Nikini Yakandawela
Pickering,ON
Summary
Account and marketing professional with 8+ years executing multi-channel campaigns and managing client partnerships. Coordinate creative and cross-functional teams to drive campaign planning, execution, and approval workflows. Evaluate performance metrics and apply client insights to support effective marketing strategy and consistently high-quality deliverables.
Overview
1
1
Certification
6
6
years of professional experience
Work History
Account Manager
Blakely Fundraising
Remote, ON
2024.01 - 2026.09
- Support portfolio of 3–5 nonprofit clients as the main day-to-day contact and help coordinate integrated direct mail, email, and digital campaigns from planning through launch.
- Turn campaign strategy into detailed execution plans, production matrices, creative briefs, timelines, and deliverables so internal teams understand goals, responsibilities, and deadlines.
- Led weekly client status meetings, providing clear updates on campaign progress, upcoming deadlines, approvals, risks, and next steps to ensure alignment.
- Managed onboarding of a new client and launched the first email fundraising campaign by overseeing requirements and internal deliverables.
- Coordinate work across creative, copy, data, digital, print production, operations, and external media partners while keeping multiple workstreams moving together.
- Guide creative review cycles from early copy and design through final approval by organizing client feedback and turning revisions into clear direction for creative teams.
- Managed changing timelines and delayed approvals by identifying downstream impacts, adjusting workbacks, and communicating updated expectations to clients and internal teams.
- Built trusted client relationships by anticipating questions, clarifying requirements, and proactively recommending solutions to prevent issues.
- Partner closely with data teams to confirm audience information and variable campaign elements are accurately reflected in the final creative.
- Handled complex, high-visibility campaigns with multiple stakeholders, last-minute changes, and competing approvals while maintaining launch timelines.
Partnership Manager
Fundraising Direct
Toronto, Ontario
2022.07 - 2023.09
- Managed six nonprofit client partnerships, contributing to the establishment of Globalfaces Direct's emerging telefundraising channel alongside its face-to-face fundraising business.
- Led weekly client calls, reviewed campaign performance and communicated KPIs, opportunities, concerns and next steps to keep stakeholders aligned.
- Partnered closely with Operations to translate client requirements into practical campaign execution, resolving competing priorities and communicating operational needs in a client-friendly way.
- Expanded client relationships by showcasing Globalfaces's capabilities and reinforcing confidence in the company's ability to handle additional donor data and campaign services.
- Navigated sensitive donor-data discussions by understanding client privacy concerns, explaining the business rationale behind data requirements and using previous campaign results to support recommendations.
- Built client-management processes for a developing service where standardized workflows were not yet established, including status reporting, campaign timelines, client communication and performance reporting.
- Developed flexible reporting templates that aligned client priorities with operational requirements.
- Supported business development by organizing prospect data in Excel, researching decision-makers, conducting outreach and identifying qualified opportunities for the VP of Business Development.
- Participated in sales conversations and communicated client needs, questions and opportunities to Business Development leadership.
Account Coordinator
Fundraising Direct
remote, QC
2021.01 - 2023.06
- Cultivated strong client relationships, ensuring successful delivery for 4 Canadian nonprofit accounts across telefundraising campaigns focused on donor reactivation, upgrades, thank-you calls, and monthly giving.
- Campaign launches stayed on track through close coordination of timelines, approvals, client meetings, scripts, status updates, and internal communication.
- Transformed underperforming campaigns into improved results through data-informed adjustments developed collaboratively with account manager and implemented in campaign activities.
- Enhanced quality control for fundraising calls by reviewing recorded activity, addressing client concerns proactively, and conducting follow-up call-review sessions to ensure alignment with standards.
- Script quality and caller readiness improved through review of messaging, guidance, and training materials developed with operations to match campaign requirements and client expectations.
- Performance visibility improved through Excel and Power BI reporting that tracked KPIs, highlighted trends, and informed client updates and campaign recommendations.
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Economics
Wilfrid Laurier University
Waterloo, ON2018-07
Skills
- Campaign execution
- Campaign strategy
- Project management
- Client relationship management
- Data analysis
- Performance metrics
- Communication skills
Certification
- Working toward project management certification
Timeline
Account Manager
Blakely Fundraising
2024.01 - 2026.09
Partnership Manager
Fundraising Direct
2022.07 - 2023.09
Account Coordinator
Fundraising Direct
2021.01 - 2023.06
Bachelor of Arts - Economics
Wilfrid Laurier University