California College of the Arts educates students to shape culture and society through the power of creative work. Building on a century of excellence in art and design education, CCA is in the quiet phase of its largest-ever capital campaign to build an expanded campus in the heart of San Francisco.

The Director of Annual Giving leads CCA’s annual giving effort by developing and implementing a range of effective solicitation strategies for alumni, parents and friends. This position serves as the CCA specialist on broad-based appeals such as direct mail, email, online giving, and social media campaigns. As the CCA capital campaign moves into its public phase, the Director will play a leadership role in enhancing a culture of philanthropy at the college and realizing campaign cultivation, solicitation and stewardship goals to grow participation among donors giving under $10,000.

Main Responsibilities: 

Appeal Planning, Implementation & Communication – 65%

• Creates and executes a comprehensive Annual Giving strategic plan with the goal of growing the number of donors giving under $10,000.
• Develops Annual Giving income and participation goals for all constituent groups and sets long-term benchmarks for success, with specific focus on supporting student scholarships.
• Develops and implements mass appeal strategies to increase fundraising success through direct mail, telefund, digital and online solicitations, and other crowdfunding opportunities.
• Writes compelling copy for donor proposals, case statements, brochures, direct mail, invitations, videos, e-newsletters, and other correspondence that aligns with CCA’s brand and mission.
• Develops and deploys targeted group solicitations that maximize response rates and giving among alumni, parents, friends, faculty and staff. Plans and administers robust direct mail and online efforts for donor acquisition, renewal, and upgrades.

Special Giving and Stewardship Programs – 20%

• Works closely with the Senior Director of Individual Giving and the Major Gifts Officer to identify individual prospects for the major gift pipeline and other upgrade opportunities; strategizes and helps implement a corresponding moves management plan for mid-level giving.
• Collaborate with the Alumni Engagement team to develop a bi-monthly Friends and Parents newsletter, this will be sent with support from the Development Associate.
• In coordination with the Senior Director of Individual Giving, identify and plan for opportunities to include Planned Giving education and outreach in materials
• Employs departmental stewardship programs to acknowledge donors at various times of the year; including working with the Marketing and Communications team to identify opportunities to feature alumni and donors in college-wide collateral.

Events – 5%

• Works in partnership with the Events Manager to ensure events fulfill their goals in cultivating and stewarding individual donors.
• Helps Alumni Engagement staff develop and execute alumni event solicitation strategy utilizing volunteers, direct mail, and social media.
• Attends Advancement and other CCA events as appropriate, to establish rapport with donors and prospects.

Administrative – 10%

• In conjunction with the Director of Advancement Services, designs and implements timely and effective acknowledgment processes for annual donors.
• With direction from the Director of Advancement Services, help implement the named scholarship reporting process to ensure the successful awardings and inspiring and donor reports.
• In collaboration with Advancement Services, creates reports that measure the effectiveness and progress of annual giving. Provides regular analysis and status reports to department leadership.
• Works in partnership with gift processing staff to ensure that gifts are coded correctly and donors are appropriately stewarded.
• Supports the maintenance of database (Raiser’s Edge) and hard files for individual donors by tracking actions and using proper coding for mailings.
• Some local/regional travel may be required.

Minimum Requirements: 

• Bachelor’s degree and three or more years of direct fundraising and management experience, preferably within an educational or cultural institution.
• Experience with development of mass appeal strategy and implementation of plans leading to successful email, direct mail, social media, crowd-funding or telefund campaigns.
• Must be energetic, creative, and resourceful, and demonstrate initiative in seeking increased contributions.
• Excellent communication skills with demonstrated ability to engage prospective donors in-person and in writing through articulate, compelling, and well-reasoned solicitations.
• Exceptional organizational skills, with the ability to work on deadlines and manage multiple assignments at once.
• Strong analytical and budgeting skills.
• Willingness to be committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
• Outstanding leadership and interpersonal, including the ability to work well with staff, trustees, faculty, and volunteers.
• A proven record of working independently and as part of a team, demonstrating flexibility and ability to compromise to achieve goals in tandem with project partners.
• PC proficiency (MS Office Suite in Mac environment); facility w/ Word and Excel required.
• Work with fundraising database software required, Raiser’s Edge preferred. ​
• Experience working in a college environment is helpful.

Application Instructions

Applicants are required to attach a cover letter and resume. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Recommended document file formats are Word or PDF. If there are multiple attachments, we recommend compressing/zipping your files into a zip format file. There is also a place in the application for you to provide a link to large documents. Please submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions.

EEO Statement

As an educational and cultural institution, California College of the Arts has a responsibility to provide access and opportunities for all people, with special attention to supporting groups historically underrepresented in higher education.

We believe that a culturally diverse campus is integral to academic excellence, and our student, faculty, staff, and trustee bodies should reflect the diverse world in which we live, with attention to race, ethnicity, religious creed, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and ability.

California College of the Arts is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from individuals who will contribute to its diversity.