Senior Manager, Donor Retention & Direct Response

RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE NEW YORK•New York, NY

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Ronald McDonald House New York (RMH-NY) is seeking a strategic, data-driven fundraising professional to lead donor retention, engagement, and revenue growth through integrated direct response fundraising. The role focuses on increasing donor lifetime value, reactivating lapsed supporters, and encouraging donors to deepen their commitment to RMH-NY’s mission. The Senior Manager oversees multichannel fundraising strategies—including direct mail, email, SMS, and digital campaigns—with responsibility for donor retention, monthly giving, donor reactivation, and upgrades to higher giving levels. The role works closely with Development and Digital leadership, Communications, Data Analytics, and external agency partners, using donor insights, segmentation, testing, and performance analytics to optimize campaigns and produce measurable fundraising results. The position develops and executes donor retention and engagement plans; leads donor onboarding, second-gift conversion, sustainer journeys, and lapsed-donor re-engagement; and identifies donors with upgrade potential. It owns email as a revenue channel, including lifecycle programs, campaign calendars, segmentation, personalization, testing, optimization, list health, deliverability, compliance, and quality assurance. The role also coordinates integrated campaigns, vendors, direct mail production, landing pages, QR codes, and cross-channel timing. It tracks and reports fundraising KPIs, conducts structured A/B testing, and uses donor behavior and campaign results to inform recommendations. This is a hybrid role that typically requires three days per week on-site at the House, with schedules subject to organizational needs. The position is based in an office within RMH-NY’s facility, where families stay during children’s medical treatment. The facility operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and occasional evening, weekend, and holiday work may be required. The work environment is primarily an office setting, with generally moderate to loud noise; some outdoor work and occasional local travel may be required. Standard office equipment is routinely used. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
At least 5 years of relevant direct response fundraising or lifecycle marketing experience, including significant nonprofit fundraising experience.
Demonstrated results in donor retention, monthly giving programs, or lapsed-donor recapture.
At least 5 years of experience leading email journey strategy on an enterprise marketing automation platform, including segmentation, automation, dynamic content, and personalization.
Experience setting, tracking, and assessing fundraising KPIs and using data to develop hypotheses and make decisions.
Hands-on A/B testing experience, from test design through analysis and application of results.
Strong understanding of the donor lifecycle, retention, and upgrade strategy, including monthly giving and mid-level giving pathways.
Strong time management skills, including prioritizing, managing complex schedules and multiple campaigns, and meeting time-sensitive deadlines.
Strong attention to detail and disciplined quality assurance practices.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to turn data into clear recommendations.
Ability to work under pressure, remain results-driven, and balance competing priorities with tight deadlines.
Strong interpersonal skills and a polished professional presentation, including when interacting with Board members, donors, and guests on site.
Ability to build trust and confidence with senior staff, gift officers, Board members, Communications, and agency partners.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on Salesforce Marketing Cloud experience, including Journey Builder and Email Studio.
Campaign coordination experience, including production and results analysis.
Experience with Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud or NPSP.
Experience with Google Analytics 4.
Experience with business intelligence dashboards such as Amazon QuickSight.
Experience with SMS fundraising, donor segmentation, and strategies to grow mid-level giving programs.
Creativity and willingness to explore unconventional ways to emotionally connect with donors and prospective donors.
Curiosity about emerging technology and AI and willingness to experiment with trends that may benefit RMH-NY.
Sound judgment on fundraising copy for email and web, with the ability to strengthen drafts using performance data.
Positive, hands-on attitude and commitment to delivering premium-quality work.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute donor retention and engagement plans across email, direct mail, SMS, and digital campaigns.
Lead donor onboarding and second-gift conversion, and map and improve the donor journey from first gift through renewal and upgrade.
Lead monthly giving conversion, retention, and engagement, including onboarding, stewardship, payment recovery, and upgrade journeys.
Plan and run recapture and re-engagement campaigns for lapsed and at-risk donors, using segments and recommendations developed with DevOps and Salesforce teams.
Identify high-potential donors through direct response campaigns and collaborate with Development on donor upgrades and movement into the major gifts pipeline.
Partner with DevOps and Data Analytics to identify upgrade candidates and build journeys that move newer and smaller donors toward mid-level giving.
Own email strategy as a revenue channel, including calendar, cadence, segmentation, and conversion-rate optimization.
Manage lifecycle email programs, balancing appeals with stewardship and impact content.
Coordinate Marketing Cloud journeys, dynamic content, personalization, and send-time optimization; document campaign requirements and quality-check builds before launch.
Protect email list health and deliverability, and ensure compliance with email regulations, donor preferences, and best practices.
Use donor data and personalization responsibly, and partner with Communications on copy and brand approvals.
Coordinate agency and vendor partners and hold them accountable to timelines, campaign requirements, revenue and expense goals, and quality standards.
Coordinate integrated direct response campaigns and maintain the master campaign calendar.
Manage direct mail review routing and production timelines; coordinate landing pages and QR codes; and align email and digital touchpoints with in-home dates.
Track and report weekly, monthly, and campaign-level KPIs established with the Chief Digital Officer, including retention, second-gift conversion, sustainer churn, reactivation, revenue per recipient, and donor lifetime value.
Run a structured email A/B testing program, using holdout groups where appropriate to measure incremental revenue; document findings and apply them across channels.
Partner with the Data Analyst to use donor behavior and performance data to recommend upgrade candidates, segmentation, and suppression for email, direct mail, and digital campaigns.
Use evidence and hypotheses to guide campaign decisions, make recommendations, and improve results.
Build trust and confidence with senior staff, gift officers, Board members, Communications, donors, guests, and agency partners.
Occasionally travel locally in support of the role.