Job: Development Director (Northwest Trail Alliance)

Job Title: Development Director
Company/Organization: Northwest Trail Alliance

Job Description:
Northwest Trail Alliance (NWTA), a Chapter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association, formed in 1988 as the Portland United Mountain Pedalers (PUMP). The group re-branded in 2009 to become Northwest Trail Alliance. NWTA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

We are an alliance of mountain bikers and off-road cyclists dedicated to creating, enhancing and protecting riding opportunities in NW Oregon and SW Washington.

We advocate for trail access.
We promote responsible mountain biking.
We build and maintain sustainable trails.
We love riding them.
More information about the organization can be found here: www.nw-trail.org

The organization has recently increased its level of activity, visibility, and level of member participation. We have excellent relations with various land managers and enjoy some of the best trail riding anywhere. We are pursuing additional opportunities with other land managers to create even more riding areas throughout the region, including:

Signature purpose-built trail networks at Sandy Ridge and Stub Stewart State Park

Gateway Green – a regional scale bike park planned in the heart of Portland

Cascade Locks – over 20 miles of new trail in the Columbia Gorge

Eichler Park – Rehabilitating an underutilized dirt jump park in Beaverton

Powell Butte – Working with IMBA and the City of Portland to re-design existing trail network

A new gravity-oriented trail network in the Tillamook State Forest

In addition, in July of 2010 NWTA was awarded a $75,000 grant to purchase a custom trail building machine, Singletrack LLC’s ST-240. NWTA will take delivery of this machine in April of 2011. This machine will form the foundation for our recently announced Trail Development Partnership Program, and which will leverage resources to build mountain bike trail projects in the region.

NWTA is seeking a Development Director with the primary aim of establishing a larger and more stable funding platform, and more effectively engaging our members and the larger mountain biking community. Interested candidates should be extremely dynamic, hard working and multi-talented, with the desire and skills to help grow the organization by working effectively with the Board of Directors, our members, and our growing list of business and public partners. The person filling this position has an exciting opportunity to raise visibility for the organization, and capture the energy and enthusiasm of mountain bikers throughout the region to create a mountain biking mecca. And, that person will get to ride some great trails in the process!

Primary duties will include:

Fundraising- Building on the organization’s recent successes, and a significant challenge grant from the Board, develop a comprehensive fund-raising strategy to be initiated within the first 2 months. Identify, refine and execute opportunities for fund-raising through events, membership drives, sponsorships, partnerships and grants. Develop and maintain donor list, coordinate donor asks, and organize and oversee fund-raising events involving business partners and member volunteers.

Membership Development- Dovetailing with the above fund-raising activities, develop and implement a program for membership recruitment that increases overall membership numbers, member involvement and camaraderie.
Communications- Working with the Board and our Communications Team, increase exposure and more effectively engage our members and partners.

This is anticipated to be a part-time position initially – approximately 20 hours/week. We hope to develop this into a full time position with expanded duties, as additional funds are raised.

The ideal candidate will:

Be highly personable, approachable and engaging
Be highly motivated and self-directed
Be passionate about biking and creating additional off-road riding opportunities in our area
Have experience fundraising for non-profit organizations including soliciting sponsorships, event coordination, and grant writing
Have the ability to engage, motivate and organize volunteers on a variety of internal and external projects
Have excellent writing and verbal skills
Have experience with media relations
Have experience with social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter and leveraging these to maximize exposure and participation
Have experience with programs such as Photoshop or similar programs to assist in creating notices, flyers, web content, press releases, etc.
Involvement with the local cycling culture/industry preferred.

Interested parties should submit a letter of interest and resume. Letter of interest should include the following:

• Share a couple of ideas on how you would more effectively engage our members, sponsors, and partners to raise funds and visibility for the organization
• Write a short press release announcing your hire
• Tell us about your favorite trail
• Interviews will be conducted with select candidates, with the intent of hiring by the end of February 2011. Salary dependent on experience and skill set.