The Director of Annual Giving is responsible for providing results-driven leadership to increase immediate and long-term support of Lees-McRae College. The primary goals of the annual giving program for the College are to raise unrestricted funds for discounted scholarships, provide additional budgetary support for select flagship programs, and support other directives as determined by the College’s strategic plan. The Director’s primary responsibilities will be to create and execute comprehensive, multi-year annual giving/strategic communications plans that will result in substantial revenue growth and constituent awareness. The Director will partner with other Advancement staff to identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward annual gifts from alumni, parents, faculty, staff and friends, with special attention paid to personal solicitation, telemarketing, social media marketing and direct mail skills and duties. Successful leadership will result in engagement of new donors, increased participation of all constituents, and yearly revenue growth in unrestricted gifts. The Director will also manage a personal portfolio of donors and work closely with the Vice President of Advancement, Director of Alumni Relations, and all members of the Advancement Team.

Essential Functions

• Plan, develop, and implement a strategic annual giving program as part of the overall fundraising strategy within the Advancement Office.
• Create/collaborate on key messaging and communications media, including but not limited to direct mail and social media outreach.
• Monitor and evaluate program effectiveness and make recommendations for continued development and improvement.
• Provide leadership to the entire Development Office related to annual giving strategies, tactics, and progress toward goals within a team setting.
• Work closely alongside the Director of Alumni Relations to develop and implement joint strategies to encourage alumni giving.
• Support the Director of Alumni Relations on the planning and implementation of key alumni events and associated solicitation strategies.
• Use development database and other software to retrieve data and perform comprehensive analysis related to all aspects of the annual fund. Use statistics to assess results and trends, to evaluate current programs, and to make recommendations for program changes.
• Ensure open communication with Giving Officers and the Vice President regarding contact of potential donors, as well as manage a portfolio of prospects.
• Develop face-to-face cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies for annual donors identified through the annual giving pipeline including working along Gift Officers to determine proper assignment of prospects for discovery, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Work in partnership with the Office of Marketing and Communications to ensure brand attributes and messaging is incorporated in annual giving marketing and materials. Collaborate on other written materials as needed.
• Oversee the acknowledgment and recognition of all annual fund gifts, including the Annual Report to donors.
• Develop and implement a regular plan of reporting Annual Fund progress to the Vice President of Development, Development Office, Leadership Team, Board of Trustees, and College.
• Other duties as assigned.

Competencies

Strong written communication skills; ability to write clear, structured, articulate, and persuasive solicitations. Strong creativity and editing skills. Ability to meet deadlines and manage process. Good working knowledge of all forms of messaging. The ability to take new annual fundraising and messaging opportunities from the development stage to completion and to work within a dynamic small team environment is strongly expected. A good sense of humor is also essential.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, or other related field required.
• A minimum of three years’ experience in fund raising desired.

Preferred Education and Experience

• Master’s degree in marketing, communications, or business is most preferred.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications
Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.