Director of Annual Giving

Annual Giving Network LLC; Athens (GA); On-site; USD 85,000 - 98,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Director of Annual Giving to lead a dynamic team focused on fundraising for educational institutions. This role involves overseeing direct marketing efforts, developing comprehensive strategies for annual giving, and fostering strong relationships with donors. The ideal candidate will possess excellent management skills, a collaborative spirit, and a passion for higher education fundraising. Join a mission-driven organization dedicated to making a positive impact on schools and colleges while enjoying a competitive salary and a supportive work environment.

Qualifications

• Requires at least a baccalaureate degree in the field.
• Advanced degree preferred or 5 years of related experience.

Responsibilities

• Oversee direct marketing staff and campaigns for annual giving.
• Develop and implement multichannel direct marketing strategies.

Skills

People Management

Time Management

Verbal Communication

Writing Skills

Problem Solving

Analytical Skills

Relationship Management

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Advanced Degree

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Word

Microsoft PowerPoint

Job description

The Director of Annual Giving is responsible for daily oversight of the direct marketing side of Annual Giving along with the affiliated Annual Giving staff. The Annual Giving team is primarily responsible for raising unrestricted revenue to support schools, colleges, and units across campus and maintaining the health of the donor pipeline. This professional supervises the team’s efforts in direct marketing utilizing direct mail and digital approaches. Annual Giving staff members are engaged in a variety of coordinated fundraising activities and are assigned a variety of special constituency campaigns in addition to school/college-specific campaigns.

Duties/Responsibilities:

• Provide oversight of direct marketing focused staff and campaigns
• Supervise the Annual Giving staff related to direct marketing and other supporting personnel (including student interns) with a focus on team organization, direction, and motivation, provide training as necessary, evaluate performance, and ensure the team is working together to achieve department goals.
• Strengthen and expand the centralized school/college annual giving campaigns and comprehensive special giving programs throughout campus including Parents, Presidents Club, Student Giving, Faculty/Staff Campaign, Matching Gifts, Recent Graduate Programs, Recurring Gifts, Unit-based “Friends” programs, and other specialized efforts. Serve as an annual giving consultant for the University’s schools, colleges, and units.
• Develop fundraising direct marketing solicitation strategy and implementation
• Work with the Executive Director of Annual Giving & Communications and the Senior Director of Annual Giving to set goals, determine strategy and implement a comprehensive multichannel direct marketing plan for university-wide annual giving, to fundraise for restricted and unrestricted needs with a focus on meeting university priorities.
• Evaluate progress toward goals and identify areas for improvement. Work with the Executive Director, Senior Director and Annual Giving team to create improved strategy based on analytical findings.
• Serve as the annual giving liaison with 2-3 assigned schools, colleges or units and is responsible for developing and executing unit-specific annual giving strategies.
• Handle correspondence and stewardship of donors with various requests via email, mail and phone as needed.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Requires at least a baccalaureate degree in the field. Please contact your Human Resources office for an evaluation of education/experience in lieu of the required minimum qualifications.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced degree preferred or bachelor’s degree and at least 5 years of related higher education experience; OR an equivalent combination of education and experience related to sales, marketing, development, business administration, higher education, project management, or relationship management.
• Previous experience managing a team of two plus members for at least two years, with a successful record of achieving goals and key performance metrics.
• Previous experience in developing and managing omni-channel direct marketing solicitations for annual giving strategies.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and/or Competencies:

• Strong people management skills and time management skills
• Self-starter and highly motivated
• Collaborative style combined with the ability and desire to work in a team-based environment
• Excellent writing skills with extreme attention to detail and confident, strong verbal communication
• Problem solver who can take initiative and set priorities while being flexible
• Team-oriented strategist able to effectively manage complex situations
• Ability to establish the trust of colleagues and build strong relationships with key faculty/staff
• Highly organized and able to handle multiple projects
• Analytical, with adherence to self-guided goals and deadlines
• Adept at navigating complex environments with evolving priorities
• Ability to maintain high degree of confidentiality and responsibility regarding information related to university business and confidential donor and prospect information
• Skilled using Microsoft Office products such as Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Creative thinker with ability to receive constructive feedback on ideas
• Ability to respond to donors needs and concerns in a kind and professional way
• Experienced with data analysis related to marketing campaigns and trends

Additional Division Expectations:
Through open, honest, and respectful communication, all staff, supervisors, and colleagues of the Division of Development & Alumni Relations are expected to interact with fairness, compassion, and decency. All employees will be held accountable for meeting the expectation of promoting a stable, productive, and healthy work environment.
Adherence to CASE standards and commonly accepted industry standards relating to fundraising reporting are expected of all fundraisers. All fundraisers will be held accountable for meeting this expectation.

Advertised Salary: $85,000+ commensurate qualifications and experience