Director, Philanthropy

Job Details

Job Details

Job Location:

Unity School of Christianity - Unity Village, MO 64065

Position Type:
Full Time

Position Summary:

The Director, Strategic Philanthropy leads Unity World Headquarters' philanthropy team and reports to the Chief Executive Officer. This position leads strategies to secure major, principal, planned giving, foundation, endowment, and campaign gifts that advance Unity's mission and long-term financial sustainability, while modernizing the department's approach through current fundraising technology and technique. The Director sits on Unity's Leadership Council and is expected to grow into broader organizational leadership as the department scales.

While working closely with the CEO, Board of Trustees, executive leadership, ministers, and key volunteers, the Director cultivates strategic donor relationships and personally manages a portfolio of high-capacity donors and prospects.

In partnership with the Chief Marketing Officer, this position ensures alignment between major and planned giving strategies and the organization's annual giving, donor communications, stewardship, and digital fundraising efforts. While Marketing and Communications lead broad-based fundraising initiatives, the Director focuses on identifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding transformational philanthropic investments — bringing current, technology-enabled fundraising practices.

• Develop and execute a comprehensive, multi-year philanthropy strategy aligned with Unity’s mission, strategic plan, financial priorities, and future opportunities.
• Establish annual and long-range fundraising goals, performance measures, portfolio expectations, and reporting practices for major, principal, planned, foundation, endowment, and campaign giving.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and Executive Leadership Team on philanthropy, donor engagement, funding opportunities, campaign readiness, and emerging fundraising trends.
• Promote a culture of philanthropy across Unity by helping leaders understand their role in donor engagement, stewardship, and mission-based relationship building.
• Represent Philanthropy on Unity's Leadership Council, bringing forward modern fundraising trends and cross-departmental collaboration opportunities to organizational leadership.

• Personally manage a qualified portfolio of high-capacity donors and prospects through identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Develop individualized donor strategies and compelling gift opportunities that connect donor interests with Unity’s mission and strategic priorities.
• Lead the growth of planned and legacy giving, including bequests, charitable gift annuities, trusts, beneficiary designations, and other appropriate charitable gift arrangements.
• Build and strengthen Unity’s legacy society and maintain productive relationships with donors’ financial, estate, tax, and legal advisors as appropriate.
• Lead or support capital, endowment, special initiative, and comprehensive campaign planning and execution.

• Collaborate with the Chief Marketing Officer to align broad-based annual giving, mid-level giving, digital fundraising, donor acquisition, storytelling, and donor communications with the major and planned gift pipeline.
• Clarify shared goals, handoffs, segmentation, data practices, and stewardship responsibilities between Philanthropy and Communications/Marketing.
• Partner on case statements, donor impact stories, campaign messaging, proposals, presentations, events, and other materials supporting donor engagement.
• Ensure donors experience consistent, mission-centered, and…