The Office of the Vice for Advancement at UIC is seeking a Senior Director of Donor Acquisition and Engagement. The Senior Director of Donor Acquisition and Engagement (SD) leads a university-wide annual and leadership giving program securing philanthropic support from alumni and friends with a focus on gifts under $25,000.  The SD will manage and coach a team responsible for growing our baseline of annual support and moving donors to higher levels of giving through an omni-channel approach including leadership annual giving and the outreach center.  As a senior leader on the Alumni and Donor Engagement team in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Advancement (OVCA), the SD will champion integration and collaboration of donor acquisition and engagement strategies across the alumni and donor engagement team and across advancement. 

Duties & Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a comprehensive strategy for annual and leadership giving, with a focus on securing and enhancing gifts under $25,000 to grow a sustainable major gifts pipeline.
• Set and achieve goals and define metrics for donor acquisition, renewal, and pipeline growth, leveraging data-driven insights to inform strategic decision-making.
• Oversee the implementation of targeted mass cultivation and solicitation strategies to increase donor participation and philanthropic impact.
• Utilizing an omni-channel (phone, direct mail, email, texting, social media and online giving) approach to donor engagement, leverage various communication channels and platforms to connect with donors and prospects.
• Develop and implement a leadership annual giving program, designed to move donors through the pipeline by increasing their fundraising support and building a pipeline to major gifts.
• Manage the operations of the outreach center and build strategies to maximize efforts for the digital ambassadors (student employees), to ensure efficient and effective communication with prospective donors.
• Collaborate with the alumni relations, donor relations, stewardship, communications and other teams to ensure alignment and collaboration in engagement and outreach efforts.
• Lead, mentor, and coach a team of professionals, providing guidance and support to drive performance and achieve programmatic goals.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement, empowering team members to excel in their respective roles with clear goals, expected outcomes and measurements.
• Collaborate with OVCA prospect development and analytics team and University of Illinois Foundation (UIF) business intelligence team to organize information and create and analyze reports and processes that inform annual and leadership giving strategies, enhance data integrity and maximize use of the constituent relationship management database.
• Oversee the evaluation, securing and management of vendor relationships and project management plans for annual giving efforts.
• Maintain accuracy of records through entering contact reports and providing updates to donor database, following data policies and guidelines of UIF and OVCA.
• Demonstrate impact, identify trend lines and provide detailed donor, revenue and performance reports on a regular basis.
• Perform other related duties and participate in special projects as assigned

Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree or a foreign equivalent required.
• Eight plus years’ of demonstrated successful professional experience in annual fundraising. Experience should include both traditional and new channels of annual revenue generation.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications.
• Strong database and analytical skills.
• Ability to understand and abide by the CASE Donor Bill of Rights, and the CASE Ethics Guidelines.
• An appreciation for how to leverage institutional programs with other initiatives to maximize engagement and philanthropic activity.
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential matters and information with discretion.
• Excellent oral and written communication and interpersonal relations skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively in a dynamic team-based organization.

For fullest consideration, please apply by August 9, 2024, directly to the UIC Job Board.