Under the direction of the Vice President, the Director of Individual Giving raises support for, and advances Heart of West Michigan United Way’s mission by sustaining and growing relationships, leading to leadership level and major gifts, through innovative relationship fundraising best practices. This role is responsible for implementing creative, cutting edge tactics to financially engage individuals in the work of United Way. The Director works with the Vice President to plan and execute the cultivation, stewardship and personal solicitation of individual donors and prospects, including major and planned gifts.
Areas of Responsibility:
- Develop, manage and maintain a portfolio of individual donors, major gift and planned giving prospects.
- Develop and execute strategies to identify, research, cultivate and solicit qualified prospects for major and planned gifts in collaboration and cooperation with the Vice President of Donor Strategy.
- Establish and maintain relationships with individual donors and prospects, through personal visits and other forms of direct personal contact in accordance with performance targets.
- Recruits, engages, and manages volunteers and provides them with leadership and direction in support of the cultivation and solicitation of major donors and prospects; coordinates volunteers' activities to ensure their integration into the organization’s mission.
- Develops and implements year-round programs for all donors above five thousand dollars, including loyal donors and Legacy Society donors, involving events as necessary.
- Updates skills regularly to enhance knowledge of major gifts and planned giving trends, best practices and tools. Identify creative and innovative tactics for growth in identified donor communities.
- Expands and grows donor base beyond traditional United Way participants.
- Responsible to establish, oversee and grow revenue from planned giving gifts through the Legacy Society program and develop relationships with the Planned Giving community.
- Research, identify, cultivate and solicit new Planned Giving prospects while managing and prioritizing the current Planned Giving Legacy Society members.
- Manage ongoing donor relationships through regular contact, personal visits, communication and follow up.
- Arranges meetings with donors and prospects for cultivation, stewardship and solicitation.
- Consistently document key conversations and other pertinent donor information in donor management database.
- Work with Marketing/Communications department in the design of Leadership, Tocqueville Society & Planned Giving promotional materials (i.e. website, newsletter, newspaper ads, directories, social media, letters, and brochures).
- Promote United Way’s values among internal and external constituents. This includes United Way’s strong commitment to diversity. All staff are required to participate in the Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Healing Racism as well as quarterly cultural competency events. Staff must also work to embody United Way’s core values of being authentic, collaborative, trustworthy, inclusive, and transparent.
Educational Background:
Bachelor's degree; and 3-5 years of documented professional experience directly related to the duties and responsibilities specified.
Skills/Experience:
Direction of Others
- None
- Volunteers as assigned
Complexity:
- Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
- Moderate level of creativity skills.
- High degree of confidentiality.
Independent Judgment and Consequence of Errors:
- Needs to exercise judgment regarding accurate setting of appointments, forwarding phone calls, interrupting meetings.
- High level of independent thinking and judgment.
- High level of critical thinking skills.
- Adherence to deadlines, timelines and fast turn-around.
- Moderate level of decision making.
- Limited skills in these areas could lead to an inconsistent message or representation that could compromise the integrity of the organization.
Education and/or Experience:
- Minimum of 1 to 3 years major gifts and/or planned giving experience preferred.
- Demonstrated sales/marketing experience with applied emphasis on customer relationship building.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office computer applications.
- Extremely effective oral and written communication skills with an ability to relate with a diverse group of individuals.
- Demonstrated ability to manage a portfolio of major donor accounts
- Demonstrated ability to secure major gifts from individuals, and other private funding sources.
- Demonstrated ability to persuade others.
- Strong ability to define and execute on action plans.
- Proven ability to take initiative, be creative in thinking and solutions.
- Manage and develop high performing, effective volunteers and committees.
- Ability to understand complex organizations and systems and ability to work in harmony with peers, and as an active team member.
- High level of prioritization and organization skills.
- Ability to manage multiple projects with set deadlines/guidelines.
- Ability to build and maintain relationships with a diverse population.
- Experience with donor databases preferred.
- Communication skills and protocol suitable for interfacing with major gift donors.
- Experience in the Development profession preferred.
Physical Demands/Work Environment:
- Employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, reach with hands and arms, talk and hear.
- Ability to lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
- Moderate level of stress caused from tight deadlines.
- Moderate level of mental and/or visual fatigue and/or eyestrain may result from looking at a computer screen for extended periods of time.
- Occasional work outside of normal business hours may be required.
- Periodic travel may be required.
- Valid Michigan driver’s license and auto insurance required.
- Moderate office noise level.
Job Function:
Organization Info
Listing Stats
Post Date:
Jun 22 2019
Active Until:
Jul 22 2019
Hiring Organization:
United Way Worldwide
industry:
Nonprofit