Senior Director, Individual Giving

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Senior Director, Individual Giving to set and drive the vision for Common Cause's individual giving program. This leader will oversee a comprehensive strategy spanning major gifts and direct response, including monthly giving, direct mail, telemarketing, and emerging channels, to grow our donor community and advance our organizational revenue goals. The Senior Director will lead and develop our Major Gifts team and build a culture of fundraising across the organization by equipping senior leaders and staff to engage donors effectively while also personally cultivating and stewarding a portfolio of individual donors.  

This is a full-time role reporting to the Vice President, Development. The position is based in Washington, DC, with an expectation to work in our office at least two days per week and to travel nationally for donor meetings and other business needs. We hope our new Senior Director, Individual Giving will start in December.  

Responsibilities  

Set and drive the strategic vision for our individual giving work at Common Cause  

• Develop and implement a comprehensive and impactful major gifts strategy to increase our revenue through driving alignment between our development and communications teams  

• Supervise a Major Gifts team, collaboratively setting clear, actionable goals to ensure consistent growth of Common Cause’s major gifts community  

• Coach and develop team members towards personal goals, and support their career progression and retention at Common Cause  

• Manage team budget and establish systems to track and report on all major gifts fundraising activities  

• Set our strategic approach for long-term donor and prospect engagement, and expand our approach to direct response donor acquisition, including expanding our approach for monthly giving, and integrate direct mail with digital campaigns, email marketing, telemarketing, and Common Cause’s websites  

• Identify and implement new channels and emerging fundraising opportunities (for example, workplace giving, donations of stock, qualified charitable distributions, and retirement accounts) 

Establish a culture of fundraising across the organization  

• Create and drive strategy for how the Major Gifts team will partner with senior leaders and other teams  

• Drive the strategy for how senior leaders can engage with their own major donor portfolios  

• Establish systems and processes to ensure senior leaders and other teams have the resources they need to engage with major donors  

• Drive changes across our organization that increase internal support for our fundraising initiatives  

• Establish systems to ensure all staff interactions with major donors are tracked appropriately  

Establish and grow a personal portfolio of individual donors  

• Build an individual portfolio of donors to total $1.25 million or more annually  

• Develop strategic approach to cultivate and maintain these relationships, focusing on increasing gifts over time  

• Design and execute major donor fundraising campaigns to increase engagement  

• Build and nurture relationships with Donor Advisors and Donor Advised Funds  

Other duties as assigned