Director of Individual Giving

Association of Fundraising Professionals; Naples (FL); On-site; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

STARability Foundation is building an expanded Development team to support its $60 million capital campaign, Opening Doors, and deepen donor engagement. The Director of Individual Giving will manage a portfolio of donors at the mid-level range and work with the Major Gifts team to identify prospects for upgrade opportunities and tailored cultivation.

You will coordinate donor communications, track moves in the CRM, and develop strategies to grow annual giving and major gifts, ensuring donor

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in nonprofit fundraising, donor relations, or related field.
• Proven ability to build rapport with donors and manage a multi-touch portfolio.
• Comfort with direct donor solicitation and discussing giving levels/upgrades.
• Strong verbal and written communication with warm, personalized donor experience.
• Experience using a CRM/donor database to manage portfolios and track moves management.
• Highly organized, self-motivated, able to prioritize many donor touchpoints.
• Willingness to travel locally for donor meetings and occasional events.

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of 100–150 mid-level donors with individualized cultivation plans.
• Demonstrate understanding of donor metrics to implement retention and growth strategies.
• Conduct strategic donor outreach to support annual giving and major gifts program.
• Design a mid-level giving strategy, donor society, and upgrade asks.
• Identify prospects for major gifts and coordinate with the Major Gifts team.
• Solicit renewals and upgrades and close gifts within a defined range.
• Coordinate sponsorship opportunities for events with philanthropy staff.
• Track donor interactions and moves-management stages in CRM.
• Support donor-facing events, site visits, and stewardship gatherings.
• Monitor portfolio performance and report progress to Chief Philanthropy Officer.
• Possibility to manage annual giving staff.

Skills

Donor relations

Fundraising

Communications

CRM experience

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

Tools

Raiser's Edge

Salesforce

Bloomerang

Job description

Why STARability Is Building a Development Team — Right Now

STARability Foundation, an organization supporting individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities, is in the midst of a transformational $60 million capital campaign, Opening Doors — and the response so far has confirmed something we've long known: our donor base is deep, loyal, and ready to invest in our mission. What we haven't had is the infrastructure to fully engage them.

That's why we're not filling one role — we're building an entire Development team from the ground up. This is a rare opportunity to join an organization at a true inflection point, where the foundation (a strong case for support, an engaged donor base, and momentum from a major campaign) is already in place, and the new team has the exciting job of building the systems, programs, and deepening relationships that will sustain this growth for years to come. We're creating complementary roles that will work as a team and embrace collaboration with our partners in the Programming department and incredible volunteers.

Position Summary

The Director of Individual Giving builds and manages a portfolio of donors giving in the range (typically $100–$25,000 annually), serving as the bridge between the organization's broad-based annual fund and its major gifts program. This role is relationship-driven: the Director of Individual Giving understand donor cultivation and has experience increasing donation capacity. They understand the value of identifying donors for major giving ($25K+) and works with the Major Gift Officer to provide these prospects with customized cultivation. This individual is creative and understands the importance of a case for support for annual giving and is confidant in how they personalize cultivation and stewardship for qualified donors.

Key Responsibilities and Expectations

• Manage a portfolio of 100–150 mid-level donors, developing individualized cultivation and stewardship plans for each.
• Ability to demonstrate a strong understanding of how to use donor metrics to implement new donor and annual donor retention and growth strategies
• Conduct strategic and routine donor outreach – has experience that demonstrates the candidate understands this expectations.
• Design and implement a mid-level giving strategy, including a donor society or recognition program, tailored communications, and upgrade asks.
• Identify and qualify prospects within the portfolio for potential referral to the major gifts team based on capacity, affinity, and readiness.
• Solicit renewals and upgraded gifts, and personally close gifts within an assigned dollar threshold.
• Partner with the Philanthropy staff to identify possible sponsorship opportunities for events
• Coordinate timely, personalized gift acknowledgments and stewardship touchpoints (impact updates, invitations, recognition).
• Track all donor interactions, moves-management stages, and next steps in the CRM/donor database.
• Support donor-facing events, site visits, and small-group cultivation and stewardship gatherings.
• Monitor portfolio performance against retention, upgrade, and revenue goals; report progress regularly to the Chief Philanthropy Officer.
• Potential to manage annual giving staff.
  

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; 2–4 years of experience in nonprofit fundraising, donor relations, or a related relationship-management role.
• Demonstrated ability to build genuine rapport with donors and manage a multi-touch portfolio.
• Comfort with direct donor solicitation and confidence discussing giving levels and upgrades.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with attention to a warm, personalized donor experience.
• Experience using a CRM/donor database to manage portfolios and track moves management (e.g., Raiser's Edge, Salesforce, Bloomerang, or similar).
• Highly organized, self-motivated, and able to prioritize a high volume of donor touchpoints.
• Willingness to travel locally for donor meetings and occasional evening/weekend event support.