Assistant Director, Digital Philanthropy

Title:

Assistant Director, Digital Philanthropy

Department:
Annual Giving

Reports to:

Felicia Glennon, Director, Annual Giving

Location:

Kingston, RI

Employment Type:

Full-Time, Exempt

The URI Foundation (URIF), an independent nonprofit organization affiliated with the University of Rhode Island (URI), seeks a fundraising professional to serve as Assistant Director, Digital Philanthropy. This position plays a critical role on the Annual Giving team and is fundamentally a metrics-driven fundraising position, with defined expectations for donor acquisition, participation, retention, and revenue generation. Performance will be measured against established fundraising, activity, and engagement goals.

The Assistant Director will lead multi-channel digital fundraising efforts across a global constituency of more than 150,000 alumni, parents, students, and friends, with a particular focus on young alumni. The position will develop strategies to acquire and retain donors, increase participation, and generate philanthropic support for University programs and priorities. The role will manage a small portfolio of young alumni identified for their engagement with URI and potential for philanthropic support, with responsibility for cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and ongoing engagement.

Reporting to the Director of Annual Giving, the Assistant Director will manage Rhody Now (formerly the Annual Fund) young alumni digital fundraising initiatives across email, social media, digital advertising, text messaging, crowdfunding, and other emerging channels. The position will collaborate with Marketing & Communications, Alumni Engagement, URI Foundation development officers, and campus partners to execute compelling fundraising campaigns and support signature initiatives, including URI Day of Giving and the Rhody Athletic Challenge.

Some travel is required.

• Develop and execute digital fundraising strategies that support Annual Giving goals for donor acquisition, participation, retention, and revenue.
• Lead Rhody Now young alumni digital fundraising initiatives across email, social media, digital advertising, text-to-give, crowdfunding, and other emerging channels.
• Develop campaign strategy, messaging, and content, with an emphasis on engaging young alumni and expanding participation.
• Collaborate with Annual Giving, Marketing & Communications, Alumni Engagement, development officers, and campus partners to integrate digital fundraising with broader University and Foundation priorities.
• Develop customized digital fundraising campaigns and crowdfunding pages in partnership with development officers across schools, colleges, and units.
• Lead digital fundraising strategy and execution for University-wide initiatives, including URI Day of Giving and the Rhody Athletic Challenge.
• Monitor and report on fundraising performance, using data and constituent insights to optimize campaigns and improve results.
• Identify emerging digital fundraising trends, technologies, and best practices and recommend opportunities to strengthen the Foundation’s program.

• Manage a small portfolio of young alumni identified for their engagement with URI and potential for philanthropic support, developing strategies for cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and continued engagement.
• Develop strategies to increase young alumni participation through targeted outreach, digital fundraising, peer-to-peer engagement, stewardship, volunteerism, and specialized programs.
• Recruit, train, and support young alumni ambassadors who serve as volunteer advocates for URI philanthropy, utilizing Give Campus.
• Create meaningful opportunities that strengthen young alumni connections to URI and…