At Startup Canada, we are on a mission to promote, educate, connect and give a voice to Canada’s entrepreneurs. We are the gateway to Canada’s entrepreneurial ecosystem that points entrepreneurs in the right direction, eliminates barriers, and champions their needs to private and public sector partners. We connect entrepreneurs with support organizations and peers across the country with industry expertise, regional knowledge, and funding to help them start and build successful businesses.

Our Vision: To make Canada the best place in the world to start and operate a business

Our Mission: To connect Canada’s entrepreneurs with the tools, community, and support they need to start and build their businesses.

Our employees are smart, professional, energetic, and driven by a passion to create the best programs and resources for entrepreneurs. Our culture of diversity, excellence and autonomy empowers our team to achieve goals they did not think possible. For those on board, it is going to be a challenging and rewarding journey! 

This new position is a full-time remote role. We are ideally looking for a candidate who resides in Ontario (Toronto, Waterloo Region, Kingston, Ottawa) to have the opportunity to collaborate with management, and other team members in real life from time to time, but are open to candidates across the country. 

About the Role

In this role, you will support the organization's relationship and fundraising activities with partners to grow our impact in advancing entrepreneurship in Canada. We’re looking for someone who is energized by meeting with multiple types of stakeholders, has a passion for developing and owning creative partnerships, and an ability to fundraise effectively in a non-profit environment. 

Responsibilities will include: 

Fundraising 

• Supports the development of an annual fundraising strategy in partnership with the CEO.
• Researches, and Identifies paid partners (mainly in the private sector), government grants, and program grants to apply for, in partnership with the CEO. 
• Supports fundraising of the annual revenue target ($2M) for Startup Canada. This is the #1 priority for the role! 
• Develops corporate relations contacts and opportunities and converts them into sponsors.
• Ensures exceptional relationship management of existing partners through regular check-in on the phone and in person, thoughtful gestures and invitations, and securing participation in their programming with Startup Canada CEO;
• Participates in the Private Sector Leadership Advisory Council with the support of the Startup Canada team (meets twice annually).

Paid Ecosystem Partnerships 

• Supports the development of an annual Ecosystem Partnership Strategy, developed by the Manager of Ecosystem partnerships, in partnership with CEO, and Startup Canada staff. 
• Identifies and pursues opportunities to scale Startup Canada’s impact through strategic partnerships. This could include but is not limited to incubators, accelerators, non profits, charities, and other support organizations helping early stage entrepreneurs. 
• Identifies key national sponsors in the ecosystem to partner with across Startup Canada’s flagship programs. 
• This includes 1) Startup Canada Tour 2) Startup Women 3) Startup Global 4) Digital programs 
• Identifies key local sponsors in the ecosystem to partner with across Startup Canada’s flagship programs.
• This includes 1) Startup Canada Tour & regional partners per stop 2) Startup Women 3) Startup Global 4) Digital programs 
• Leads the development of feedback surveys of sponsors, and achieving target satisfaction metrics, and net promoter score.

Role Roadmap

• First 3 months: on-boarding, participating in the 2024 sponsorship process (led by Startup Canada CEO), shadowing CEO during business development meetings, calls, and ongoing communications. Developing follow up materials, proposals, and revised templates with support by the CEO, and conceptualizing ongoing prospect list. 
• 3-6 months: Finalizing list of new prospect partners, and 2024 relationship management framework. Develop Q2/Q3/Q4 partnership strategy for flagship programs and additional revenue streams, and begin fundraising. 
• This includes, but is not limited to:
• Branding partnerships 
• Speaking opportunities & workshops 
• Podcast advertising and communications campaigns 
• Strategic partnerships (hotel partnerships, apparel partnerships)
• 6-9 months: develop 2025 sponsorship strategy with CEO, taking additional leadership responsibilities
• 9-13 months: implement 2025 sponsorship strategy with increased leadership responsibility, fundraising targets, and relationship management scope 

This role has growth opportunities in 1) management 2) leadership/strategy development 3) increased fundraising responsibility and commensurate compensation 

Knowledge and Skills

• 2-3 years of business development and partnership experience. 
• Excellent interpersonal skills and communications skills to maintain relationships with a variety of stakeholders both internally and externally. This role will involve frequent meetings (virtually, and occasionally in person) 
• Proven track record of meeting or exceeding fundraising targets
• Resourceful-ness - we’re looking for a candidate who will take initiative, and make it happen!  
• A self-starter who is adaptable and possesses creative problem solving skills. Each partnership is unique - we’re looking for a candidate who can work thoughtfully, and collaboratively with multiple types of stakeholders, and develop valuable partnerships and relationships that are rooted in impact. 
• Excellent organization, multi-tasking and coordination skills to effectively manage many different partnerships concurrently (including preparatory materials, quick follow ups, and be able to track partnership status effectively). Experience building a partnership dashboard, CRM, or prospect pipeline is valuable! 
• High competence level in clear and concise verbal and written communication, including excellent skill sets in writing. 
• Strong judgment and ability to meet with executive-level stakeholders independently, professionally, and with confidence. 
• Ability to meet concrete deadlines, including fundraising milestones, and partnership milestones. 
• Knowledge of the following tools is helpful (but not essential)
• Notion (or another type of project management tool)
• Gsuite 
• Excellent attention to detail. 
• Motivated, enthusiastic, and flexible attitude, with ability to work as a team player. This role will work collaboratively with program leads, ecosystem partnership manager, and most frequently directly with the CEO. 
• Willingness to be flexible and versatile in a changing work environment while maintaining effectiveness and efficiency.
• The ability to write and speak French is preferred, but not essential. 
• Perform a wide variety of tasks with little supervision or direction. We’re looking for a self-starter who is motivated to develop creative partnership ideas, and implement them! 

Benefits and Perks 

• We prioritize balance. We offer generous time off, including 10 days of paid vacation, 5 mental health days, a paid holiday closure (10 days), paid sick leave, and mid-year mental health breaks (in total, over 5 weeks of time off for all starting employees!)
• Flexibility first. Team members work flexible work hours every day (from all across the country), including 4-hour Fridays. 
• Continuous improvement. We offer annual budgets, and time off to pursue professional development activities. When you grow, we grow. We always allow for flexibility for entrepreneurs on our team (running their own businesses while working at Startup Canada)! 
• Benefits. We provide a comprehensive benefits package, including dental. This role is also eligible for a discretionary performance (organizational and individual) bonus.