Lead Manager, Sustainer Giving

Our vision is to grant the wish of every eligible child. Through our mission, we are uniting communities to grant life-changing wishes. As the world’s largest wish-granting organization, we strive to create a sense of community and an environment where we warmly embrace our wish families, volunteers, and colleagues.

Joining Make-A-Wish means becoming part of a mission that believes in the power of a wish.

Location:

Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. We do not sponsor employment visas or other immigration processes to attain or maintain employment eligibility.

Remote positions are open to applicants based anywhere in the continental U.S. Hybrid positions are open to applicants based in the Phoenix, Arizona area.

Position Summary:

The Lead Manager, Sustainer Giving leads the strategy and growth of Make-A-Wish’s recurring giving program. The role is responsible for transforming the program from a largely passive enrollment model into an actively managed fundraising program that systematically acquires new sustainers, retains and reactivates existing sustainers, and grows donor value over time.

The Lead Manager owns the national sustainer strategy and program roadmap and is accountable for overall program performance. The role identifies campaign strategies, investment opportunities and audience priorities and partners with Integrated Fundraising channel managers, agency partners and cross-functional teams to plan and execute fundraising campaigns across direct mail, paid media, email, SMS and telemarketing. Success requires strong strategic judgment, analytical capability and the ability to align partners around shared goals without direct authority over channel execution.

Core Responsibilities:

Audience Strategy & Program Development

• Develops and owns the annual national sustainer giving strategy and program roadmap, including acquisition goals, retention and reactivation targets, upgrade milestones, stewardship priorities and investment recommendations.
• Establishes audience segmentation frameworks that drive differentiated messaging and treatment strategies across the sustainer lifecycle, from first gift through long-term retention, reactivation and upgrade.
• Identifies opportunities to grow the active sustainer base through channel-specific acquisition, conversion of one‑time donors and new prospect audiences; brings prioritized recommendations to channel managers and agency partners for integrated execution.
• Partners with the Senior Manager, Midlevel Giving to define the giving threshold and experience for sustainers transitioning into the midlevel program and ensures a seamless, coordinated donor journey.
• Monitors recurring giving trends and brings forward relevant best practices, innovations and investment opportunities to guide program evolution.

Cross-Channel Execution & Stakeholder Alignment

• Translates the sustainer strategy into clear, channel‑specific briefs and campaign direction for direct mail, paid media, email, SMS and telemarketing; partners with channel managers to align priorities, sequencing and execution.
• Serves as the organization’s primary sustainer subject matter expert, ensuring channel managers and agency partners have the context, priorities and performance expectations needed to incorporate sustainer objectives into their programs.
• Reviews and provides strategic feedback on creative, copy, offers and audience selection for sustainer campaign elements and coordinates decisions across internal and agency stakeholders.
• Builds and maintains productive relationships with direct mail, digital, data and other agency partners to ensure sustainer activity is coordinated and coherent across channels.
• Advises chapters on sustainer strategy, national…