Director of Parent and Family Giving

Director of Parent and Family Giving – Carleton College

Job Title: Director of Parent and Family Giving

Department: Development and Alumni Relations

Classification: Exempt

Grade: 14

FTE/Working

Schedule:

1.0

The Director of Parent and Family Giving leads Carleton’s annual giving program for non‑alumni parents and families, which raises ~$1 million annually for the operating budget. The Director provides strategic leadership and guidance for parent‑related communications and engagement across the college, as well as leading the Parents Advisory Council. This position collaborates with a team that collectively raises $40+ million in gifts each year from alumni, parents, and friends of the College in capital, annual, and planned gifts.

The Director guides the fundraising strategy, volunteer engagement, and planning for all Parents Fund solicitations. This includes cultivating relationships with key volunteers, developing and managing individual and mass solicitations, qualifying and cultivating donor prospects, and stewarding and growing the base of leadership donors.

The Director coaches and trains fundraising colleagues on best practices in parent cultivation and solicitation. The Director collaborates with Alumni Annual Fund and Development colleagues, as well as colleagues in Admissions, College Communications, Student Life, and the President’s Office on overall strategic parent engagement and communications.

The expected starting salary range for this position is between $99,200 and $102,500. Actual pay will be adjusted based on job‑related factors such as experience, training, licensure, market factors, departmental budgets, and responsibility.

• Maximize annual giving from parents of current students and parents of alumni
• Identify and solicit prospects for major and planned giving
• Elevate the profile of families as strong Carleton ambassadors
• Collaborate with colleagues across campus to identify areas of improvement for parent engagement and communications

• Focus on strengthening the parent and family giving program, raising philanthropic sights, identifying gift capacity, and cultivating new volunteer and donor leadership.
• Develop, implement and evaluate data‑driven fundraising strategies and plans for the Parents Fund to achieve annual and long‑term goals and objectives.

• Establish annual campaign fundraising strategies and cultivate and solicit prospects.
• Develop and implement tailored fundraising plans and communications strategies for new parents, continuing parents and parents of alumni.
• Identify, qualify, directly solicit and manage a pool of leadership parent prospects.
• Create a fundraising calendar for mass and segmented fundraising messages. Write fundraising appeals for parents of current students and parents of alumni.
• Coach colleagues in Development on strategies and messages that are most effective with parent donor prospects.
• Travel to solicit leadership Parents Fund gifts, in collaboration with development officers as needed/appropriate.
• Work with colleagues in College Communications on communications to parents, including a regular parent e‑newsletter. Develop strategy and timeline for parent webinars/calls with the Vice President and Dean of Students, and other campus leaders.
• Develop opportunities to utilize the Three Oaks Society (leadership giving) for donor recognition and stewardship.

• Identify, recruit and engage members of the Parents Advisory Council, collaborating with colleagues in Development, Prospect Research and the President’s Office. The PAC is a group of current parents who advise the president and senior staff, and serve as resources to the college community especially in the areas of fundraising, careers, communications and admissions.
• Work with the PAC leadership to set agendas for and execute twice‑yearly meetings. Solicit input from the President of the College on strategic agenda items.
• Manage PAC working groups to address key priorities, guiding colleague liaisons from the Career…