead
  • serves as the primary point of contact for the household or organization for Tides Canada
  • internal gatekeeper and point of reference for all Tides Canada business involving the household or organization
  • authorized to initiate new fundraising opportunities related to the household or organization  (see Identify and record an opportunity)
  • The Account Lead will serve as the Opportunity Lead on most opportunities for a given account.
  • Staff should check with the Account Lead first before initiating any new activity or business with an account.
  • Applicable to all stakeholder accounts (e.g. DAFclients, project staff, grantees), not just donors and prospects.
  • Account Lead field on Account object.

Opport-unity Lead
  • is accountable for the revenue and budgetary expectations associated with a specific opportunity
  • serves as the primary Tides Canada point of contact for the prospect with respect to the specific opportunity
  • oversees all cultivation, solicitation and stewardship activities connected to the opportunity
  • Best practice is for a single staff, normally the Account Lead, to be assigned as Opportunity Lead on all current open opportunities with one funder
  • The only exception to this is when the prospect has indicated they are comfortable working with multiple TC staff members concurrently and this has been approved by the VP Development and Strategic Initiatives
  • Opportunity Lead on Opportunity object.
Program Lead
  • manages the program/project an opportunity to designated to (for restricted gift)
  • delivers the solution to the client (for fee for service contracts)
  • For Strategic Programs, this is usually the relevant Program Lead
  • For new or proposed program areas not yet assigned to a Program Lead, this will be the Director of Strategic Programs
  • For TCI projects, this will be the TCI Project Specialist, who will serve as representative of the Project Director in this role
  • For programs and TCI projects: Fund Role record related to a fund that the opportunity is allocated to.
  • For fee for service contracts, Service Delivery Lead lookup field on opportunity object.

Develop-ment Lead
  • ensures strategic alignment and coordination between this opportunity and the broader fundraising activities and objectives of the organization
  • ensures appropriate internal coordination in managing the overall relationship with a prospect, especially when multiple Opportunity Leads are concurrently assigned to a single prospect
  • ensures that the opportunity is fully leveraged to the maximum benefit of the organization as a whole
  • serves as the development team’s primary internal point of contact concerning the status of the opportunity
  • ensures Tides Canada’s donor stewardship and recognition policies are properly and consistently applied
  • Where the Opportunity Lead is a development team member at the Director level or below, the Opportunity Lead will be the same person as the Development Lead
  • Where the Opportunity Lead is the VP Development or the CEO, the Development Lead will have additional responsibilities relating to execution of fundraising activities (see below)
  • A single development team member will be assigned as Development Lead for all opportunities associated with the prospect. In these cases, the Development Lead will have a critical role in ensuring a coordinated, strategic approach to managing the relationship with the donor overall.
  • Development Lead field on Account object.
Finance Lead

ensures that Tides Canada’s policies with respect to pricing and overhead allocations are followed at all stages of an ask

creates budgets for funders that reflect the approved financial plans of the organization and related policies

generates financial reports that are accurate and consistent with Tides Canada’s accounting policies

recording actual and expected overhead and salary recovery allocations in the appropriate information system (Salesforce/NetSuite/Adaptive)
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