Director of Donor Engagement & Annual Giving

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is seeking a Director of Annual Giving and Donor Engagement to lead the museum’s donor programs and fundraising strategy. You will develop and execute multi-channel campaigns, cultivate relationships, and steward donor communities to achieve annual contributed-revenue goals.

You will supervise staff, manage partnerships, and collaborate with Advancement leadership to optimize donor experiences and long-term engagement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree preferred with five years of fundraising management experience focused on annual giving and donor relations.
• Three years of people management experience with the ability to coach and develop fundraising staff.
• Proven success developing and executing annual giving strategies across multiple fundraising channels.
• Understanding of donor lifecycle including leadership annual giving and major/planned giving.
• Experience leading donor relations, stewardship, and donor engagement events with measurable outcomes.
• Experience using donor data, segmentation, analytics, and ROI to improve fundraising results.
• Ability to collaborate across fundraising, communications, and operations to create coordinated donor experiences.
• Strong strategic judgment, initiative, and project-management skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication for donor-centered messaging.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion in fundraising practices.
• Proficiency with fundraising CRM, databases, analytics, reporting, and event-management software.

Responsibilities

• Develops and executes comprehensive annual giving strategies to achieve revenue, participation, retention, and growth goals across channels.
• Cultivates and solicits individual donors and donor members, building a sustainable pipeline.
• Leads donor engagement, stewardship, and recognition programs and events with measurable outcomes.
• Oversees donor membership strategy including acquisition, retention, upgrades, and engagement.
• Guides donor relations, stewardship standards, and giving societies across major gifts and planned giving.
• Leads budgets, vendor management, and external partners supporting annual giving and donor engagement.
• Collaborates with Brand Strategy and Advancement to ensure cohesive donor communications.
• Monitors revenue, donor performance, and ROI to inform resource allocation and forecast trends.
• Leads and develops staff responsible for annual giving, donor membership, and advancement events.
• Partners with leadership to align annual giving with broader institutional priorities.
• Represents annual giving priorities in broader planning and decision-making.

Skills

Donor engagement

Fundraising strategy

Leadership

Stakeholder collaboration

Data-driven decision making

Education

Bachelor’s degree (preferred)

Tools

Fundraising CRM

Analytics tools

Event management software

Job description

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is seeking a Director of Annual Giving and Donor Engagement to lead the museum’s donor programs and fundraising strategy. You will develop and execute multi-channel campaigns, cultivate relationships, and steward donor communities to achieve annual contributed-revenue goals.

You will supervise staff, manage partnerships, and collaborate with Advancement leadership to optimize donor experiences and long-term engagement.