Stewardship Lead

Stewardship Lead

Development Services Department

Hybrid

Full Time, Permanent

Level 9

Requisition Number: DEV-2026-002

Covenant House helps youth ignite their potential and reclaim their lives. As Canada’s largest agency serving youth who are homeless, trafficked or at risk, we offer the widest range of services to hundreds of young people every day.

More than a place to stay, we provide life-changing care with unconditional love and respect. We meet youth’s immediate needs and then we work together to achieve their future goals. We offer 24/7 crisis shelter transitional housing options on-site and, in the community, health and well-being support, training and skill development, and ongoing care once youth move into the community.       

For over 40 years, Covenant House has been dedicated to its mission of serving youth on the street and to protect and safeguard all youth with absolute respect and unconditional love. Since 1982, Covenant House has supported more than 100,000 young people.

Overview: This is a unique opportunity to help build Covenant House Toronto's stewardship program during a transformational period of growth. As Covenant House Toronto prepares for the largest capital campaign in our history, the Stewardship Lead will play a central role in designing and delivering an exceptional donor experience. As part of a $150M campaign, this role will oversee stewardship for more than 200 campaign gifts of $25,000+, helping ensure every donor receives a meaningful and personalized experience.

As an early member of the campaign team, you'll shape Covenant House Toronto's campaign stewardship program, building on the strong foundation established by our Donor Experience and Development Services teams. Working collaboratively across the organization, you'll develop campaign-specific stewardship strategies, donor recognition programs, reporting frameworks, and engagement opportunities that elevate the donor experience and support the success of the campaign. As part of a highly collaborative team, you'll balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution. 

Most importantly, you'll help inspire the philanthropic support needed to ensure young people at risk of and experiencing homelessness have the opportunity to heal, grow, and build stable futures.

We are currently recruiting for 1 Full Time, Permanent Stewardship Lead. This is a new role within the organization

Responsibilities:

Stewardship Strategy & Donor Experience (40%) 

• Develop and oversee individualized stewardship plans for campaign gifts of $25,000+, working closely with gift officers to ensure stewardship commitments are delivered, whether by leading stewardship activities directly or supporting the primary relationship manager in their execution.
• Develop and implement the stewardship strategy, frameworks, processes, tools, and service standards that will support campaign donors throughout the lifecycle of the campaign.

Donor Recognition & Naming Opportunities (30%)

• Develop creative recognition opportunities that reflect donor impact, correspond with gift levels, and inspire future giving.
• Lead the development and implementation of campaign donor recognition programs, including naming opportunities, donor walls, plaques, signage, and digital recognition, with a particular focus on creating the recognition framework for Covenant House Toronto's new building.
• Collaborate with architects, designers, consultants, and internal stakeholders to integrate donor recognition into the new facility.
• Ensure recognition commitments align with donor agreements and organizational policies.

Donor Engagement & Campaign Support (10%)

• Design and coordinate meaningful donor engagement opportunities, partnering with frontline fundraisers and with the Donor Experience team to deliver donor visits, tours, milestone celebrations, recognition events, and campaign experiences.
• Represent Covenant House Toronto at donor and community events, as required.
• Contribute to campaign planning, fundraising initiatives, and donor engagement strategies.

Impact Reporting & Stewardship Communications (10%)

• Partner with the Donor Support team to develop and deliver donor impact reporting, stewardship communications, and measurement frameworks that demonstrate the outcomes of campaign investments. 

Stewardship Operations & Performance (10%)

• Maintain campaign stewardship systems and workflows to ensure donor commitments, reporting, and recognition obligations are fulfilled.
• Ensure campaign stewardship activities are accurately documented and comply with donor agreements and organizational policies.
• Monitor campaign stewardship performance and identify opportunities to improve processes, systems, and donor experience for the campaign.

Qualifications

• 5-8 years of progressive experience in stewardship, donor relations, fundraising, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience building and managing donor stewardship, engagement, recognition, or donor experience programs.
• Strong project management, communication, and relationship-building skills, with experience managing multiple stakeholders and priorities.
• Experience working with donor databases, reporting tools, and fundraising technology.
• Experience supporting a large capital campaign, major gifts program, donor recognition initiative, or naming opportunities is a strong asset.
• Proven ability to enhance or build new processes and initiatives while managing day-to-day execution in a collaborative, fast-paced environment.
• A passion for creating meaningful donor experiences.

Don’t meet every requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet all qualifications. If you are excited about the role but your resume doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the description, apply anyway. You may still be the right candidate for this or other roles.

What we Offer:

• Meaningful work.
• Competitive compensation.
• Benefits such as Health, Dental, Vision, Personal Days, Employee Assistance Program, Tuition Reimbursement and more.
• Employee perks which include discounts on gym membership, city bike rentals, auto & home insurance and more.

Interested candidates are welcome to apply directly to this posting on or by October 13, 2026. Only those selected to move forward in our recruitment process will be contacted. No agencies or phone calls please. 

Use of AI and Technology in the Hiring Process

Covenant House Toronto does not use artificial intelligence (AI) to make or inform hiring decisions. However, we do use an external applicant tracking system (ATS) to help manage applications efficiently.

While our ATS may apply automated filters or sorting functions, all applications are reviewed and evaluated by human recruiters. No hiring decisions are made by AI.

Commitment to Equitable Recruitment

At Covenant House Toronto we believe in a workplace culture of inclusion that is welcoming, respectful and safe for all staff. It is critical to Covenant House Toronto success to eliminate barriers and promote the inclusion of equity groups. Equity groups have been, and continue to be, underrepresented and marginalized in the workforce, leadership roles, and in some specific occupations. Equity groups include but may not be limited to Indigenous persons, racialized people, gender diverse people, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and people with disabilities.

In accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code, Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and Covenant House Policy on Accommodation, a request for accommodation will be accepted as part of the Covenant House recruitment process.

Please visit our careers page to see more job opportunities.