Senior Director of Donor Engagement and Operations

Greater Chicago Food Depository•Chicago, IL

46d

About The Position

Joining the Food Depository at a time of exponential development growth plans, this is a key role that will provide oversight of the following functions to optimize efforts that secure funding in support of our mission to end hunger. These include Donor Cultivation and Stewardship; Planning and Strategy; Prospect Management and Pipeline Development, Metrics and Analytics, and Development Operations. The Senior Director of Donor Engagement and Operations (SDDE) will be responsible for collaborating with the Chief Philanthropy Officer, their team and other department leaders to create a plan that provides opportunities for cross functional collaboration, insights into donor giving and behavior through data tracking and analysis, and increased donor engagement through a more robust cultivation and stewardship program. The individual will serve as a member of the development team leadership and various cross departmental project teams as needed. The successful candidate will be someone with a rich development background, who has had progressive and deep knowledge of development operations/systems as well as cultivation and stewardship best practices. The ideal candidate should have a strong track record of management experience and leading successful teams. This individual will help connect data and information to frontline fundraising techniques to the Food Depository's priorities and key initiatives. The individual will be able to bridge frontline fundraising techniques with the organization's priorities and key initiatives. The candidate will have a strong passion for the mission and experience in leading change management, especially in developing data-driven systems and processes that enhance efficiency and collaboration.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree with 7-10+ years of development experience specific to this role.
Minimum of 4-5 years' experience managing multi-functional teams.
Strong background in strategy development, change management and system improvement.
Proven record in developing robust cultivation and stewardship programs.
Demonstrated initiative and desire to take on new projects.
Superb interpersonal skills and the ability to actively listen.
Excellent written and oral communication skills.
Effective presentation and negotiation skills.
Highly organized & attentive to detail.
Adaptable and flexible, with ability to handle several priorities simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
Team-oriented and collaborative with the ability to work independently.
Understanding and commitment to embrace equity, diversity and inclusion in fundraising practices.
Proficiency in MS Office - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook.
Strong development database experience.

Responsibilities

Lead an innovative comprehensive cultivation and stewardship program to increase donor engagement and retention by deepening mission engagement.
Refine and develop cross department systems and processes that support all aspects of fundraising.
Provide oversight to the moves management system and donor research.
Provide leadership and management to donor operations including gift processing, acknowledgement, and analytics to help inform fundraising strategies across the department.
Provide leadership to the development and reporting of key performance indicators.
Supervise a team of ten, including four direct reports.
Build a stewardship and cultivation program to create a framework to ensure the development team has the systems, processes, and workflows to effectively steward/cultivate donors across all areas of giving.
Continually collaborate with colleagues across the Development, Marketing, Community Impact, Policy, Advocacy & Community Engagement teams to enhance comprehensive cultivation and stewardship offerings for donors.
In concert with team leaders oversee a robust cultivation program supporting both in person, online, and virtual engagement opportunities.
Collaborate with the CPO and Technology & Infrastructure team to implement and maintain the system, data, tools and assets to assist relationship managers with pipeline development, management and tracking.
Be knowledgeable of program budgets and funding needs, as well as keeping a pulse on ongoing program developments, learnings, successes and challenges.
Understand organization's key priorities and be able to translate into fundraising objectives/goals in partnership with the CPO and development leadership.
Support the development of individual development team workplans and track key performance indicators across the development department.
Act as thought-partner to harness data to inform fundraising plans, identify new ideas, scan for best practices and drive continuous improvement within development.
Develop and leads the implementation of streamlined business processes to increase the efficiency and accuracy of development workflows, including gift processing, prospect management, revenue/cash forecasting, and report development.
Encourage cross team collaboration across the entire donor pipeline.
Supervises Prospect Development Manager, providing leadership and support of department moves management programs, data acquisition activities, prospect and portfolio development and related activities.
Analyze with input from SDCFO and SDSG and recommend a continual refinement of the CPO's donor portfolio to maximize impact for the organization.
Collaborate with other development department leaders to define and modify key metrics and indicators of successful donor engagement.
Provides strategic guidance and oversight to the data management and gift processing teams.
Supervises the Director of Development Operations and collaborates on key decisions related to data management, acquisition, research and analysis.