Director Of Annual Giving

Job Description

Wentworth's engagement and annual giving team seeks to build an inclusive and connected community, providing opportunities for alumni, families, friends, and faculty/staff of Wentworth to connect with the university and each other and to inspire and grow philanthropic contributions to the university.

Reporting to the Executive Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving (EDARAG), The Director of Annual Giving is responsible for overseeing our omni-channel outreach, mini-campaigns and crowdfunding operations and to coordinate alumni (non-young alumni), family, faculty and staff engagement and fundraising opportunities.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Manage a portfolio of leadership annual donor prospects that result in pipeline growth and the university's leadership annual giving program.

• Discovery work to uncover long-term engagement of annual donors and obtain new annual donors of $1,000+.

• Implement and execute strategies for identifying, engaging, and successfully soliciting individuals for gifts to support the University with an emphasis on soliciting gifts at the leadership annual giving level.

• Manages a portfolio of prospects through an active schedule of solicitation, engagement, and stewardship calls and in-person or virtual visits to donors and new prospects.

• Engage in daily touchpoints (email, phone calls) to help identify and keep engaged leadership-level donors.

• Partner in overall engagement strategy execution through the integration of annual giving, marketing, and stewardship.

• Maintains information on assigned constituents and prospects including contact reports in the constituent database system.

• Travel required.

Oversee print and electronic solicitations for annual giving and special constituencies including families and faculty/staff

• Work with MarCom colleagues to execute strategic, integrated, and goal driven annual giving communications across all channels - email, direct mail, social media, events, personal solicitation, crowdfunding, and lead-generation - that engage and solicit alumni, families, friends, and faculty and staff of Wentworth to increase participation, donor retention, acquisition, and dollars raised, turning friendraising into fundraising.

• Collaborate with Advancement Services colleagues to provide accurate and timely lists for communications.

• Provide timely progress reports and strategy adjustment

• Partner with mail vendor to produce, fulfil and deliver projects on time

Build and manage a family giving program

• Develop, implement and manage a volunteer Family Leadership and Fundraising Committee in support of the Parents Fund.

• Oversee all aspects of the Parents Fund including mail and electronic appeals.

• Within individual portfolio, manage family prospects

Manages crowdfunding operations for non-student-based opportunities (Giving Tuesday or other giving days) and mini-campaigns

• Create and manage mini-campaign and giving day/Giving Tuesday crowdfunding operations including goal setting, strategy and reporting

• In partnership with Advancement Services and MarCom colleagues, generate content, including web presence, email, social media, and direct mail if needed

• Recruit volunteers to provide peer-to-peer fundraising and provide training and toolkits

• Partner with University Events colleagues to create appropriate on- and off-campus programming as necessary

In addition, you will provide timely progress updates and advise adjustments to your work and take initiative to stay informed of philanthropy trends, actively participating in fundraising networking groups and bringing ideas to inform Wentworth's strategy.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required

• Minimum 4-5 years of professional work experience

• 5+ years of experience in development or related field preferred;

• Experience working in a higher education setting desired; familiarity with Slate Advancement or similar databases preferred; Comfort with Microsoft Office, especially Excel and Word.

• Strong communication skills and proofing proficiency required.

• High levels of professionalism, integrity, collegiality, self-motivation and organization.

• Commitment to optimizing digital technology and social media to sustain and grow student and alumni engagement and giving.

• A genuine interest in the mission of Wentworth and its priorities, and the ability to articulate it with conviction to a wide range of audiences.

• Proven ability to manage projects.

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to articulate ideas clearly and concisely.

• Self-initiative, personal tact, creative talent, ability to work as part of a team, and the highest ethical standards required to motivate volunteers.

• Must be a professional, confidential, honest and trustworthy person. Must have an even disposition and be able to deal effectively and politely with people from all types of backgrounds and experiences and in all types of difficult situations. Must be able to listen carefully.

Occasional evening and weekend event attendance is required for alumni and donor events, as well as Commencement and others as assigned.

Inclusive Excellence at Wentworth

Wentworth Institute of Technology is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all University programs and activities. The University does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, disability, age, genetic information, gender identity, veteran status or any other category protected by law. All qualified applicants will receive consideration.

To find out more about the Wentworth's commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, please visit the website https://wit.edu/about/diversity.

All applicants have the right to accessibility support and accommodations. To request accessibility support or accommodations, contact the Executive Director of Equity and Compliance, Catlin Wells, at wellsc1@wit.edu.