Overview

The Director of Leadership Annual Giving designs, implements, and administers a comprehensive fundraising program with a goal to secure and retain leadership annual gifts ($1,000 – $50,000) in support of UC Berkeley. The Director is a subject-matter expert on leadership annual giving and manages a team of frontline fundraisers and support staff to identify new leadership gift prospects, upgrade existing leadership gift donors, and build the pipeline of major gift donors. The team will leverage foundational aspects of an existing stewardship program, The Charter Hill Society, to cultivate and develop leadership annual donors, including marketing materials, direct response channels, and special events. The Director develops and administers a budget to achieve fundraising and management objectives.

Responsibilities

Leadership and Management

• Develop short and long-range plans for conducting a leadership giving program, including multiple direct-response campaigns and volunteer engagement. In partnership with many stakeholders, works to develop a campus culture of leadership giving, with special emphasis on increasing the campus’ pool of major gift prospects.
• Manage and motivate 2 frontline leadership giving officers to achieve individual and overall program goals. Ensure successful gift solicitations of key prospects and donors. Work with gift officers to create effective cultivation, communication, events and stewardship activities. Develop strategies to increase the number of 4- and 5-figure gift donors.
• Supervise Development Associate and Program Manager, providing direction and strategic input into plans and activities to engage the campus community with the Charter Hill Society and leadership annual giving at the University.
• Work with and mentor staff on the development of new fundraising programs aimed at leadership gift involvement.
• Serve as member of Annual Programs management team and coordinate with internal and campus colleagues to achieve shared goals (e.g., Gift Planning, Campus Units, International Relations, Major Gifts, Student Experience & Diversity, Direct Response Marketing, Next Generation & Milestone Philanthropy).
• Monitor, analyze and report on the results of program and oversee external marketing plans for Charter Hill Society donors and prospects. Benchmark regularly to determine strategic improvements.
• Manage staff of 4 FTE and oversees budgets for marketing, travel, and donor engagement;
• Selects, trains, mentors, guides and directs subordinate staff and, as required, takes corrective action.

Campaign management and personal solicitation

• Develop strategic fundraising plans for leadership annual donors, focusing on high ROI segments.
• Identify top Charter Hill Society prospects and develop individual solicitation strategies using staff solicitation and/or volunteer solicitation tactics. Collaborate with campus colleagues and fundraising volunteers. Prepare background information on prospects for volunteers and ensure completion of assigned solicitations.
• Personally cultivate, solicit and steward small portfolio of high-level Charter Hill Society prospects for gifts ranging from $10,000-$50,000
• Develop strategies to ensure that all top prospects are solicited at the appropriate time and levels.
• Develop and ensure effective cultivation and stewardship activities for top donors during comprehensive campus-wide campaign.
• Work with Direct Marketing staff to conceive of and execute direct-response marketing campaigns to leadership annual donors and prospects.
• Develop strategies for maximizing solicitation and marketing efforts through personal engagement, including cultivation and stewardship events.
• Provides mentorship and direction for frontline staff managing prospect portfolios and performing personal solicitations. Ensures that best practices in donor engagement and solicitation, and UC Berkeley guidelines, are adhered to by frontline fundraisers.

Subject Matter Expert to Campus

• As the campus subject-matter expert for leadership annual giving, Director is the chief strategist for individual, leadership annual giving at UC Berkeley and works collaboratively with UDAR and campus colleagues to develop and execute strategic campaign plans, including new strategies, tactics, and policies relating to leadership annual giving. Recommends scalable, high-ROI strategies to campus staff executing their own giving campaigns to secure $1,000+ gifts to campus.

Required Qualifications

• Strong knowledge of all aspects of fundraising, donor and public relations, including strategies for donor identification, cultivation and solicitation.
• Strong knowledge of applicable laws, rules, regulations, policies, et cetera.
• Strong knowledge of the campus, its achievements, vision, mission, goals, objectives, applicable policies, infrastructure, and current issues of concern.
• Strong knowledge of management/leadership concepts, principles and best practices.
• Strong leadership/management skills to select, train, mentor, evaluate and motivate staff.
• Strong written, oral and interpersonal communications skills and political acumen to establish and maintain good working relationships within all organizational levels and with outside constituencies.
• Strong skills to meet predetermined goals and objectives, including securing gifts and meeting fundraising goals.
• Strong strategic planning skills and skills to conceive, design, implement, evaluate and manage fundraising programs and strategies.
• Strong analytical, critical thinking, problem-solving skills.
• Strong skills in persuasion/negotiation and strong marketing skills.
• Bachelor’s degree in related area and/or equivalent experience/training.
• 8-10 years of professional experience with at least three years of fundraising experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Progressively increasing responsibility in higher education management and leadership highly desirable.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status. For more information about your rights as an applicant see: http://www.eeoc.gov/employers/upload/poster_screen_reader_optimized.pdf