Job Information
Wesleyan University Director of Annual Giving in Middletown, Connecticut
Position Information
Job Posting Number S01335
Position Title Director of Annual Giving
Department Annual Fund-1083
Job Category Staff Posting
Position Type Full-Time
Work Location Hybrid
Pay Type Salaried
Salary Range
$90,000-$117,000
Compensation Practices
Experience is taken into consideration in the determination of salary offers. For more information visit https://www.wesleyan.edu/hr/handbook/compensation-practices/index.html
Position Details
The Office of Advancement ( ADV ) builds lifelong relationships with alumni, parents, and friends, and engages them in support of Wesleyan’s educational mission and financial goals.
Working with an alumni body of approximately 30,000 people, as well as parents of current and past students, the Advancement team fosters pride in the Wesleyan community and develops support for university initiatives through outreach activities, including development/ fundraising, alumni & parent relations, and both on- and off-campus events. Consistent with a philanthropic trend seen across higher education, Wesleyan’s fundraising dollars have increased consistently over the last ten years as the number of donors has declined. Wesleyan University recently launched a $600 million comprehensive fundraising campaign, the largest in school history. While raising financial support for key University initiatives, the campaign also aims to broaden Wesleyan’s donor base and build a pipeline of donors for the future.
The Director of Annual Giving is responsible for the creation, implementation, and assessment of a holistic annual giving program for alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends, driving efforts to convert alumni engagement to philanthropic support, increase leadership annual giving, leverage reunion giving, and bolster donor acquisition and retention. Reporting to the Assistant Vice President for Engaged Philanthropy, this role requires a strategic manager to oversee and develop professional staff and student employees.
The position will collaborate at all levels within Advancement and across the University. Working closely with Alumni and Parent Relations, Advancement Communications, and the Advancement Information Management teams to ensure alignment with all alumni engagement programs, activities, and strategies. The Director will serve as a partner to coordinate the integration of unit-based appeals and be responsible for the execution of solicitations at all annual giving levels.
Responsibilities include:
Manage, coach, train, mentor and provide professional development opportunities for the Annual Giving team to develop staff, reach annual goals and increase fundraising capacity.
Design, implement and evaluate multi-channel, data-informed strategies to solicit, acquire, cultivate, and steward individual donors of all constituencies using various techniques, segments, and channels, including developing and executing a comprehensive annual operational plan.
Employ a multi-channel strategy including direct mail, email, phone, social media, digital platforms, crowdfunding campaigns, peer to peer fundraising, and reunion giving.
Lead, inspire and drive the planning of each major annual giving initiative, overseeing data management, results tracking, and analysis of all annual giving efforts.
Leverage strong data analysis to drive future strategies, pivoting messaging, segmentation, and channels when necessary.
Serve as an internal and external partner on all initiatives related to annual giving ensuring that solicitations and messages are cohesive and in line with division and university priorities and goals, including:
Aligning annual appeals and solicitations with university and division-wide initiatives to enhance annual donor and fundraising goals.
Aligning messaging and strategy to deliver a cohesive donor experience and increase retention.
Driving and managing solicitations to increase the pipeline of leadership annual giving donors.
Collaborating with alumni and donors to foster and enhance engagement, including involvement in reunion giving, crowdfunding and peer to peer fundraising.
Creating, managing, and running micro-philanthropy, “gateway giving,” and reunion campaigns at the annual giving level.
Managing an annual giving prospect portfolio.
Managing the annual giving budget, including any outside, strategic work with independent contractors and vendors.
Other duties as assigned or needed.
This position is a hybrid position with on-campus and remote work schedules.
Hybrid work is only considered for residents of MA, VT, NH, ME, CT, RI, or NY. (Relocation assistance to CT is available for those who qualify).
Minimum Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in nonprofit fundraising, with a focus on annual giving or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
Supervisory experience managing, coaching, mentoring, and developing volunteers, individual staff, and teams, with the ability to inspire and motivate others.
Experience developing a strategic fundraising plan—including both individual solicitation and multi-channel solicitation strategies—and implementing it across all operational areas.
Proven experience as a fundraiser with effective closing skills and persuasive ability to encourage philanthropy.
Proven track record of successfully meeting fundraising goals and increasing revenue.
Ability to manipulate and segment large, complex constituent data, and to recognize and interpret trends in data.
Demonstrated ability to build productive, beneficial relationships and to work with diverse populations with a commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience in higher education fundraising.
Special Instructions to Applicants
Position is open until filled. For full consideration please apply by June 30, 2024, when first review of applications will begin.
Additional Information
All offers to external applicants are contingent on the candidate’s completion of a pre-employment background check screening (https://www.wesleyan.edu/hr/pdfs/Wesleyan%20University%20Background%20Check%20Policy_.pdf) to the satisfaction of Wesleyan University.
Benefits
Wesleyan offers a broad range of employee benefits and development opportunities, including comprehensive group insurance plans, wellness programs and incentives, generous paid time off and retirement plans. We also offer flexible work schedules, employee and dependent tuition programs, as well as access to Wesleyan’s BLS & GLS programs for those who qualify (tuition is waived for up to 2 courses a term; some fees and taxes may apply).
Detailed information on the benefits of working at Wesleyan is located at: https://wesleyan.edu/hr/careers/prospective-resources.html.
Quick Link https://careers.wesleyan.edu/postings/10578
Supplemental Questions