Director of Individual Giving

Position Purpose

As a direct report of the Senior Director, Advancement and Major Giving, the Director, Individual Giving is responsible for implementing the overall strategy for the identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of a portfolio of donors for the organization. The Director, Individual Giving, will join the Resource Development (RD) team and will serve as a leader for the department. They will build and manage relationships with prospects and solicit gifts that reflect the prospect’s philanthropic commitment to BBBSA.

The position will be responsible for helping to ideate, build and grow Big Brothers Big Sisters of America’s (BBBSA) Individual Giving program as well as the management of BBBSA giving societies and affinity groups, alumni and board members. In support of the strategic plan, this leader will have primary accountability for individual giving revenue goals, fundraising campaign strategies and donor activation.

Location: United States (100% Remote, East Coast Time Zone Preferred)

Travel: Approximately 25%

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of existing prospects to secure philanthropic support annually.
• Proactively and autonomously create a new business pipeline for mid-high level individual gifts by utilizing industry best practices, networking abilities, wealth-screening, and data analysis.
• Help identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward current and new donors with key focus on sustainer program development.
• Develop and implement thoughtful strategies to move donors through the donor continuum, utilizing giving societies, affinity groups, donor engagement activities, events, and stewardship touchpoints to provide a fulfilling experience for BBBSA donors and prospects.
• Establish donor management policies and structure for optimized data management and continuity.
• Maintain donor records and activity within the CRM following organizational best practices.
• Engage training and IT resources to support employee activation of stewardship efforts and CRM optimization.
• Represent BBBSA and its programs in meetings, phone conversations and at events with individual donors and prospective donors.
• Support major donor proposal creation that are strategic, persuasive, inspiring, and customized to your prospects. Partner with colleagues across related departments to ensure that proposals meet the needs of the organization.
• Proactively maintain an active calendar of external meetings to engage with current and potential donors virtually and in-person to develop relationships, secure renewals and solicit new support.
• Design, launch and manage BBBSA giving societies, including a lifetime giving society and a loyalty giving society, to enhance the donor experience and build out a pipeline for individual giving.
• Serve as the point of contact for each society and implement an annual calendar of engagement opportunities for each society’s members.
• Work across BBBSA to develop collateral for each giving society and develop a strategy to announce the launch of each society to its members.
• Initiate affinity group engagement structures for key audiences including alumni, board members and influencers supporting the mission to sustain and grow individual giving.
• Partner with marketing and communications teams as well as senior leadership to implement key stewardship activities and optimize engagements for constituent retention.
• Develop repeatable stewardship and persona-based activity to support retention and optimization of key affinity groups.
• Work closely with the marketing & technology teams to develop and manage consistent communications to donors and prospects that aligns with individual giving strategies.
• Alignment for key affinity moment include annual Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) Month, End of Year Giving, National Mentoring Month and others.
• Serve as a key leader in the implementation of the strategic plan fundraising campaign, supporting the organization’s Five-year Strategic Plan.
• In support of the BBBSA Brand Campaign and Strategic Plan:
• Create and implement donor communications and acknowledgements related to cultivation and stewardship of donors and prospects.
• Measure, track and report progress against revenue targets and other established metrics (such as new donors, retained donors, cultivation moves, etc.)
• People Management (Future Potential Structure)
• Recruits, trains, retains, and cultivates professional development of direct reports.
• Direct and indirect supervision of team members at varying position levels.
• Demonstrates a commitment to cultural diversity and inclusion that reflects BBBSA’s commitment to JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion).
• Creates a dynamic, supportive, and effective team that is impactful across the BBBSA network.
• Leads and manages resources (people and capital) that retains and cultivates positive, measurable success.
• Monitors progress against performance targets; implements countermeasures as needed.
• Culture
• Demonstrates a commitment to cultural diversity and inclusion that reflects BBBSA’s commitment to JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion).
• Champions internal and external culture of the organization focusing on being a JEDI-focused youth empowerment and equity organization.
• Provides consistent follow-up regarding assigned projects and after meetings.
• Manages related and other duties as assigned in support of department and business needs.

Education & Related Work Experience

Education Level: Bachelor’s Degree or experience equivalent

Years of Related Work Experience: A minimum of 5-7 years of relevant experience in securing individual and transformational gifts specifically within a nonprofit environment.

Skills and Knowledge: Proven track record for securing gifts and ability to innovate and manage towards ambitious goals; Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to engage and build relationships within diverse backgrounds; Ability to develop creative and nuanced donor strategies including individual donor cultivation retention, and solicitation strategies; Highly organized in approach, with ability to set and manage priorities; Ability to work independently in achieving results consistently while prioritizing multiple projects on deadline; Excellent team working skills; ability to collaborate across teams; Excellent verbal and written communication skills; Understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion best practices and how they intersect with ethical fundraising; Commitment to BBBSA’s mission of improving outcomes for kids through mentorship; Curiosity about people and their philanthropic goals; Advanced proficiency in using Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint; Familiarity with CRM systems with preferred experience using Salesforce; Familiarity with AFP professional fundraising standards including mastery of the donor continuum; Planned giving experience; Fundraising Campaign Development and Implementation experience; Board Development and Engagement experience.

JEDI Commitment

At Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) is an integral part of our values and mission. We recognize, affirm, and celebrate the diverse backgrounds, lives, and experiences of all of our stakeholders, including youth, families, donors, volunteers, and staff. We ensure the opportunity for all voices and perspectives to be heard and honored. In the workplace, we foster an environment where all people can be their best selves. We affirm that every person [regardless of ability, age, cultural background, ethnicity, faith, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ideology, income, national origin, race or sexual orientation, marital or veteran status] has the opportunity to reach their full potential. We strive to realize the full potential that is within all of us by ensuring that all voices and perspectives are heard and honored.

Equal Employment Opportunity

BBBSA provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals without regard to race, creed, color, citizenship, religion, national origin, age, sex, familial or marital status, pregnancy, military or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability, or any other legally protected status in accordance with applicable local, state, and federal laws, regulations, and ordinances.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Employee must be able to perform all essential job functions, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Job Responsibilities

The above statements reflect the general duties, responsibilities and competencies considered necessary to perform the essential duties and responsibilities of the job and should not be considered as a detailed description of all the work requirements of the position. BBBSA may change the specific job duties with or without prior notice based on the needs of the organization.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is directly recruiting and hiring for this position. We are not engaging any staffing/recruitment firms or agencies for this position. If any candidate profile/resume/identifying information is sent to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and/or Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies, we will not pay any referral or firm fees in relation to this information.