Director, Annual Giving

Department:
Alumni Relations & Development

Salary/Grade: EXS/13

Please note:

This role is eligible for a hybrid work arrangement, up to two days remote and three onsite.

The target budgeted salary for this position is $124,000 - $132,000 annually. Offers will be based on candidate experience and education, as well as equity within Northwestern University.

Reporting to the Executive Director of Annual Giving, this role serves as the primary management officer responsible for overall program and team performance. The Director works with senior leadership to set goals, track progress, and adjust strategies as needed. They lead multiple teams in developing and executing actionable plans, assess program strengths and weaknesses, and ensure alignment with organizational objectives. The position also participates in departmental management and acts as a liaison to both the University and the Northwestern Alumni Association (NAA).

As a central team leader, the Director oversees an innovative multichannel digital giving program—including digital gift officers, student philanthropy (such as the senior class gift), texting, social media, crowdfunding, online platforms, and web strategies. Partnering with team leaders, they create and implement strategies to increase annual support through digital channels and cultivate long‑term donor engagement.

• Manage two staff members, and develop, and coach a team of eight fundraising and programmatic support professionals to ensure program growth.
• Develop and implement innovative strategies to maximize the use of digital tools and platforms to increase annual donors and dollars to Northwestern.
• Craft compelling multichannel digital fundraising appeals and campaigns targeting specific donor segments for renewals, upgrades, and other key metrics.
• Create and implement a program for digital giving officers, focusing on retention and upgrades in the $500–$9,999 range.
• Track and evaluate the success of digital fundraising initiatives to ensure they are improving fundraising results.
• Stay on top of trends and evaluate and recommend new and emerging technology products and platforms as needed.

• Primary responsibility for development and implementation of strategic plans focused on alumni and student participation in giving. Acts as a thought‑leader and champion for digital fundraising best practices for the department and other organizational stakeholders.
• Oversees, creates, implements, and manages plans to incorporate and leverage digital fundraising technologies and best practices to increase engagement and participation by alumni and graduating seniors.
• Initiates, plans, and implements innovative and visionary organizational change and takes calculated risks to develop new strategies to continually expand engagement and participation via digital channels.
• Produces regular campaign and program analysis of digital fundraising efforts. Develops detailed digital fundraising analytics reports and benchmarks.
• Works closely with senior management to set goals and to develop and implement overarching strategies, including prospect identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship programming for digital gift officers.
• Analyzes campaign metrics and key performance indicators to ensure best practices and lessons learned, and shares these metrics with senior management.
• Oversees programmatic performance evaluation and resourcing, process improvement, and research.

• Reviews and proposes strategic alliances, joint ventures, and key collaborations with department colleagues and other University partners to identify opportunities to integrate University priorities.
• Partners with Direct Appeals colleagues to maximize giving across channels.
• Oversees and coaches team members regarding department collaborations.
• Key partnerships and work involved below:
  • Annual Giving colleagues
  • NAA
  • ARD Schools and Programs teams
  • Marketing and Communications
  • Gift and Record Services
  • Northwestern Office of Student Affairs

• Plays a primary role in developing and managing relationships with prospect/donors up to $10K that…