Senior Director, Annual Giving Programs

Position Summary

Reporting to the Vice President for Donor Engagement and Chief Marketing Officer, the Senior Director of Annual Giving Programs oversees all aspects of the OSU Foundation’s centralized academic annual giving programs, including a comprehensive multi-channel marketing, solicitation, and retention program, unit-based and university-wide annual giving initiatives, constituency-based programming and volunteer engagement, and a leadership annual giving donor experience program. The Senior Director leads a team responsible for increasing academic annual giving revenue (gifts under $50,000), increasing the number of annual giving donors and donor retention, increasing the engagement of annual giving donors, and strengthening the major gift pipeline.

The position demonstrates a strong commitment to using technology and data analysis to personalize and scale the Foundation’s Annual Giving efforts to improve fundraising and engagement outcomes. This includes generating data from constituent communications and interactions. The role works closely with the Foundation’s Vice President for Technology and Innovation to advance the Foundation’s goal to be at the forefront of innovation in our profession.

The Senior Director serves as a visible and vocal champion for the importance of giving and a culture of philanthropy across all university and Foundation constituencies, including employees, alumni, parents, students, recent graduates and other supporters.

• Lead the development of annual goals and plans for academic annual giving to ensure a healthy donor pipeline, including annual dollars raised, donor goals, and $1k+ donor goals. Monitor progress, develop reports, and deploy analytics to make necessary improvements to meet and exceed goals.
• Lead, manage, develop and mentor annual giving team members. Build and develop a cohesive, integrated team. Exercise full supervision over assigned staff, make appropriate hiring decisions, establish work plans and accountabilities, provide training and professional development, and ensure required training is received, conduct performance evaluations, effectively manage behavioral and conduct issues.
• Use data and digital technology to enhance the donor experience, increase donors, and optimize fundraising performance. This includes utilizing machine learning, predictive modeling, artificial intelligence, sales enablement technology, and marketing automation. Collaborate with the Technology and Innovation team to advance the Foundation’s digital technology and innovation goals.
• Lead the development and execution of solicitation and stewardship strategies, encompassing both unit-based and university-wide initiatives. Oversee the creation and implementation of marketing campaigns across various channels to engage donors, alumni, and the broader community with the right message based on their interests. Work with unit leads to develop unit-specific annual giving goals and plans. Work closely with Marketing and Communications team to ensure that all initiatives align with the Foundation’s branding and messaging.
• Ensure the development and execution of a comprehensive stewardship plan for all annual giving donors that increases donor retention and builds a pipeline for increased giving and engagement at all annual giving levels. This includes customized stewardship strategies and communications for key annual giving segments, including unassigned donors, first‑time donors, mid‑level donors, and loyalty/consecutive donors; donors from target constituencies; and donors to certain areas.
• Oversee the development and implementation of fundraising and donor volunteer engagement strategies for key constituent and recognition groups, including OSUF’s Beaver Leadership Circle, Women’s Giving Circle, parents, employees, alumni employees, recent graduates and other leadership groups. Working in partnership with Director of Constituent Engagement and Stewardship, Annual Giving Programs, to develop and execute a comprehensive plan to grow constituency groups and increase annual giving volunteers.
• Lead the university’s Day of Giving. Chair university‑wide planning committee and…