Senior Director of Philanthropic Engagement & Campaigns

Illinois State University; Normal (IL); On-site; USD 87,000 - 107,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Tuition waiver benefits

Retirement planning options

Paid holidays/administrative closures

Paid benefit time

Life insurance

Job summary

Illinois State University is seeking a Senior Director of Philanthropy Engagement to lead strategic and operational efforts across leadership annual giving, digital philanthropy, and crowdfunding. The role drives engagement across Alumni and Donor Engagement, University Advancement, and campus partners, with a focus on donor visits and a data-informed fundraising program.

The position requires extensive fundraising leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to manage multiple

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, business, nonprofit management, higher education or a related field.
• Seven or more years of fundraising and donor engagement experience.
• Experience developing multichannel fundraising strategies (digital, direct mail, phone, text, crowdfunding).
• Proven success achieving fundraising, donor acquisition, retention and upgrades.
• Experience managing a donor portfolio and supervising staff.
• Ability to use data, segmentation and metrics to inform strategy.
• Strong project-management skills and ability to handle multiple campaigns.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and direct program execution for comprehensive philanthropic engagement programs.
• Lead Birds Give Back and annual campaigns, coordinating across units.
• Manage leadership annual-giving and donor visits, advancing donors through the pipeline.
• Collaborate with campus partners to increase donor participation and long-term engagement.

Skills

Project management

Communication skills

Donor engagement

Data-driven strategy

Staff leadership

Multichannel fundraising

Travel flexibility

Education

Bachelor’s degree in related field

Tools

Salesforce

Marketing Cloud

VanillaSoft

ThankView

Job description

Illinois State University is seeking a Senior Director of Philanthropy Engagement to lead strategic and operational efforts across leadership annual giving, digital philanthropy, and crowdfunding. The role drives engagement across Alumni and Donor Engagement, University Advancement, and campus partners, with a focus on donor visits and a data-informed fundraising program.

The position requires extensive fundraising leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to manage multiple