Director, Philanthropy
Unity School Of Christianity
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Job summary
Unity School Of Christianity in Unity Village, MO, seeks a Director of Strategic Philanthropy to lead major, principal, planned gifts and campaigns. This role sits on the Leadership Council and partners closely with the CEO to grow donor relationships and advance Unity’s mission with modern fundraising practices.
The ideal candidate will manage a high-capacity portfolio, drive strategic giving, and collaborate with Marketing on donor communications and digital fundraising efforts.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in nonprofit fundraising or related field is required.
- Advanced degree preferred.
- Minimum 6–8 years of philanthropy, advancement, development, or nonprofit fundraising experience with team leadership.
- Experience partnering with a CEO, governing board, executive team, and volunteers in donor cultivation and solicitation.
- Capital or comprehensive campaign leadership experience strongly preferred.
- Fluency with modern fundraising technology and tools (CRM, analytics) is expected.
Responsibilities
- Develop and execute a comprehensive, multi-year philanthropy strategy aligned with Unity’s mission, strategic plan, and financial priorities.
- Establish annual and long-range fundraising goals, portfolio expectations, and reporting for major gifts, foundations, endowment, and campaigns.
- Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and Executive Leadership Team on philanthropy, donor engagement, funding opportunities, and trends.
- Promote a culture of philanthropy across Unity through donor engagement, stewardship, and mission-based relationships.
- Represent Philanthropy on Unity's Leadership Council and collaborate across departments to drive fundraising results and modernization.
Skills
Education
Job description
Job DetailsJob Location: Unity School of Christianity - Unity Village, MO 64065Position Type: Full TimePosition Summary: The Director, Strategic Philanthropy leads Unity World Headquarters' philanthropy team and reports to the Chief Executive Officer. This position leads strategies to secure major, principal, planned giving, foundation, endowment, and campaign gifts that advance Unity's mission and long-term financial sustainability, while modernizing the department's approach through current fundraising technology and technique. The Director sits on Unity's Leadership Council and is expected to grow into broader organizational leadership as the department scales. While working closely with the CEO, Board of Trustees, executive leadership, ministers, and key volunteers, the Director cultivates strategic donor relationships and personally manages a portfolio of high-capacity donors and prospects.
In partnership with the Chief Marketing Officer, this position ensures alignment between major and planned giving strategies and the organization's annual giving, donor communications, stewardship, and digital fundraising efforts. While Marketing and Communications lead broad-based fundraising initiatives, the Director focuses on identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding transformational philanthropic investments — bringing current, technology-enabled fundraising practices.
- Develop and execute a comprehensive, multi-year philanthropy strategy aligned with Unity’s mission, strategic plan, financial priorities, and future opportunities.
- Establish annual and long-range fundraising goals, performance measures, portfolio expectations, and reporting practices for major, principal, planned, foundation, endowment, and campaign giving.
- Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and Executive Leadership Team on philanthropy, donor engagement, funding opportunities, campaign readiness, and emerging fundraising trends.
- Promote a culture of philanthropy across Unity by helping leaders understand their role in donor engagement, stewardship, and mission-based relationship building.
- Represent Philanthropy on Unity's Leadership Council, bringing forward modern fundraising trends and cross-departmental collaboration opportunities to organizational leadership.
- Personally manage a qualified portfolio of high-capacity donors and prospects through identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
- Develop individualized donor strategies and compelling gift opportunities that connect donor interests with Unity’s mission and strategic priorities.
- Lead the growth of planned and legacy giving, including bequests, charitable gift annuities, trusts, beneficiary designations, and other appropriate charitable gift arrangements.
- Build and strengthen Unity’s legacy society and maintain productive relationships with donors’ financial, estate, tax, and legal advisors as appropriate.
- Lead or support capital, endowment, special initiative, and comprehensive campaign planning and execution.
- Collaborate with the Chief Marketing Officer to align broad-based annual giving, mid-level giving, digital fundraising, donor acquisition, storytelling, and donor communications with the major and planned gift pipeline.
- Clarify shared goals, handoffs, segmentation, data practices, and stewardship responsibilities between Philanthropy and Communications/Marketing.
- Partner on case statements, donor impact stories, campaign messaging, proposals, presentations, events, and other materials supporting donor engagement.
- Ensure donors experience consistent, mission-centered, and personalized communication across channels and giving levels.
- Use CRM data, wealth screening, prospect research, predictive analytics, and portfolio management practices to identify opportunities and guide activity.
- Develop and maintain executive dashboards measuring pipeline value, donor movement, proposals, gift commitments, retention, planned gift intentions, campaign progress, and return on investment.
- Ensure accurate, timely, secure, and confidential donor records, gift documentation, contact reports, prospect assignments, and reporting.
- Evaluate and implement appropriate fundraising technologies and AI-enabled tools to improve insight, efficiency, personalization, and donor experience while maintaining privacy and ethical standards.
- Champion adoption of current giving channels and techniques, including digital and peer-to-peer fundraising platforms, mobile and text-to-give, recurring/subscription giving programs, and generative AI tools for donor communications, proposal drafting, and prospect research.
- Build data-driven donor journeys using segmentation, marketing automation, and predictive/AI-enabled analytics to personalize outreach and improve donor retention and lifetime value.
- Recruit, lead, coach, and develop a high-performing philanthropy team with clear expectations, measurable goals, and accountability for results.
- Develop and manage the department budget, staffing plan, vendor relationships, professional services, and other resources.
- Create effective policies, workflows, and service standards for gift acceptance, donor stewardship, prospect management, planned giving, recognition, and confidentiality.
- Represent Unity professionally with donors, churches, ministers, foundations, professional advisors, community partners, and national audiences.
- Maintain regular attendance and adhere to all organizational policies, procedures, safety guidelines, and timekeeping requirements.
- Bachelor’s degree in nonprofit fundraising, non-profit management, business, communications, marketing, public administration, or related field required. Advanced degree preferred.
- Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP), or similar professional designation preferred. Valid driver’s license and ability to travel required.
- Minimum 6-8 years of progressively responsible experience in philanthropy, advancement, development, or nonprofit fundraising, including demonstrated team leadership responsibility.
- Demonstrated success cultivating, soliciting, and closing six- and seven-figure major, principal, or planned gifts.
- Experience developing and executing multi-year fundraising strategies, major gift pipelines, planned giving programs, and donor stewardship plans.
- Experience partnering effectively with a CEO, governing board, executive team, and volunteers in donor cultivation and solicitation.
- Capital or comprehensive campaign leadership experience strongly preferred.
- Experience leading, coaching, and developing high-performing fundraising professionals.
- Demonstrated fluency with modern fundraising technology and technique — CRM platforms, donor analytics and dashboards, wealth screening and prospect research tools, digital and peer-to-peer fundraising, and AI-enabled tools — with a track record of introducing new tools or approaches to a fundraising team.
- Experience within a national, faith-based, educational, membership, or complex nonprofit organization preferred.
- Advanced proficiency with Microsoft 365 and demonstrated ability to use modern fundraising technology, including constituent relationship management systems, donor analytics and dashboards, wealth screening and prospect research tools, digital meeting platforms, online giving systems, and AI-enabled productivity tools. Experience with Raiser’s Edge NXT, Salesforce, Virtuous, Bloomerang, or a comparable CRM preferred.
- Knowledge of New Thought and/or Unity teachings preferred.
- Must demonstrate discretion, sound ethical judgment, and the ability to maintain the confidentiality of donor, estate, financial, and organizational information. This position offers a defined growth path to Vice President as the Philanthropy department and its use of modern fundraising technology and technique mature.
- Demonstrates strategic vision, executive presence, sound judgment, and a strong commitment to ethical stewardship.
- Builds trusted relationships with donors, board members, ministers, executives, colleagues, and external partners.
- Uses data, financial insight, and donor intelligence to establish priorities and make informed decisions.
- Leads change, develops talent, creates accountability, and fosters collaboration across organizational boundaries.
- Communicates Unity’s mission and impact with authenticity, sensitivity, and persuasive storytelling.
- Stays current on emerging and AI-enabled fundraising technology and technique, and translates new tools into practical improvements for the team and donor experience.
Work Environment & Physical Requirements
Activity
Frequency
Inside Work
C
Outside Work
N/A
Use of Hands/Fingers
C
Lifting/Carrying: 25 Max lbs.
F
Climb- Stairs/Ladders
O
Reach (select): Overhead /Forward
N/A
Sitting/Workstation
F
Traveling
F
Exposure to Hazards
N/A
Excessive Noise
N/A
Exposure to Temperatures
N/A
Operate Computer
C
Talk/Communicate
C
Operate Company Vehicles
C
Taste/Smell
N/A
Standing/Walking
F
Stoop/Kneel/Crouch/Crawl
O
Read/See
C
Operating Company: Copier, Fax, Printer, Telephone System
C
Personal Protective Equipment:
N/A
N/ANot Applicable Activity - Not applicable to this occupation
OOccasionally Position requires this activity up to 0-27% of the time (02.5 or < hrs/day)
FFrequently Position requires this activity up to 27-61% of the time (02.5-5.5 hrs/day)
CConstantly Position requires this activity up to 61-100% of the time (5.5+ hrs/day)
Additional Information Work Environment: Office Environment
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