Assistant Director of Annual Giving

Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association•Madison, WI

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA), the private fundraising and alumni relations organization for UW-Madison, is seeking an Assistant Director of Annual Giving to help strengthen a culture of philanthropy and alumni engagement. In this highly collaborative role, you will help shape and execute integrated annual giving campaigns that connect alumni and friends to the impact of UW-Madison, deepen donor relationships, and advance meaningful philanthropic support. This opportunity is ideal for a creative, analytical, and relationship-oriented professional who enjoys developing targeted outreach strategies, optimizing campaign performance, and bringing fresh ideas to audience engagement. The Assistant Director will develop and manage targeted annual giving efforts that encourage participation from alumni and friends. Working closely with annual giving teammates and colleagues across WFAA, this role will build and execute thoughtful engagement and solicitation strategies across multiple channels as part of the Annual Campaign, a year-long fundraising cycle. This is a hybrid position that will require you to work weekly in our Madison, WI office location.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
4+ years of increasingly responsible experience in annual giving and/or development.
Strong knowledge of annual giving strategies, direct response marketing and comprehensive fundraising programs.
Skilled in strategic planning, critical thinking, and collaboration.
Strong analytic aptitude as well as data analysis/interpretation skills.
High-level proficiency with MS Office products.
Ability to innovate and willingness to try new things

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with Salesforce CRM and Power BI
Excellent oral and written skills.
Exhibits high level aptitudes in managing multiple tasks, advanced office and administrative management skills.
Excellent project management skills.
Strong attention to detail.
Ability to work independently and make autonomous decisions where appropriate.
Ability to collaborate.
Curiosity and lifelong learning skills; desire to learn more.
Desire for and pursuit of process improvements.

Responsibilities

Develop strategic plan for engagement and effective solicitation of alumni and friends through the Annual Campaign.
Grow scope, efficiency and effectiveness of one-to-many campaigns.
Collaborate with annual giving team members, marketing, development, alumni relations and engagement, and campus partners on integrated strategies for messaging, solicitation and stewardship.
Increase participation across audiences using multichannel and omnichannel strategies.
Collaborate with all members of the Annual Giving team to optimize the donor experience.
Analyze qualitative and quantitative data from multiple sources to drive continuously improved campaign performance.
Share campaign results and key insights with campus and internal partners.
Refine segmentation strategies to identify and target donor and prospect audiences most effectively.
Build targeted audiences to support campaign segmentation and outreach.
Monitor industry/trend reports and benchmarking analyses to identify opportunities for growth or efficiency and to identify viable new channels.
Manage Campaigns budget in coordination with the Marketing Manager
Draft communications about the campaigns for internal and external audiences