Assistant Director of Annual Giving

Grinnellcollege; Grinnell (IA); On-site; USD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Grinnell College is seeking an Assistant Director of Annual Giving to manage a donor portfolio and cultivate leadership annual gifts. The role focuses on personalized engagement, digital strategies, and donor stewardship to increase participation and philanthropic support.

You will collaborate with Development and Alumni Relations colleagues, leveraging data and segmentation to identify opportunities for major and planned gift referrals and ongoing alumni involvement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from four-year college or university.
• 1 year or more experience in fundraising, annual giving, alumni relations, advancement, sales, relationship management, marketing, communications, or a related field.
• Champion Diversity Equity and Inclusion.
• Strong communication skills in a variety of ways for multiple constituents.
• Exhibit collaboration and organizational abilities.
• Familiarity using CRMs.

Responsibilities

• Personally solicit alumni to renew and increase giving, conducting face-to-face meetings and virtual meetings.
• Manage a pool of approximately 1,000 prospective alumni annual giving donors
• Young Alumni engagement and pipeline development.
• Execute regularly scheduled communication touchpoints using digital platforms.
• Assist with alumni activities.

Skills

Donor relations

Communication

Collaboration

CRM familiarity

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

CRM software

Job description

POSITION SUMMARY

The Assistant Director of Annual Giving manages a portfolio of current, lapsed, and prospective donors with a focus on cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding leadership-level annual gifts. The position uses digital and personalized engagement strategies to strengthen donor relationships, increase annual giving participation, and encourage increased philanthropic support of College priorities. The Assistant Director also develops engagement and solicitation strategies for young alumni to build early philanthropic habits and strengthen the future leadership annual giving pipeline. Working collaboratively with colleagues across Development and Alumni Relations, the position uses donor data, segmentation, and engagement activity to identify opportunities for increased giving, major and planned gift referrals, and continued alumni involvement.

Key Responsibilities

• Personally solicit alumni to renew and increase giving, conducting face-to-face meetings and virtual meetings.
• Manage a pool of approximately 1,000 prospective alumni annual giving donors
• Young Alumni engagement and pipeline development.
• Execute regularly scheduled communication touchpoints using digital platforms.
• Assist with alumni activities.

ABOUT GRINNELL COLLEGE

Grinnell College is a top-ranking private liberal arts institution that values diversity, equity, inclusion, intellectual freedom, and social responsibility. We seek candidates that align with these values and have the ability and desire to advance our values and belonging within our community and the communities we engage. Ideal candidates will be prepared to collaborate and contribute to the mission and values of the college across all constituencies.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from four-year college or university
• 1 year or more experience in fundraising, annual giving, alumni Internal relations, advancement, sales, relationship management, marketing, communications, or a related field
• Champion Diversity Equity and Inclusion
• Strong communication skills in a variety of ways for multiple constituents
• Exhibit collaboration and organizational abilities
• Familiarity using CRMs

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in higher education advancement, annual giving, alumni relations, or nonprofit fundraising.
• Experience managing a donor, client, or constituent portfolio.
• Experience using digital engagement strategies to cultivate and maintain relationships.
• Experience working with a constituent relationship management (CRM) or advancement database.
• Ability to build strong relationships with Grinnell College alumni and other college constituencies
• Served on teams that have successfully completed comprehensive fundraising campaigns