Senior Director, Annual Giving and Strategic Solicitations

Senior Director, Annual Giving and Strategic Solicitations

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Reporting to the AVP, Marketing and Engagement Communication, the Senior Director, Annual Giving and Strategic Solicitations leads the development, implementation, and optimization of a high-performing, comprehensive, university-wide annual giving program. The Senior Director is responsible for a multi-channel annual giving strategy designed to increase donor participation and annual support for Rutgers University. The role collaborates closely with university leadership, development officers, and alumni engagement to set and achieve ambitious annual goals for donors, dollars, and retention.

As part of the Marketing and Engagement Communications team, the Senior Director works to inspire donors, alumni and constituents to give, attend events, volunteer and connect with the university and alumni community.

In collaboration with the Marketing and Engagement Communications team, the position plays an essential role in ensuring coordinated and strategic messaging across all channels that embodies the Rutgers Values of academic excellence, building community and enhancing the common good. The Senior Director elevates strategic communications and inspires engagement among donors, alumni, and constituents. The role includes management of a Director, Annual Giving.

Essential Functions

• Leads the development of a comprehensive strategic plan and annual giving program budget, ensuring effective allocation of resources to maximize impact and achieve fundraising and donor engagement targets
• Sets the annual solicitation calendar and messaging strategy, oversees direct marketing efforts including digital campaigns, crowdfunding, annual appeals, and giving day to maximize both the total number of donors and donations
• Designs and implements innovative and unique strategic solicitation initiatives to acquire new donors and re-engage donors around active fundraising areas, generating discovery data for potential larger contributions
• Utilizes data and analytics to assess the effectiveness of annual giving initiatives, generate detailed reports, and inform strategic decisions to enhance program performance
• Leads projects and initiatives across various stakeholders
• Manages annual giving professionals, setting clear performance goals, conducting regular evaluations, and fostering a high-performing, collaborative work environment
• Focuses on personalized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies to build lasting relationships with donors and increase giving levels
• Collaborates with CLUs and departments under the central engagement vertical to align annual giving strategies with broader institutional goals
• Aligns annual giving program with the Foundation's overall fundraising goals and the University values

Competency Aptitudes

• Leadership
  Lead a comprehensive strategy for annual giving
• Ability to successfully manage and lead a team in a way that maximizes potential of each team member
• Must be proactive and bring forward-thinking ideas

• Autonomy
  Manage an implementation team and projects/program with moderate supervision from leadership
• Set goals, manage budgets, and meet deadlines for themselves and the team
• Contribute to initiatives or projects that span multiple organizations or units

• Complexity
  Partner with other peer directors and department leads across the organization
• Effectively manage your supervisor and University partners across the enterprise
• Impact organization-wide outcomes by influencing at all levels to include RU/RUF executive leadership
• Able to devise and execute increasingly complex projects
• Set department/project/program direction and approach in partnership with leadership
• Able to adapt to changing situations and different fundraising partners
• Responsible for a pan-University philanthropic initiative
• Lead operations for a department/program

• Strategy
  Define and oversee strategy for department/project/program
• Demonstrate the ability to set priorities and determine strategy for department/project/program, including staffing and budgets

Education And/or Experience
Bachelor's degree and/or 6+ years of professional experience in annual giving. Experience with Salesforce and/or Commerce Cloud a plus

Workplace Conditions
This position requires clarity of focus while juggling complex projects or deadlines with little physical effort. Will work evenings, weekends, or odd hours to meet organizational commitments. Typical working conditions with an absence of disagreeable elements. This position requires some early mornings and late evenings to accommodate meetings, travel, events, and external constituent’s schedules.

Workplace Arrangements
This is classified as an office-centric hybrid position. Colleagues working under an office-centric hybrid arrangement have a primary workstation in a university or foundation location and are in the office between one and five days a…