About The Wakeman Agency
Founded in 2003, The Wakeman Agency is a social change communications firm, providing support to progressive nonprofits, foundations and socially responsible companies. Known as “the people behind the people at the forefront of social change and innovation,” The Wakeman Agency serves as a trusted advisor to organizations around the globe. Our core services include strategic communications and advisory, special events, thought leadership development and crisis communications
Job Summary
We are looking to expand our team to include another Senior Events Manager. The candidate will have a proven record of delivering breakthrough events strategies and programs from developing and managing the timeline to executing critical engagement tactics at the events that achieve and exceed our clients’ goals. We work primarily with nonprofit and social enterprise organizations. The SE Manager would be responsible for creating revenue-generating events that help our clients fundraise and amplify their work. The ideal candidate will have experience with fundraising events and understand the unique needs of the nonprofit community. In addition, the SE Manager, will also manage conferences and other types of branded engagements for clients.
This is an opportunity to be a key contributor at a growing agency. This position demands an exceptionally creative and dynamic special event professional who is organized and can manage a variety of projects, personalities and deliverables, often at the same time.
Responsibilities
- Develop concepts for client events tied to key business objectives and goals
- Create production documents to give clients visual overview of the event environment
- Develop fundraising strategies to maximize revenues for fundraising events
- Cultivate and nurture relationships with a portfolio of individual donors, corporate sponsors, and key partners, ensuring long-term engagement and support for client initiatives
- Support clients with engaging current and potential donors, keeping them informed about the impact of their contributions and fostering deeper connections
- Manage event staff during the planning and execution of events
- Execute full project plan around each event
- Present innovative, creative concepts to clients that help to tell their narrative at the event
- Create and manage event budgets
- Manage prep and debrief/postmortem process with senior team for each event to identify process improvements
- Create status reports documenting progress of event projects
- Staying abreast of technology trends and resources that can be used for events
Requirements
- 7+ years successful event management experience
- Comfortable working with Boards of Directors and donors on behalf of clients
- Experience creating unique and valuable programs and events
- Demonstrated ability to build and lead projects from inception to completion
- Experience with virtual event platforms and live streaming
- Understanding of events and sponsorship cycles
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Comfortable conceptualizing large scale events
- Ability to handle projects of sensitive or urgent nature in a professional/timely manner
- Flexibility to work outside of normal business hours (as necessary) for evening events
- Proven track record of planning and executing events with targeted financial goals
- Internet savvy
- Familiarity with CRM tools (Salesforce, etc)
- Comfortable and artful at managing client expectations.
If the idea of planning events for progressive organizations that endeavor to change the world is appealing, then we’d love to hear from you. Women, People of Color, People with Disabilities and LGBTQ people strongly urged to apply.
This is a consulting position with an hourly rate of $40-$55 per hour. Qualified candidates expressing interest in this position in a part-time capacity will also be considered.
Apply
To apply, please send a resume to [email protected]. In the subject line, please write: Special Events Manager. If you do not meet the criteria for this role, but are interested in future opportunities that may be better suited for your skillset, we would still like to hear from you! Send your resume to [email protected] with the subject line: Talent 2025.