Director of Annual Giving

The Director of Annual Giving leads the strategy, execution, and continued growth of Eastern University's comprehensive annual giving program. As the University's primary annual givingprofessional, the Director develops and implements a coordinated,year-round program designed to grow philanthropic revenue and participation through donor acquisition, retention, reactivation,renewal, upgrades, recurring giving, leadership annual giving, andother strategies that strengthen Eastern's donor pipeline.

This is a hands-on fundraising role requiring both strategic leadership and strong execution. The Director personally drivesannual giving initiatives across direct mail, email, and digitalfundraising;
University Giving Societies; faculty and staff giving;stewardship; fiscal year-end fundraising; and other Universitypriorities. The Director also manages a portfolio of approximately
40-60 annual and leadership-level donors and prospects, with responsibility for qualification, cultivation, solicitation,stewardship, renewal, and growth, while helping identify donors with potential for deeper philanthropic engagement and future majorgiving.

The successful candidate will be a strategic, self-directed, andhighly collaborative professional who takes ownership, anticipatesneeds, manages multiple priorities, and brings ideas and solutionsforward. The Director will embrace technology, automation, and emerging tools to create smarter, more efficient, and repeatableways of working, reducing unnecessary manual processes and allowinggreater focus on fundraising and donor engagement. Working closely with Advancement colleagues and campus partners, the Director mustbe adaptable and receptive to collaborative review and changing priorities.

Equally important, the Director will be a positive,value-added presence who contributes to a mission-centered team culture and approaches the work with professionalism, humility,initiative, generosity, and a genuine sense of purpose and serviceto Eastern's mission, vision, and values.

• Lead all aspects of Eastern University's comprehensive annual giving program from planning through execution, evaluation, and continuous improvement.
• Develop annual and multi-year fundraising strategies, goals,budgets, solicitation calendars, audience segmentation, askstrategies, messaging, and integrated donor journeys for the Eastern Fund and other University priorities.
• Develop and execute coordinated strategies for donoracquisition, retention, reactivation, renewal, upgrades, recurringgiving, leadership annual giving, faculty and staff giving, fiscal year-end fundraising, and other annual giving initiatives.
• Personally manage the hands-on work required to move campaigns from concept to completion across direct mail, email, digital,personal outreach, stewardship, and other appropriate channels,including copy development, production coordination, proofing,timelines, and follow-up.
• Manage, monitor, and effectively steward the annual givingbudget; oversee campaign production schedules, vendor relationships, and operational workflows; and evaluate return on investment.
• Serve as the primary annual giving partner to University Marketing, ensuring fundraising communications align with University brand standards, institutional messaging, visualidentity, and appropriate communications calendars.
• Continuously test and refine approaches based on results, donorbehavior, and emerging annual giving practices to increase donors,dollars, participation, and long-term engagement.
• Use annual giving response and engagement—including direct mailresponses, online gifts, first-time gifts, increased giving,recurring gifts, and other…