The Director of Development, Annual Giving & Membership is responsible for providing leadership and guidance to Western Washington University’s annual giving and alumni membership programs, with a focus on securing lifelong, loyal Alumni Association members and donors to the University. You will also be actively engaged in identifying, cultivating, personally soliciting and stewarding a portfolio of Sapphire Life Members, leadership annual giving donors and WWU Give Day sponsors. Programmatic oversight includes the Alumni Association Membership Campaign and all aspects of the Annual Giving Campaigns including Leadership Annual Giving, telemarketing, direct mail, email solicitations, crowdfunding, WWU Give Day, Viking Athletics’ team campaigns, peer-to-peer fundraising committees.

You will report to the Assistant Vice President of Alumni, Annual Giving & Communications, within University Advancement. In this role, you may be required to travel regionally and conduct some weekend and evening work.

A list of duties and associated tasks are outlined below:

Duty: Direct responsibility to develop and manage overall annual plan and be responsible for implementation, goals and results of all Annual Giving campaigns and initiatives.

Tasks include:

• Work with University leadership, deans, chairs and program directors to understand University-wide and unit-based fundraising priorities in order to effectively create and communicate the case for support to key constituencies.
• Ensure effective coordination between annual giving, major gifts, donor relations, marketing & communications, alumni and constituent relations (ACE) and advancement services and work collaboratively to meet goals.
• Conduct detailed statistical analyses and reporting.
• Research best practices, giving trends and identify new strategies to meet goals.
• Responsible for the development and management of budgets, policies and procedures.
• Initiate, analyze, monitor, evaluate and advance strategic annual fundraising campaigns that meet the goals of University Advancement.

Duty: Management of Annual Giving and Alumni Membership staff

Tasks include:

• Mentor, train and lead a high-achieving and dedicated team of professionals and student staff to execute a multi-channel annual giving campaign to effectively engage, solicit and steward our key audiences: alumni, parents, faculty/staff, WWU retirees, Athletic supporters and friends.
• The team includes the Associate Director, Leadership Annual Giving; the Assistant Director of Annual Giving, Direct Marketing and Alumni Memberships (who oversees a student staff of 2-5) and the Assistant Director, Digital Giving and Phonathon (who oversees a student staff of ~40 Phonathon callers).
• Channels used to communicate and solicit our audiences include: direct marketing (direct mail and email), social media, Phonathon, texting, crowdfunding, WWU Give Day, volunteer management of peer-to-peer solicitations and personal solicitations.
• Provide the essential leadership and guidance for annual giving staff to maximize productivity; work with Assistant Vice President to set performance standards, evaluate performance; implement professional development activities for ongoing mentorship.

Duty: Direct responsibility to develop and manage overall annual plan and be responsible for implementation, goals and results of all Alumni Membership campaigns and Initiatives.

Tasks include:

• Oversight of Assistant Director responsible for membership renewal, acquisition and membership fulfillment activities including direct marketing (direct mail and email, texting), digital memberships cards and procurement of benefits and perks for members.
• Work with the Executive Director of the Alumni Association and the Alumni Association Board of Directors to identify membership strategies to more deeply engage and steward members.
• Identify new strategies to meet Alumni Association membership campaign goals and build upon existing campaigns such as Socktober and March Membership Month.
• Initiate, analyze, monitor, evaluate and advance strategic annual fundraising campaigns that meet the goals of University Advancement.

Duty: Staff the WWU Give Day Committee of the WWU Foundation Board of Directors and oversee the staff member who supports the President’s Society Committee of the Board

 Tasks include:

• Provide strategic direction to volunteers to achieve desired outcomes.
• Facilitate committee meetings (3 per quarter)
• Provide talking points and presentation materials for Team Lead to present at WWU Foundation Board meetings and Executive Committee meetings
• Prepare reports, peer-to-peer solicitation lists and associated supporting materials such as WWU Give Day Wrap Report and other statistical analysis of WWU Give Day results, donor profiles, scripts and sponsorship packets for distribution.

Duty: Personal solicitations of leadership annual gifts, WWU Give Day sponsorships and annual scholarships

Tasks include:

• Identify top leadership annual giving/scholarship prospects for personal solicitation
• Personally solicit leadership annual giving/annual scholarship donors and WWU Give Day Sponsors via phone, personal visits and other personalized communications and gift proposals
• Prepare necessary gift agreements to successfully close and document leadership annual gifts, including but not limited to: Annual Named Scholarship Agreements, Endowed Fund Agreements, and Letters of Intent to document pledges of $10,000 or more
• Cultivate, Engage and Steward them through personal meetings, personalized impact reports and connections with student scholarship recipients and campus partners

Required Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree
• Five years progressively successful experience in fundraising, sales, customer acquisition and retention or applicable experience
• Experience working in or overseeing an annual giving and/or alumni membership program including knowledge of all aspects of annual giving – telemarketing, direct mail, crowdfunding, email and personal solicitations
• Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills
• Demonstrated strong computer, analytical analysis and data base skills, including excellent Microsoft Office and Excel skills
• Ability to appropriately manage highly confidential information
• Demonstrated commitment to support a workplace culture in which diversity is honored, respected and celebrated

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Management, leadership and supervisory success working in a dynamic environment
• Demonstrated ability to establish fundraising and/or membership goals and manage a program to meet or exceed the goals
• Outstanding organizational, research and analytical skills as well as ability to communicate complex details and statistics in effective presentations
• Creative, good-natured team-member with demonstrated ability to collaborate with colleagues and volunteers
• Working knowledge of Ellucian CRM Advance or similar database

Salary: 

$70,000 – $81,650 commensurate experience, including an excellent benefits package