Director, Annual Giving & Donor Engagement

Museum Core•Indianapolis, IN

About The Position

The Director of Annual Giving and Donor Engagement develops and executes comprehensive fundraising strategies for The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to acquire, retain, engage, steward, and grow its community of individual donors and donor members. The director provides strategic leadership for the annual fund, donor membership, acquisition and stewardship, donor engagement and recognition, retention and reactivation, giving societies, donor communications, and Advancement events. The role is accountable for annual contributed-revenue goals while building a sustainable pipeline that deepens donors’ philanthropic relationships with the museum over time. Using donor data and insights, the director leads an integrated donor experience from first gift through renewal, increased giving, leadership annual giving, and qualification for major and planned giving. The director owns the advancement-wide donor experience and stewardship framework, leads donor membership and donor relations strategies, oversees cultivation and fundraising events, and works with colleagues to coordinate donor-centered communications. The role monitors fundraising performance and return on investment, manages related budgets and external partners, and serves on the Advancement leadership team. It also leads, coaches, and develops staff responsible for annual giving, donor membership, donor relations, stewardship, and Advancement events. The museum describes its culture as inclusive and supportive of differences, and values collaboration and open dialogue among people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree preferred.
At least five years of fundraising management experience focused on annual giving, donor relations, membership, or direct-response fundraising in a major nonprofit or similarly complex organization.
At least three years of people management experience, with demonstrated ability to lead, coach, develop, and hold fundraising and donor-engagement staff accountable for measurable results.
Demonstrated success developing and executing annual giving strategies that achieve revenue, acquisition, retention, reactivation, upgrade, participation, and donor-growth goals across multiple channels.
Understanding of donor lifecycle and pipeline development, including leadership annual giving and identification and transition of donors with potential for major and planned giving.
Experience leading donor relations, stewardship, recognition, giving societies, donor engagement, and fundraising or cultivation events with clear relationship and fundraising objectives.
Experience using donor data, segmentation, testing, analytics, performance measures, and return-on-investment analysis to improve fundraising and guide resource allocation.
Experience collaborating across fundraising, communications, program, operations, and other teams to coordinate donor experiences and advance organizational priorities.
Strong strategic judgment, initiative, problem-solving, organizational, and project-management skills; ability to manage competing priorities and achieve individual and team goals.
Exceptional written and oral communication skills, including the ability to create compelling donor-centered fundraising and stewardship messages for varied audiences and channels.
Expertise in fundraising principles, ethics, donor-centered practices, and the distinction between philanthropic giving and transactional member benefits.
Commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion, demonstrated through inclusive language, tact, and sensitivity.
Proficiency with, and ability to learn and use, fundraising CRM, database, digital fundraising, analytics, reporting, event-management, and productivity software platforms.
Ability to perceive space, read documents and reports, analyze donor and fundraising information, and view a computer monitor.
Ability to communicate in person, virtually, and by telephone in one-on-one and group settings with donors, members, colleagues, volunteers, vendors, and community partners, including presenting ideas and planning and executing projects and events.
Ability to lift objects weighing up to 25 pounds.
Ability to remain stationary for extended periods and regularly traverse the campus and grounds.
Ability to navigate local and regional travel as required for donor engagement and Advancement events.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute annual giving strategies and integrated, multichannel solicitation programs to achieve revenue, participation, retention, and growth goals.
Establish annual plans, budgets, calendars, audience strategies, and performance measures for annual giving.
Develop strategies for donor acquisition, renewal, reactivation, upgrades, and leadership annual giving.
Manage a select portfolio of leadership annual donors and prospects; personally cultivate, solicit, and steward relationships toward individual and team revenue goals.
Monitor revenue and donor performance, evaluate return on investment and fundraising effectiveness, adjust strategies and resource allocation, and support reliable revenue forecasts.
Build pathways that move donors from initial participation to increasingly significant engagement and support.
Own the advancement-wide donor experience and stewardship framework, including qualification and transition processes among annual, leadership, major, and planned giving.
Partner with Individual Giving and Prospect Intelligence and Analytics to identify donors ready for deeper relationships.
Lead donor membership strategy, including acquisition, retention, upgrades, engagement, giving levels, benefits, communications, and recognition; maintain appropriate distinctions between philanthropy and transactional membership benefits.
Lead donor relations and stewardship standards for acknowledgment, recognition, giving societies, engagement, impact reporting, and fulfillment of commitments associated with major, campaign, restricted, endowed, and named gifts.
Direct Advancement cultivation, stewardship, recognition, and fundraising events, setting objectives, audiences, follow-up plans, revenue and expense expectations, sponsorship strategies, and success measures.
Partner with Brand Strategy & Sales and Advancement colleagues to develop donor-centered fundraising and stewardship communications tailored to donor interests, behavior, giving history, and engagement.
Use donor data, segmentation, testing, analytics, and fundraising results to improve strategy and performance; monitor revenue, donor count, acquisition, retention, reactivation, upgrades, average gift, leadership giving, donor movement, and return on investment.
Serve on the Advancement leadership team and collaborate with fundraising teams and museum leadership to align annual giving and donor engagement with broader priorities.
Lead, coach, and develop staff; establish goals, expectations, priorities, and accountability, and provide appropriate tools, training, data, and resources.
Manage budgets, vendors, consultants, and external partners supporting annual giving and donor engagement.
Represent annual giving and donor-relations priorities in institutional planning and decision-making.