Director of Direct Response

Fellowship of Catholic University Students•Golden, CO

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Direct Response plays a critical leadership role in advancing mission-driven fundraising through strategic oversight of direct response programs, revenue performance, and donor engagement. This role is responsible for developing and leading integrated direct response strategies across channels and donor segments, ensuring campaigns are aligned to annual fundraising goals, organizational priorities, and a strong donor-centered experience. Working collaboratively across creative, data, digital, operations, finance, and agency partners, this leader sets direction, aligns stakeholders, and ensures effective execution of initiatives that drive acquisition, retention, reactivation, upgrade, and monthly giving performance. The right candidate brings both strategic vision and operational discipline, using data, testing, and market insight to forecast results, identify opportunities, and continuously improve performance. This role requires strong leadership, sound judgment, and the ability to influence across teams while building clarity, accountability, and momentum around shared goals. This is an ideal opportunity for a leader who is motivated by measurable results, committed to developing people and programs, and eager to help grow fundraising impact in service of a meaningful mission.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience in marketing, communications, nonprofit management or related field
5+ years in direct response fundraising, annual giving, non-profit marketing, or relevant revenue driving roles
3+ years of leadership experience, including cross-functional leadership and/or people management
Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines in a fast-paced environment
Familiarity with fundraising, donor communications, or mission driven organizations preferred
Experience working with cross functional teams and external vendors
Knowledge of donor segmentation, testing methodology, and performance optimization
Experience managing agency or vendor relationships and campaign budgets
Strong analytical skills with ability to interpret campaign performance, forecast results, and make data-informed decisions
Experience developing campaign strategy across acquisition, retention, reactivation, upgrade, and/or monthly giving
Demonstrated success owning revenue goals or fundraising performance across direct response channels
Experience with CRM/fundraising platforms and reporting tools

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with direct mail production and digital fundraising best practices preferred

Responsibilities

Lead and own direct response campaign and portfolio performance across assigned channels and segments in support of annual fundraising goals.
Track results against plan, identify performance drivers, and surface risks and opportunities across acquisition, retention, reactivation, upgrade, and monthly giving.
Develop and implement strategies that increase donor lifetime value, strengthen retention, and maximize net revenue contribution.
Translate performance insights into actionable recommendations that improve fundraising outcomes and donor engagement.
Maintain expertise in direct response fundraising trends, channel performance shifts, donor behavior, and emerging best practices, and translate insight into actionable recommendations.
Evaluate and recommend new fundraising strategies, tools, and growth opportunities.
Support a cohesive donor journey by aligning direct response campaigns across acquisition, onboarding, renewal, upgrade, reactivation, and stewardship communications.
Partner across teams to strengthen donor experience, consistency of messaging, and long-term engagement.
Ensure consistency of donor experience across channels and touchpoints.
Identify opportunities to improve donor engagement, loyalty, and lifetime value.
Lead agency and vendor relationships, ensuring strategic alignment, high-quality deliverables, service accountability, and continuous improvement across mail, digital, and production partners.
Oversee campaign budgets, track expenses, and provide accurate forecasting and recommendations to support return on investment and broader portfolio decisions.
Review and process agency invoices, ensuring charges align with approved campaign budgets, scopes, and project outlines, and flag discrepancies for follow-up.
Lead, coach, and develop direct reports to strengthen execution, increase ownership, and build future leadership capacity within the direct response program.
Set clear expectations, provide feedback, and support professional growth while maintaining accountability for performance and collaboration.
Lead development of annual and multi-year direct response strategies across all channels and donor segments.
Develop campaign strategies, segmentation approaches, offers, messaging recommendations, and channel plans in alignment with annual fundraising priorities.
Establish strategic priorities for acquisition, retention, monthly giving, donor cultivation, and revenue growth initiatives.
Ensure direct response strategies align with broader fundraising objectives and organizational priorities.

Benefits

Medical, Vision and Dental insurance
Ability to contribute to a Health Savings Account
Employer-provided life insurance
Long-term disability insurance
Option to purchase additional life insurance for yourself, your spouse and your child(ren)
403(b) retirement plan with a discretionary employer-match for eligible staff
Option to purchase LifeLock Identity Protection
Integrity-based Paid Time Off
Paid parental leave
We observe many paid holidays recognized by fellow Americans and also some of the feast days of Holy Mother Church.
In addition, we recognize the Sacred Christmas Respite by closing the office from December 24-January 1 each year.