Senior Advancement Officer Annual Giving

Senior Advancement Officer For Annual Giving

Reports To: VP Institutional Advancement

Department: Institutional Advancement

Status: Full Time, Exempt

Salary Range: $40-$55,000 (Title III Grant funded)

Opening Date
:
August 28, 2025

Paine College is a private institution steeped in the tenets of Methodism that provides a liberal arts education of the highest quality. The College emphasizes academic excellence, ethical and spiritual values, social responsibility, and personal development to prepare spiritually centered men and women for positions of leadership and service. Under the dynamic leadership of its newly appointment president, Dr. Lester

A. McCorn, the College endeavors to build a technology savvy, data-driven friend-raising and fundraising arm of the general academic areas of the College.

As a part of a successful fundraising team at Paine College, the Senior Advancement Officer for Annual Giving will utilize exceptional relationship building skills, strong work ethic, a goals-oriented mentality, and be motivated to be an effective member of this mission driven organization.

• The SAO for Annual Giving is responsible for building relationships with a wide variety of constituents including alumni, donors, volunteers, and campus partners.
• The Senior Advancement Officer will manage a portfolio of rated prospects who have the inclination and/or capacity to commit three or five figure gifts with the goal of raising funds to advance the mission of Paine College.

Annual Giving is the foundation of philanthropic support for Paine. It is the primary way in which alumni, parents, and friends demonstrate a shared commitment to the college. As it seeks annual, unrestricted support it develops sustainable philanthropic traditions that have a direct impact on the quality of experience that students receive. The consistent habits it establishes are important for preparing donors for comprehensive campaigns, capital priorities including the endowment, and estate gift considerations.

The Senior Advancement Officer for Annual Giving manages the development, implementation, and evaluation of the college's annual giving strategies in pursuit of ambitious goals for funds and participation. The SAO for Annual Giving collaborates with the Advancement team and campus colleagues to ensure coordination in the implementation of the Annual Giving plan with Advancement and campus priorities. While some donors may want to direct their support for specific priorities, the case for Annual Giving should focus on a shared commitment to the overall financial strength of the college and of the collective impact donors can have on its quality and reputation.

Each generation of students has benefited from this tradition of philanthropy. Alumni are the primary audience, so the alumni participation rate is an important indicator of their engagement. The components of the Annual Giving plan should include:

• a consistent, compelling case for support
• strategies and goals for donor acquisition, donor retention, and donor upgrades to leadership levels (of $2,500 or more)
• plans for the engagement of key partners e.g., Ambassadors, Advancement team, Alumni Board, Athletics, etc.

• Develop and achieve ambitious and sustainable annual goals in consultation with the Advancement team and college cabinet officers.
• Develop benchmarks and management tools that can provide daily, weekly, and monthly tracking of progress on goals and subgoals.
• Develop and implement effective tactics and initiatives.
• Develop and coordinate an annual calendar that includes a broad range of activities including social media, phoning, texting, direct mail, and giving days. Track and evaluate results.
• Develop an alumni volunteer organization that shares ownership in the success of the fund. Identify, recruit, engage, train, and celebrate volunteers and volunteer leadership.
• Direct available student staff in support of annual giving initiatives.
• Coordinate Annual Fund promotion via social media, working closely with the Advancement team to integrate fundraising messaging into social media content calendars.
• Support fundraising efforts for Athletics. Liaise with the Director of Athletics and coaching staff to set engagement and fundraising responsibilities, expectations and best practices.
• Coordinate with Communication Office to ensure Annual Fund coverage.
• Visit with annual donors and annual donor prospects to ensure continuity and service.
• Identify potential major donors with appropriate advancement personnel.

The identified candidate must possess at a minimum:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated experience interacting with a wide range of individuals and position levels.
• Demonstrated success in a metrics-driven environment.
• Experience in client-facing, client-services, or relationship management role.
• A minimum of one year of professional-level, direct solicitation/fundraising…