Assistant Director of Leadership Annual Giving

Job Description

The Assistant Director is responsible for directing the institution’s giving circles, giving societies, and gift clubs. The duties of the Assistant Director include identifying and engaging prospective members, securing gifts of $250 to $5,000 through direct solicitation via personal appointments, collaborating with annual giving marketing staff to solicit additional gifts through marketing communications appeals, and ensuring member retention and increased engagement and giving through the delivery of programming and personalized stewardship activities. While their primary focus is on soliciting individuals, the Assistant Director may also solicit private support for their assigned programs from corporations, foundations, and non-profit organizations.

In collaboration with colleagues in design and communications, annual fund marketing, major gifts philanthropy and data services, the Assistant Director will develop and execute annual and long-term strategic plans for each of the programs for which they are responsible. Executing member programming may require collaboration with Financial Aid, colleges or other university units and/or Finance Office. The Assistant Director will manage a monthly member programming calendar, all member communications, and regularly analyze membership and giving trends to ensure both annual goals and long-term goals are met. They will regularly communicate membership performance and status with team mates in the Office of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement. The Assistant Director will maintain up to date and accurate records in the institution’s donor prospect and alumni database. They may oversee 1 or more student employees.

The Assistant Director may occasionally be assigned to support other philanthropic organization programs, specific alumni engagement projects or impact reporting events, or to assist in the completion of discrete mini-campaigns focused on a specific donor demographic and conducted over a short period.

Candidates must possess the ability to work with sense of urgency, high attention to detail, and commitment to producing excellent, finished work with minimal oversight. The ideal candidate shall be an energetic, outstanding communicator with strong interpersonal skills and a positive, engaging demeanor; a careful listener with high emotional intelligence; professional, poised, and polished; highly collaborative and nurturing of professional and client relationships; an able strategic planner and project manager; a proactive, creative, and tenacious problem solver; and a confident and skilled public speaker and leader of meetings.

Solicit Leadership Annual Gifts

• Develop an annual and long-term strategy for building memberships
• Secure private support for assigned programs from corporations, foundations, and non-profit entities
• Develop moves management strategies for prospects of $1,000 or more
• Conduct discovery, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of prospective contributors. Through travel or virtual means, conduct personal appointments with potential donors
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records within the donor database
• In coordination with the annual giving marketing officer, execute acquisition and renewal campaigns using various channels such as direct mail, email, crowdfunding or other social media based fundraising techniques

Manage Giving Circles, Giving Societies, and Giving Club Programs

• Coordinate closely with other departments with the Office of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement
• Develop and execute an annual and multi-year plan for donor engagement programs and stewardship
• Plan and oversee creation of marketing communication collateral materials and online presence
• Develop and execute a cyclical communications calendar
• Broadly promote the programs’ brands
• Ensure appropriate member recognition
• Recruit, train, and manage volunteers and lead volunteer meetings, as required by specific programs
• Design and deliver programming aimed at increasing member participation, level of engagement and giving. Plan and execute tailored special events and activities
• Organize opportunities for members to participate in special events or activities hosted by other university units
• Coordinate with Financial Aid and other units to ensure scholarships associated with programs are awarded
• Planning, executing and documenting circle virtual and in-person gatherings, meetings, activities, and special events
• Annually survey members to monitor their degree of satisfaction and perceived level of engagement
• Effectively allocate budget and resources
• Report membership outcomes on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

3 years of fundraising or related experiences, such as outside sales or community relations, which must include at least 2 years of direct gift solicitation, membership acquisition, outside sales, or their equivalent.

Preferred Qualifications:

Preference for ERAU alumni and candidates with strong social-media marketing, data analytic skills, as well as strengths in digital media creation and applications.

Knowledge:

• Fundamentals of fund raising and/or sales or membership organizations
• Proper business correspondence
• Proficiency in the Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Use of general office equipment and computer
• Event planning
• Best practice promotions and marketing strategies
• Use of the internet as a productivity or research tool
• Business and professional etiquette
• Basic understanding of research

Skills:

• Effectively use and communicate through social media techniques and platforms
• Apply mobile device technology for productivity, communication, and social media
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Problem solving skills with a solutions-oriented mentality
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
• Strong analytical skills
• Basic budgeting and cost-estimating
• Customer relations skills
• Analyze and synthesize prospect reports, maps, tables, graphs, and other technical information

Abilities:

• Successfully conduct direct, face to face solicitations for gifts with minimal preparation or background
• Successfully develop and conduct donor acquisition and retention campaigns and special appeals
• Effectively plan and execute events and activities that strategically advance program goals
• Coordinate member participation in third-party activities and events
• Develop and deliver engaging member programming
• Design and conduct effective surveys of members
• Develop proficiency with the university’s donor and alumni databases and data visualization tools