Director, Advancement Strategy & Campaign Operations

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis•Indianapolis, IN

About The Position

The Director, Advancement Strategy and Campaign Operations translates fundraising strategy into coordinated execution across The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis’s Advancement division. As a member of the Advancement leadership team, the director serves as a strategic and operational partner to the Vice President of Advancement and division colleagues, ensuring campaign and annual fundraising priorities are supported by clear plans, disciplined processes, reliable information, effective systems, and shared accountability. The director leads annual giving planning strategy, comprehensive campaign operations, contributed revenue forecasting, portfolio-management practices, dashboard oversight, and cross-functional execution. The role provides operational leadership for advancement services, prospect research and analytics, CRM database management, gift administration, and related functions, turning data, research, technology, and business intelligence into actionable fundraising strategies. The Children’s Museum is building and sustaining an inclusive culture that encourages, supports, and celebrates differences. It believes collaboration and open dialogue among people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives best support its vision and mission.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree preferred, with five years of fundraising operations management experience; campaign operations, data management oversight, fundraising strategy, or related experience in a nonprofit or similarly complex organization preferred.
Three years of CRM, database-management, and systems-management experience, with demonstrated ability to lead others and hold staff accountable for results.
Experience establishing effective reporting, business-process, and performance-management practices, and ability to direct analytical and technical resources without serving as the primary analyst or system administrator.
Demonstrated understanding of fundraising strategy and operations, including comprehensive campaigns, revenue forecasting, prospect pipelines, portfolio management, performance measurement, donor relationship processes, and advancement services.
Ability to translate complex strategic goals into coordinated operating plans, management systems, priorities, milestones, ownership, and measurable outcomes across teams and stakeholders.
Analytical ability and sound judgment, including interpreting fundraising performance, pipeline, and financial information; identifying risks and opportunities; and developing decision-oriented recommendations for senior leaders.
Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and facilitating decisions across organizational boundaries, clarifying accountability, navigating ambiguity, addressing barriers, and maintaining momentum on complex initiatives.
Ability to work effectively with senior executives, nonprofit boards, campaign volunteers, fundraising leaders, Finance, technology teams, and internal and external partners.
Self-directed, with initiative, organizational leadership, project management, problem-solving, facilitation, and change-management skills; ability to manage competing priorities and drive follow-through.
Exceptional written and oral communication skills, including synthesizing complex information into concise, actionable reporting and recommendations for leadership and governance audiences.
Values diversity and inclusion and promotes diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion activities; maintains a professional demeanor through inclusive language, tact, and sensitivity.
Ability to perceive space, read documents and reports, analyze detailed information, and view a computer monitor.
Ability to communicate in person, virtually, and by telephone in one-on-one and group settings, including facilitating meetings, presenting recommendations, and coordinating complex projects.
Ability to lift objects weighing up to 25 pounds.
Ability to remain stationary for extended periods, regularly traverse campus and grounds, and navigate local and regional travel as required for campaign, leadership, or partner engagement.

Nice To Haves

Experience in campaign operations, data management oversight, fundraising strategy, or a related field within a nonprofit or similarly complex organization.
Bachelor’s degree.

Responsibilities

Partner with Advancement leadership to develop and execute annual and multi-year fundraising strategies aligned with museum priorities; translate goals into operating plans, milestones, performance measures, ownership, and timelines; and lead division-wide annual contributed revenue planning and goal setting.
Lead operational planning for campaigns and annual giving, translating campaign strategy into plans for milestones, prospect activity, volunteer engagement, reporting, and coordinated execution. Monitor campaign progress, pipeline, proposals, anticipated commitments, fundraising gaps, opportunities, and risks.
Set and monitor expectations for CRM utilization, data governance, documentation, portfolio management, reporting, and fundraising practices. Lead revenue forecasting, campaign and pipeline reviews, and performance discussions; ensure data accuracy; and coordinate prospect research, wealth screening, donor analysis, and environmental scanning.
Support disciplined portfolio and pipeline management across fundraising teams. Partner with division leaders and consult with Finance on revenue forecasting; establish consistent pipeline standards and use scenario planning and modeling to identify potential outcomes, gaps, and interventions.
Ensure portfolios are appropriately sized, qualified, and strategically assigned. Review prospect movement, strategies, barriers, opportunities, and next actions; provide research and portfolio-management support, including analysis of donor capacity, affinity, relationships, giving and engagement history, and external information.
Provide strategic leadership for Advancement Services, CRM effectiveness, gift administration, prospect intelligence, and related operations. Set priorities and service expectations, ensure fundraisers and leaders receive timely and actionable information, and partner with the Development Business Analyst on reporting, dashboards, datasets, and technical analysis.
Partner across the museum on systems, integration, reporting, and data-governance needs, and reduce unnecessary administrative burden on frontline fundraisers.
Establish Advancement operating rhythms, including leadership meetings, forecasting sessions, portfolio reviews, campaign strategy meetings, and progress reviews. Clarify ownership, decision rights, timelines, and outcomes, and move initiatives from discussion through decision and execution.
Provide objective analysis and recommendations on fundraising performance, organizational capacity, resource allocation, opportunities, and risks. Evaluate Advancement strategies, processes, and workflows and recommend improvements to fundraising productivity.
Coordinate campaign and fundraising execution across organizational teams. Prepare materials for and coordinate museum and campaign leadership, board, and executive strategy discussions; document, monitor, and complete decisions and assignments.
Contribute to Advancement leadership and culture by modeling professionalism, collaboration, transparency, accountability, continuous improvement, and results-oriented decision-making, while promoting shared accountability and preserving fundraising team members’ revenue and donor-strategy accountability.