Senior Director of Donor Engagement and Operations

Senior Director of Donor Engagement and Operations

Joining the Food Depository at a time of exponential development growth plans, this is a key role that will provide oversight of the following functions to optimize efforts that secure funding in support of our mission to end hunger. These include Donor Cultivation and Stewardship;
Planning and Strategy;
Prospect Management and Pipeline Development, Metrics and Analytics, and Development Operations. The Senior Director of Donor Engagement and Operations (SDDE) will be responsible for collaborating with the Chief Philanthropy Officer, their team and other department leaders to create a plan that provides opportunities for cross‑functional collaboration, insights into donor giving and behavior through data tracking and analysis, and increased donor engagement through a more robust cultivation and stewardship program.

The individual will serve as a member of the development team leadership and various cross departmental project teams as needed.

The successful candidate will be someone with a rich development background, who has had progressive and deep knowledge of development operations/systems as well as cultivation and stewardship best practices. The ideal candidate should have a strong track record of management experience and leading successful teams. This individual will help connect data and information to frontline fundraising techniques to the Food Depository’s priorities and key initiatives.

The individual will be able to bridge frontline fundraising techniques with the organization’s priorities and key initiatives. The candidate will have a strong passion for the mission and experience in leading change management, especially in developing data‑driven systems and processes that enhance efficiency and collaboration.

• Lead an innovative comprehensive cultivation and stewardship program to increase donor engagement and retention by deepening mission engagement.
• Refine and develop cross‑department systems and processes that support all aspects of fundraising.
• Provide oversight to the moves management system and donor research.
• Provide leadership and management to donor operations, including gift processing, acknowledgement, and analytics to help inform fundraising strategies across the department.
• Provide leadership to the development and reporting of key performance indicators.
• Supervise a team of ten, including four direct reports.

• Build a stewardship and cultivation program to create a framework ensuring the development team has the systems, processes, and workflows to effectively steward/cultivate donors across all areas of giving.
• Continuously collaborate with colleagues across the Development, Marketing, Community Impact, Policy, Advocacy & Community Engagement teams to enhance comprehensive cultivation and stewardship offerings for donors.
• Oversee a robust cultivation program supporting both in‑person, online, and virtual engagement opportunities.
• Collaborate with the CPO and Technology & Infrastructure team to implement and maintain the system, data, tools and assets to assist relationship managers with pipeline development, management and tracking.
• Be knowledgeable of program budgets and funding needs, as well as keeping a pulse on ongoing program developments, learnings, successes and challenges.

• Understand the organization’s key priorities and translate them into fundraising objectives/goals in partnership with the CPO and development leadership.
• Support the development of individual development team work‑plans and track key performance indicators across the development department.
• Act as a thought‑partner to harness data to inform fundraising plans, identify new ideas, scan for best practices and drive continuous improvement within development.

• Develop and lead the implementation of streamlined business processes to increase the efficiency and accuracy of development workflows, including gift processing, prospect management, revenue/cash forecasting, and report development.
• Encourage cross‑team collaboration across the entire…