Supporter Journeys Manager

BACKGROUND

Over the past 80 years, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has developed unparalleled expertise in responding to emergencies and helping uprooted communities to rebuild. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster.

The International Rescue Committee UK is part of the IRC global network, which has its headquarters in New York and London. The IRC is on the ground in more than 40 countries, providing emergency relief, relocating refugees and rebuilding lives in the wake of disaster. Through 22 regional offices in cities across the United States, the IRC also helps refugees resettle in the US and become self-sufficient.

The IRC is committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation in all aspects of our work, creative partnerships and, most crucially, accountability to those we serve. The IRC is a tireless advocate for the most vulnerable.

CONTEXT, MASS MARKETING

IRC's Mass Markets department (part of the External Relations Unit) is responsible for the global delivery of Circa USD $65m, of predominantly unrestricted funding, contributing to a total of circa $USD240m that the International Rescue Committee currently raises in total from the private sector, the Mass Markets department plays an important strategic role in the creation of IRC’s brand, awareness and support for its advocacy goals.

The IRC's strategy centers on its ambition to continue to improve the scale and effectiveness of IRC programs worldwide with evidence of what works best to impact people’s lives in conflict and fragile settings. The fundraising pillars of the External Relations Unit comprises colleagues and teams delivering marketing, account management, leadership gifts, board liaison, corporate partnerships, brand stewardship and communications to support this work.  These colleagues are primarily located in the USA at present – but IRC plans to significantly expand its global fundraising footprint.  Other colleagues within IRC are also deeply engaged with private funding & partners – in particular within Europe, US Resettlement and field program – and we need to work in close integrated collaboration to ensure best use of resources and highest impact for IRC.

THE PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

As Supporter Journeys Manager you report to the Senior Director, Supporter Experience & Retention and will work in close collaboration with colleagues across the globe, including with mass marketing country teams, channel specialist, MarComms, Procurement, IT, Legal and Finance etc.

In this role you support the day to day development and delivery of IRC’s supporter journeys with the aim of achieving enhanced supporter experiences across all markets. These enhanced supporter journeys will, in engaging supporters and positioning the right ask to them at the right time, lead to more members of the public becoming long term IRC supporters, including giving on a regular basis (sustainers) and at higher levels (e.g. mid value supporters) . Ultimately the aim is for supporters to ‘stick’ to IRC for longer, give more frequently and give at higher values while also engaging more in IRC’s mission and cause. In so doing, the aim is for the IRC to improve the life-time value of its supporters (LTV).

With the above in mind, you will support the development of IRC’s supporter journey in key existing markets (being the US, UK, Germany, Sweden and remote markets) as well as any new markets IRC will enter into such as South Korea, Canada or Spain.

The Supporter Journeys Manager works in close collaboration with team members in each market to support those markets to develop and deliver highly optimized supporter journeys. This will also include ensuring IRC has fully optimized welcome series for all new supporters, ongoing supporter communication cycles, cross and upsell offers (be they for example rescue gifts or legacy giving), engaging content, creative and product offers, retention and saving approaches as well as reactivation of lapsed supporters which will be delivered in a multi-channel approach. He/she will also help support our approach on testing in supporter journeys ensuring tests are coordinated and analysis is being used so that we have a data driven program.

While covering all supporter segments and audiences/profiles within mass marketing, the post holder will have a special focus throughout on key segments, those being sustainers and mid value donors.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Support the Senior Director of Supporter Experience and Retention in the delivery of IRC’s supporter journey work.
• Support the delivery of plans in market in close collaboration with marketing colleagues, and ensure they are rolled out across IRC.
• Assist in the set up and assessment IRC’s supporter journeys market per market (Supporter Journey audits).
• Support on plans and the implementation of new or optimized supporter journeys.
• Check in on progress by supporting on conducting regular reviews and recommendations for further improvement.
• Keep track of supporter journeys in the sector by mystery shopping and report back to ER colleagues on them.
• Help ensure that IRC’s supporter journey approach is widely understood within IRC and that the organization embraces and supports its advancement.
• Assist in the reporting, KPI, data and analysis required for the delivery of optimized supporter journeys. Make sure the necessary benchmarks, dashboards and reports are in place and being used to inform decisions and direction. Monitor results and do analysis that will help adjust strategies to maximize revenue/engagement.
• Support marketing teams to ensure supporter are receiving a fully optimized supporter journey which includes asks and touch points across a multiple set of channels where appropriate, for example via digital, mail and telephone.
• Ensure in a test, assess, adopt and scale methodology across markets. Ensure tests are conducted in a statistically appropriate manner, with the right analysis and reporting. Be responsible for fostering a testing culture in all areas of supporter journeys.
• Work across markets to help introduce, set up and optimize surveys, profiling, focus groups, questionnaires etc. with the aim of getting a deeper understanding of who our supporters are, what motivates them and what they want in return from IRC. Use this information to deliver better and more tailored supporter journeys to them.
• Explore and help mass marketing teams deliver new and innovative ways to engage with our supporters as part of the supporter journey.
• Support the Senior Director, Experience and Retention in making recommendations to IRC senior management for additional investments in supporter journeys
• Support in the recruitment/procurement of any global agencies/consultants/firms working on supporter journeys and manage the delivery of plans/SOW.
• Coordinate with colleagues in Comms on brand to ensure supporter journeys have brand appropriate content.
• Coordinate with colleagues in International Partnerships & Philanthropy (IPP) on supporter engagement campaigns with Corporate brands, recent partners include for example: TripAdvisor, Airbnb and Google.
• Coordinate with IT for needs related to the development of supporter journey. Work in close collaboration on all platforms as required to ensure IRC can deliver effective supporter journey.
• Work proactively and in a collaborative fashion with colleagues throughout IRC, especially those critical to delivering the supporter journey, including; MarComms, Advocacy, Legal and Finance, Procurement, RAI, IPP and USAPhil
• Take on special projects as assigned by the Senior Director, Supporter Engagement and Retention.
• Keep up to date on trends both in NGOs and the commercial sector.