BEHIND THE SCENES: Samantha Bailey, Donor Development Officer

Date published

25 Jan 2018

Our marketing and fundraising team are an integral part of RFDS, and ensure we have enough funding to continue servicing communities across the state.

Samantha Bailey is a Donor Development Officer within the fundraising team at RFDS head office in Brisbane. Her role involves creating mail, communication and digital assets for existing donors, and trading through different avenues to acquire new donors. The ongoing support of these individual donors and organisations has been so valuable to the RFDS! 

Samantha joined the RFDS almost 2 years ago with a background in non-profit fundraising. Her outgoing personality and passion for getting the job done, make her the perfect fit for the role.

“RFDS is one of those organisations that everyone knows about and more importantly, knows what they do. I am one of those rare people who has always wanted to work in fundraising and my path led me here. The donors here are really loving and have a high respect for what we do. Everyone seems to have been touched by us in some way, and they want to show their recognition to our work, which is really nice.”

“Although I am not on the frontline, what we do still directly impacts the type and level of services we can actually provide in different communities. Being able to talk to the donors who have had an experience with our services is also a very rewarding experience. I had one person say that we helped save their grandchild when they were born. It’s a unique feeling to be on the other end of that call.” 

Graphic: Samantha Bailey, RFDS Donor Development Officer

Samantha works within the wider fundraising team with her colleagues always ready to bounce ideas around and brainstorm strategies to overcome any challenges they face. Working in this role is critical to the RFDS mission of saving and changing lives. But it’s also critical to the work in ensuring RFDS is commercially sustainable for another century. In our current non-profit climate, this is no easy task.

“We essentially work in a typical admin office, except that we are connected to something greater. Within my team we are very outgoing, being that our day-to-day tasks require confidence, passion and dedication to our mission. Regardless of why you joined RFDS, everyone soon learns the reason we do what we do, and that passion only grows.” 

Careers

Working in the RFDS corporate office, particularly within the fundraising team, our people come to work knowing that their efforts are driving our work and helping people on the front line. Critically, they’re helping us ensure RFDS is efficient, effective and sustainable, now and in the future. 

Considering a career with the Royal Flying Doctor Service?