Director, Presidents Society

Founded in 1876, the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is the oldest conservation and recreation organization in the United States. Our mission is simple yet powerful: foster the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the outdoors. With a focus on protecting mountains, forests, waters, and trails throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, we envision a world where our natural resources are healthy, loved, and always protected, and where the outdoors occupies a place of central importance in every person’s life.

This position aligns both paid and unpaid staff to move AMC’s mission and four strategic priorities:

• Protect critical landscapes for the well-being of people and the outdoors
• Cultivate and sustain a robust, welcoming community
• Foster access to the outdoors

AMC seeks a Director, President’s Society (DPS) to lead and grow AMC’s leadership giving program for donors contributing $1,000 or more to its Annual Fund. The DPS will be a strategic, relationship-oriented professional responsible for designing and executing an integrated program to retain, upgrade and acquire President’s Society members while deepening their engagement with AMC.

AMC’s mid-level donor pipeline is a critical driver of overall Annual Fund performance and long-term major gift growth. The President’s Society, which currently includes over 1,100 member households and generates 75%-85% of the Annual Fund each year. As part of AMC’s comprehensive campaign, The Next Adventure, AMC aims to grow the President’s Society to 1,500 member-households and $6.35 million in annual revenue as part of the campaign.

The DPS is accountable for strategy and execution to achieve annual fund revenue goals at the $1,000+ level and plays a critical role in partnership with Major Gifts to drive performance at the $10,000+ level through coordinated pipeline development and donor engagement. The Director will develop and lead a strategy aligned with AMC’s campaign goals, balancing program leadership, data-driven decision-making, and direct frontline fundraising and relationship management.

This full-time, exempt position and supervises a Donor Engagement Manager who fulfills President’s Society member benefits and is tasked with developing an engaging suite of donor communications and events to convey the impact of donors’ support and foster a welcoming and engaged President’s Society community.

The DPS also works in close coordination with the Major Gifts, Campaign and Growth teams on strategies to recruit, retain, and upgrade President’s Society members through multi-channel marketing, as well as personalized outreach and programming.

The Director will drive acquisition, retention, qualification, engagement, and upgrading strategies that increase both annual support and the long-term philanthropic potential of President's Society members. The DPS will spend approximately half of their time on direct donor engagement (calls, emails, meetings, and events). The DPS’s remaining time will be dedicated to program strategy, team leadership, and execution.

• Develop and execute a multi-year strategy to meet or exceed President’s Society membership, revenue, and retention targets
• Establish and monitor key performance metrics (retention, acquisition, upgrades, revenue), using data to inform strategy
• Oversee program budget and resource allocation in alignment with fundraising priorities
• Lead annual planning, including segmentation, outreach strategies, year-over-year growth targets, and campaign integration
• Serve as the captain overseeing outreach drives by staff and volunteers at key fundraising periods in the annual giving cycle

• Engage and steward President’s Society donors and prospects, with a focus on otherwise unassigned donors at the $1,000–$9,999 level, through consistent 1:1 outreach including meetings, calls, and personalized communications
• Drive donor upgrades within the President’s Society and into the Major Gifts pipeline, supporting achievement of both mid-level and $10,000+ revenue goals
• Partner with Major Gifts team to identify, qualify and transition donors for further campaign…