Vice President, Mission (Project Management)

About Us

Make-A-Wish^® Canada creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. We are on a quest to bring every eligible child's wish to life because a wish is an integral part of a child's treatment journey. Research shows children who have wishes granted can build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight a critical illness.

Since 1983, Make-A-Wish Canada has granted over 38,500 wishes across the country, over 1,000 last year alone. As an independently operating affiliate of Make-A-Wish International, Make-A-Wish Canada is part of the network of the world's leading children's wish-granting organization. We serve children in every community in Canada, and in more than 50 countries worldwide.

Context

It continues to be a very exciting time at Make-A-Wish Canada! Over the past two years, we have grown wish delivery by 100%, reaching 2,011 children in 2024 with the healing power of a wish—this was more children than any previous year in the history of our organization.  Despite this success, we currently have over 3,700 children currently waiting in our program, with more being referred every day.  A new child is diagnosed with an eligible critical illness every two hours, and we aim to build a program where we can reach every eligible child with an impactful wish experience that improves their health outcomes.

A wish is more than just a moment in time, it is a carefully curated journey designed to complement the medical journey of a child to bring them strength, confidence, and hope when they need it the most.

To respond to this challenge, we are defining our next three-year strategic plan with an intentional focus on financial sustainability, mission impact, and operational efficiency.  For this exciting role, the incumbent will play a formative role in driving our mission strategy in support of these goals. This will require strong leadership, innovative thinking, and commitment to carefully evolving our program to ensure our wish journey is delivering measurable impact to the health and wellness children and families in need of the transformational benefits of a wish.  If this mandate excites you, please read on!

Role Overview

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, this role oversees 2 Directors directly, and 20 indirect reports. The successful candidate will have accountability for strategic planning, national mission operations, and collaboratively support execution of all mission related goals.  As a member of the organization's Senior Leadership Team, this leader will contribute nationally and collaborate across the country. Our successful candidate will demonstrate the skills and experience to lead strategically and compassionately with the overall goal of elevating the efficiency, impact and reach of our wish delivery program.

This role can be based out of any of our offices in Canada, with a preference for Toronto. This is a full-time, permanent, hybrid role.

What you will do

Mission Strategy & Innovation

• Collaboratively develop and execute short and long-term goals for mission delivery, maximizing the capacity, efficiency and impact of our wish program.
• Coordinate with Make-A-Wish International (MAWI), Make-A-Wish America (MAWA) and the global affiliate network to identify best practices which can support delivery of Make-A-Wish Canada goals.
• Consolidate and track overall wish granting activity and measurable KPIs nationally, including financial management of the national mission budget, and make recommendations on how to improve mission operations and delivery, optimizing reporting and analytics toward achievement of strategic goals.
• Facilitate innovation within the wish delivery program, inspiring engagement.
• Support wish granting teams related to complex wishes, enhanced medical reviews and crisis and emergency intervention.
• Partner with the Vice President, National Development in identifying, securing and retaining mission critical gift in kind partnerships.

Wish Delivery & National Shared Services

• Coordinate with Make-A-Wish International (MAWI), Make-A-Wish America (MAWA) and the global affiliate network in development and implementation of best practices and delivery of International Wish Assists.
• Coach and lead the mission shared services teams including travel, wish assist, qualification and referral and alumni management/wish family engagement.
• Lead the design and delivery of wish programs, including group wishes, which elevate our efficiency and wish impact for high demand wish types.
• Develop and implement standardized training programs for new and developing wish coordinators to improve consistency, excellence, and ensuring implementation of best practices across the country

Wish Impact, Inclusive Reach and Health System Alignment

• Support development of a referral partner program which cultivates and sustains relationships across the country to increase mission awareness year-over-year and drive wish referrals, aiming to enhance inclusivity beyond our present geographical and demographic reach, broadening our impact for wish children and volunteers.
• Lead work with the Medical Advisory Committee who provide advice and counsel to the Board and management on medical issues, as they relate to the Foundation's principles, policies and programs.
• Lead development of a mission impact evaluation program including collecting and evaluating data to elevate the health impact of the wish journey and guide a formal wish research program.
• Monitors trends in impact measurement and evaluation to collaborate with the Medical Advisory Committee to drive a wish research agenda that enriches our wish program and strengthens donor communications.

Wish Alumni Program

• Support the Director, Wish Family Engagement in the development and execution of short- and long-term goals for wish family and alumni engagement, advancing the organization's ability to raise money and grant wishes.
• Support development and oversight of all aspects of MAWC's Wish Family Engagement and Wish Alumni Engagement Programs and end-to-end wish journey experience.
• Accountable for thoughtful engagement of the organization's STARboard to engage the feedback and advice of wish alumni in organizational decision making, fundraising and ambassadorship.
• Support the development and execution of a comprehensive engagement program, providing a fulsome experience for wish families and wish alumni including post-wish stewardship, wish kid/wish family ambassadorship opportunities, development of a library of wish stories to support storytelling and fundraising activities, and development of fundraising opportunities for wish families.

 

Volunteer Services

• Support the Director, Volunteer Engagement in the development of annual and long-term strategies and business plans with an objective to grow and to enhance the volunteer experience in support of organizational objectives.
• Develop KPIs and measurable criteria upon which to track the success of the Volunteer Engagement program.

What you bring

As the successful candidate, you are a strategic, collaborative, and inspirational leader who can influence and motivate stakeholders at all levels in the organization. You bring at least 10 years of mission delivery or social services experience in a comparable organization with strong interpersonal, written, verbal communication skills.   Although not a requirement, preference will be given to candidates with experience in a multi-level not-for-profit organization.

Your educational background in social work, social services, or nonprofit business equips you to lead strategically and compassionately in this role.  You have the skills and experience necessary to effectively support children and families facing critical illnesses, including strong communication and problem-solving skills, along with the ability to organize information, set healthy boundaries, and navigate complex situations in a highly dynamic environment.

As a leader, you are keen to empower and develop your team, engaging in clear objective setting, on-going performance feedback, recognition and coaching. You are someone with integrity and can successfully maintain confidential information.

How to apply

If everything you've read so far sounds like you, we encourage you to apply now!  The deadline to apply is May 9th, 2025, at 11:59pm ET.

To apply, please navigate to:  https://jobs.dayforcehcm.com/en-CA/makeawishca/CANDIDATEPORTAL/jobs/961 

Make-A-Wish Canada provides equal opportunity in employment and encourages applications from all qualified candidates. Reasonable accommodations due to disability are available on request at any stage of the hiring process. 

Our Commitment to IDEA

Make-A-Wish Canada (MAWC) is committed to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA). We believe that it is essential to our mission that we build a diverse, balanced, and vibrant workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve and seek to serve. Research has shown that candidates from underrepresented groups often only apply when they feel 100% qualified. Therefore, we ask that even if you do not see yourself fully reflected in every job requirement listed on this posting, to still apply.