Director of Annual Giving and Stewardship
About The Position
As a key member of the Institutional Advancement team, the Director of Annual Giving & Stewardship provides strategic leadership for CSU's annual giving programs and donor recognition efforts while maintaining a strong foundation in data integrity and gift processing. This position develops and executes strategies to increase donor participation, retention, and annual revenue through multi-channel campaigns, while ensuring donors receive timely, accurate acknowledgements and meaningful stewardship. The role works collaboratively across advancement and the business administration and finance office to support CSU's philanthropic priorities.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
- 4+ years of experience in fundraising, annual giving, stewardship, or advancement operations.
- Demonstrated success designing and executing annual giving campaigns and donor recognition strategies.
- Proficiency in donor database systems (Raiser's Edge strongly preferred), data analysis, and reporting.
- Excellent communication, project management, and relationship-building skills.
- Ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment while maintaining attention to detail and confidentiality.
Responsibilities
- Develop and implement a comprehensive annual giving plan to increase participation and dollars raised from alumni, faculty/staff and friends.
- Manage multi-channel appeals, including digital, direct mail, giving days, and crowdfunding campaigns, with segmentation and personalization strategies to maximize results.
- Analyze giving trends, retention rates, and participation metrics to inform strategy and track progress toward annual goals.
- Partner with alumni engagement and communications team members to align messaging, leverage storytelling, and enhance donor acquisition efforts.
- Support leadership giving pipeline development by identifying prospects for upgrade and collaborating with gift officers for cultivation strategies.
- Lead donor acknowledgement and stewardship processes to ensure accurate, timely, and meaningful communications to all donors.
- Develop tiered stewardship strategies, including personalized thank you's, annual impact reporting, and recognition societies.
- Collaborate with colleagues to design donor recognition events and experiences that build loyalty and deepen engagement.
- Maintain comprehensive documentation and policies related to stewardship practices and gift receipting to ensure IRS and CASE compliance.
- Oversee timely, accurate processing of philanthropic gifts and pledges through Raiser's Edge.
- Maintain constituent records, ensuring data quality and integrity to support solicitation and stewardship efforts.
- Reconcile gift batches and collaborate with Finance to ensure alignment between advancement and accounting records.
- Generate standard and custom reports to support leadership decision making, campaign performance analysis, and donor segmentation.
- Work closely with advancement colleagues to integrate annual giving and stewardship into broader development strategies.
- Serve as a resource and thought partner to leadership, bringing data-driven insights and innovative approaches to annual fundraising.
- Supervise or mentor student workers or volunteers involved in annual giving or stewardship activities, as appropriate.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
Industry
Educational Services
Number of Employees
501-1,000 employees
