Job Abstract

Job ID

2024-14490

Category

Staff

Position Type

Regular Full-Time

The Assistant Director of Leadership Annual Giving is a front-facing gift officer tasked with capturing, renewing, and increasing support of current-use, unrestricted revenue for The Catholic University of America.
Entry to mid-level donor portfolio management is the primary focus for this position, working to identify leadership annual giving ($5K+) and major gift ($50K+) prospects.

Along with high-volume discovery work, this position will be responsible for securing and renewing leadership annual donors for the school under their management, helping to bolster school and departmental annual funds. Leadership annual donors become a part of the 1887 Society Leadership Annual Giving Society when they make an unrestricted gift of $5,000. The Assistant Director of Leadership Annual Giving will work to identify school-specific areas to increase donor engagement and stewardship by creating meaningful touch points.

A successful individual will be well-versed in the unrestricted needs of the individual programs, build a case for support, and communicate giving impact. The individual will collaborate closely with the Director of Annual Giving to support annual giving initiatives and priorities as well as work in partnership with fellow school-based leadership annual giving officers to develop solicitation and engagement strategies.

This position will support the annual fund priority objectives of the Deans for the Schools of Philosophy & Canon Law, and will report to the Associate Vice President of Advancement, with a dotted line reporting structure to the Director of Annual Giving. Travel will be required 30-40 % of the time.

• Participate in the training and development program for the leadership annual giving team to understand fundraising at Catholic University and the model of transforming an annual gift to a major gift.
• Partner with the Leadership Annual Giving Team to develop annual revenue targets, participation rate, and acquisition and retention targets. Works with school leadership and central Advancement team to establish annual performance metrics (quantitative and qualitative).
• Work with school leadership and the central advancement team to understand the program’s annual fund priorities and how these gifts support the needs of the Deans, the faculty and staff, and the various programs in the schools. Strengthens the case for annual fund support and helps to steward donors through the sharing of gift impact.
• Conduct face-to-face visits with annual fund program prospects and donors, including alumni and unaffiliated donors. The Assistant Director will be accountable for individual metrics (visits, solicitations, revenue, qualifications, etc…) in addition to school and programmatic goals for the annual fund.
• Cultivate and solicit leadership annual giving members ($5,000 - $49,999) for the school, ensuring renewals are occurring for the program-based donors, and assisting with solicitation of annual fund support with the Board of Visitors in the school.
• Develop strategies to move donors throughout the donor life cycle and up the pipeline to the major gift ($50K+) level and beyond. Strategies should be implemented in collaboration with the appropriate major gift officer(s) and an appropriate hand-off of relationships should occur as needed.
• Utilize the University Advancement’s database to document call reports and other relevant information about donor and prospect engagement. Efficiently and effectively comb through a larger list of highly modeled prospects to qualify and disqualify them for larger philanthropic engagement.
• Steward annual fund donors for the schools throughout the year to thank donors and qualify them for further engagement by either the leadership annual fund officer and/or another colleague.
• Develop and maintain excellent knowledge and understanding of the higher education fundraising climate and be constantly looking to identify and implement innovative and creative fundraising techniques, both in terms of engagement and advancement activities in general.
• Takes on new job-related projects as assigned. Attend school donor events as needed.
• Support the Division of University Advancement in achieving its strategic and fundraising goals, as well as campaign goals, through productive interaction and collaboration with all departmental staff, University liaisons, and external constituents.

• A Bachelor's degree.
• 1-3 years of fundraising or transferable experience required.
• Experience working in a higher education fundraising office is preferred.
• Sales experience, and/or experience with donor/customer relationship management is preferred.
• Demonstrated experience and impact as a fundraiser.
• Experience with Raisers Edge or another database CRM is preferred but not required.

• Proficient writing and editing skills.

• Working knowledge of Google suite of applications.

• Proficient with Microsoft programs.

• Ability to drive a motor vehicle (campus or non-campus) on behalf of University business.

• Possession of current and valid U.S. driver’s license appropriate to the type of university vehicle and an acceptable Motor Vehicle Driving Record (MVR) as stipulated in the Vehicle Guidelines and Procedure Manual administered through the office of Environmental Health and Safety.

• Must have excellent communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
• Must be motivated and driven to meet expectations in performance metrics.
• Ability to communicate effectively with University colleagues, students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
• Attention to detail and the ability to follow through on projects from conception and planning to implementation and evaluation is necessary.
• Must be willing to work independently in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong listening and comprehension skills—applicant must be able to listen to instructions carefully and correctly follow directions.
• Strong communication skills—applicants should write clearly, be able to follow written directions, and be able to speak effectively in front of large groups.