Job Description

Reporting to the Director of Annual Programs, the Leadership Annual Giving Officer (LAGO) focuses on qualifying and soliciting leadership annual giving prospects ($1,000-$10,000) for all colleges and units at Georgia State University. The LAGO identifies, cultivates, solicits and stewards donors by engaging prospects through a variety of mediums, including but not limited to face-to-face meetings, phone calls, mailings and emails. The two primary goals of this position are to assist with donor pipeline development and identify major gift leads for development officers.

The mission of Annual Programs is to create a philanthropic culture that will lead to increased charitable support for Georgia State University and its students. The LAGO would be part of a team of 5 that works toward building a donor base which will structure the pipeline that moves potential prospects into leadership gift levels.

Responsibilities

Solicitation and Qualification

• Work through a list of leadership annual giving leads and strategically close leadership annual gifts primarily through face-to-face visits.
• Conduct a high volume of solicitation/qualification visits.
• Actively solicit, cultivate, qualify (or disqualify major gift donors) and hand-off prospects in accordance with their interests, capacity and propensity.
• Work proactively with unit partners to ensure successful prospect and pipeline management.
• Identify new sources of support for individual giving; work with all development fundraising staff to coordinate the solicitation of new prospects and the upgrade of current donors who have the potential to increase their annual giving.
• Responsible for effective prospect tracking, record keeping, reporting and administration aligned with the metrics and reporting from Development and Alumni Affairs.

Liaison to Special Audiences

• Work with unit partners to identify, qualify and solicit prospects in special project areas as assigned.
• Create strategies for each college and unit, including Student Success and Student Affairs.
• Hold regular meetings on a consistent basis with development officers to discuss strategy andoverall goals.
• Research industry standards, trends, breakthroughs and best practices.

Stewardship

• Responsible for coordinating/assisting donor stewardship programs for leadership annualgiving prospects.
• Maintain and create records of donations to ensure that donors receive proper recognitionand documentation for their gifts.
• Draft correspondence to donors and prospects.
• Support the Donor Relations team with stewardship events.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree and one year of related experience, or a combination of education and related experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Preference will be given to candidates with campaign and/or leadership annual gift experience.
• Knowledge of the Blackbaud application software Raiser’s Edge.