Senior Director, Donor Engagement

New Leaders Inc

6d • Remote

About The Position

The Senior Director, Donor Engagement
is responsible for operationalizing New Leaders’ Development strategy by designing, implementing, and continuously improving the donor marketing, stewardship, and campaign systems that drive philanthropic acquisition, renewal, and long-term donor value.

This role translates fundraising strategy into repeatable initiatives, engagement pathways, and performance-driven marketing systems that enable frontline fundraisers to convert prospects,retaindonors, and grow multi-year philanthropic support.

The Senior Director reports to the Senior Executive Director of Partnerships.

Requirements

• Educational Background: Bachelor’s degree required.
• Professional Experience: Seven to ten years of professional experience required, including significant leadership experience in nonprofit, education, or mission-driven fundraising, donor engagement, or growth marketing.
• Proven ability to design and execute integrated donor engagement and fundraising marketing strategies that drive acquisition, retention, renewal, and revenue growth.
• Experience leading lifecycle and conversion-focused digital marketing, including email journeys, landing pages, paid digital campaigns tied to fundraising outcomes, and marketing funnel optimization.
• Team-Driven: Proven ability to collaborate effectively with individuals across a variety of backgrounds and experiences; must be results-driven while maintaining a collaborative and inclusive leadership style.
• Mission Alignment: Passionate belief in academic excellence for every student, aligned with New Leaders' mission.
• Superior written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate program outcomes and data into compelling donor-facing value propositions and engagement materials.
• Demonstrated expertise developing donor-facing assets such as impact reports, stewardship communications, campaign materials, case statements, and fundraising collateral.
• Strong marketing judgment across channels, with the ability to select the right medium and message to move donors and alumni toward engagement and commitment.
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, deadline-driven fundraising environment and adapt quickly tochanging revenue priorities.
• Experience executing donor engagement campaigns across email, paid digital, and web-based conversion assets.
• Creative and strategic mindset.
• Proven experience managing budgets, external vendors, and cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality donor engagement and fundraising outcomes.
• Ability to be self-directed and take initiative.
• Demonstrated experience collaborating across organizations.
• Mandatoryproficiencyin Microsoft Office; strong experience working with CRM and marketing automation platforms such as Salesforce and/or HubSpot.

Nice To Haves

• Preferredproficiencyin Salesforce,HubSpot,and Adobe Creative Suite.

Responsibilities

• Design and manage end-to-end donor and alumni engagement journeys, including acquisition, stewardship, renewal, and upgrade pathways across foundation, corporate, and high-net-worth individual segments.
• Develop and refine donor and alumni value propositions grounded in audience motivations, giving intent, and market insights to strengthen conversion and long-term engagement.
• Build and maintain segmented engagement strategies that align messaging, cadence, and content to donor lifecycle stage and fundraising priorities.
• Lead the design and execution of conversion-focused fundraising and alumni engagement campaigns tied to annual and multi-year revenue goals.
• Own integrated donor and alumni campaign calendars aligned to quarterly and annual fundraising targets, ensuring coordinated pacing across acquisition, stewardship, and renewal efforts.
• Develop, test, and optimize calls-to-action (CTAs), engagement offers, and campaign asks to increase donor commitments, renewal rates, and multi-year support.
• Ensure all donor- and alumni-facing assets are tied to a clear conversion objective(e.g.,solicitation readiness, renewal, upgrade, engagement milestone).
• Design and manage post-gift donor experiences, including impact updates, reports, stewardship touchpoints, and renewal narratives aligned to donor intent.
• Build scalable stewardship and retention systems that increase donor satisfaction, retention, and lifetime value.
• Develop and manage automated and semi-automated nurture sequences (welcome, re-engagement, renewal, upgrade) for donors and alumni.
• Develop and maintain fundraising enablement assets, including pitch decks, case statements, one-pagers, impact briefs, funder reports, and proposal templates.
• Create modular, reusable marketing toolkits that enable fundraisers to move efficiently and consistently across donor conversations.
• Maintain centralized libraries of donor- and alumni-facing materials to reduce ad hoc work and improve quality and speed.
• Own donor and alumni marketing funnel analytics, tracking performance from awareness through conversion and renewal.
• Analyze campaign and lifecycle performance to identify drop-off points and opportunities for optimization.
• Partner with Development Operations and Strategy teams to connect marketing performance to revenue outcomes and portfolio goals.
• Translate Development strategy into repeatable systems, initiatives, and processes that support consistent execution across fundraising workstreams.
• Develop standardized campaign playbooks that define goals, audience segments, messaging frameworks, CTAs, timelines, and performance benchmarks.
• Manage external vendors supporting donor engagement and marketing initiatives, as needed.
• Collaborate closely with Development, Partnerships, Alumni, Finance, and Strategy teams to ensure alignment between engagement systems and fundraising priorities.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Employees may be eligible for merit awards and/or bonuses depending on their role, organizational guidelines, and individual performance.
• Employees regularly scheduled to work 20 or more hours per week may be eligible toparticipatein New Leaders’ benefits, including:
• New Leaders Wellness Program
• Medical plan options, dental care, and vision
• 401K plan
• Generous paid-time-off (PTO) benefits

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 101-250 employees