Director of Individual Giving

Director of Individual Giving

Boys & Girls Clubs of Mid Central Coast is looking for an experienced, relationship-driven fundraiser to serve as our Director of Individual Giving and lead the growth of a disciplined, relationship-based individual giving program across California's Central Coast.

This is a frontline fundraising role for someone who genuinely enjoys meeting people, building authentic relationships, talking about impact, and asking others to invest in a mission that matters.

The Director of Individual Giving will lead the day-to-day strategy and execution of the organization's individual giving program within the overall Resource Development strategy led by the Chief Advancement Officer. The Director will actively manage a portfolio of approximately 125 current donors and qualified prospects, build a strong pipeline of future supporters, personally make meaningful gift requests, and develop relationships that lead to deeper engagement and increased philanthropic investment.

This is a highly external role. The Director is expected to maintain a consistent presence in the community, regularly meet face-to-face with donors and prospects, and build meaningful connections throughout the region.

If you are energized by getting out from behind the desk, opening doors, cultivating relationships, making thoughtful asks, and turning conversations into lasting philanthropic partnerships, we want to meet you.

This position serves communities throughout California's beautiful Central Coast, including Santa Maria, Paso Robles, and surrounding communities in Northern Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.

The Central Coast offers a unique combination of welcoming communities, scenic beauty, and an exceptional quality of life. From the vineyards and rolling hills of Paso Robles to the beaches, trails, farms, and coastal communities surrounding Santa Maria, the region offers countless opportunities to enjoy the outdoors, explore local food and wine, and experience the character of California's Central Coast.

It is also a region built around strong community connections, making it an especially meaningful place to build relationships and philanthropy. In this role, you won't simply work on the Central Coast—you'll become part of the communities you serve, developing relationships with people who care deeply about creating opportunities for local children and families.

What You'll Do

As Director of Individual Giving, you will:

• Actively manage and grow a portfolio of approximately 125 current individual donors and qualified prospects.
• Develop individualized cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies based on donor interests, capacity, readiness, relationship stage, and giving history.
• Build authentic relationships that deepen donors' connection to the mission, programs, youth, and communities served by Boys & Girls Clubs of Mid Central Coast.
• Personally cultivate and solicit donors for annual, mid-level, major, and multi-year gifts.
• Build a strong pipeline of prospective donors through community relationships, referrals, Board connections, events, and existing organizational networks.
• Move donors intentionally through identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship while strengthening retention, renewal, donor upgrades, and long-term engagement.
• Coordinate donor visits, Club tours, small gatherings, donor salons, and other meaningful cultivation and stewardship opportunities.
• Lead growth of the annual giving program, including donor acquisition, first-time donor conversion, recurring giving, retention and renewal, lapsed-donor reactivation, mid-level giving, and donor upgrades.
• Lead the fundraising strategy, audience segmentation, case for support, and donor follow-up for year-end and other targeted individual-giving campaigns, partnering with marketing resources on creative production and distribution.
• Partner with the Chief Advancement Officer and CEO on the organization's highest-level and most strategic donor relationships and solicitations while maintaining clear ownership of assigned donors and prospects.
• Engage Board members and organizational champions in prospect identification, introductions, cultivation, and appropriate solicitations.
• Use donor data and the organization's CRM to actively manage the fundraising pipeline, track next steps, forecast revenue, and evaluate results.
• Use fundraising and cultivation events strategically to identify, cultivate, and steward donors and prospects while partnering with designated staff or contracted support on event production and logistics.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this position is about both relationships and results.

Once fully ramped, the Director will typically:

• Maintain an actively managed portfolio of approximately 125 current donors and qualified prospects.
• Average approximately 12–15 meaningful donor and prospect meetings per month, with the majority conducted face-to-face.
• Maintain approximately 25–30 substantive one-to-one donor and prospect contacts per month through meetings, calls, visits, introductions, Club tours, and personalized follow-up.
• Build and maintain a healthy pipeline of active and future individual-giving opportunities.
• Personally solicit and close meaningful gifts.
• Increase donor acquisition, retention, renewal, upgrades, and overall individual-giving revenue.
• Maintain disciplined, accurate donor and pipeline information to support strong follow-through and reliable revenue forecasting.

Who We're Looking For

You may be a strong fit if you:

• Enjoy building relationships and are energized by spending time with donors and prospects in the community.
• Have demonstrated experience asking individuals for significant financial commitments and successfully closing gifts.
• Are comfortable naming a specific dollar amount and making a direct, face-to-face ask.
• Can develop authentic relationships with people from a wide range of backgrounds.
• Are proactive and comfortable creating opportunities rather than waiting for them to come to you.
• Can independently manage an active donor portfolio, multiple cultivation strategies, solicitations, deadlines, and follow-up commitments.
• Use sound judgment and know how to adjust your approach based on a donor's interests, readiness, and response.
• Are a compelling communicator who can connect people to mission and impact.
• Are organized, accountable, and disciplined about follow-through.
• Enjoy collaborating with executives, Board members, program leaders, volunteers, and Resource Development colleagues.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.
• Demonstrated experience asking individuals for significant financial commitments, naming specific gift amounts, making direct face-to-face solicitations, and closing gifts—whether in fundraising, sales, business development, or a comparable field.
• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Strong organizational and portfolio-management skills sufficient to manage an active donor and prospect portfolio, multiple solicitations, deadlines, follow-up commitments, and next actions.
• Ability and willingness to travel frequently throughout Northern Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties for donor meetings, cultivation visits, Club tours, community engagement, and solicitation activity.
• Ability to work effectively under general supervision and exercise independent judgment on significant donor, portfolio, solicitation, stewardship, and revenue matters.
• Availability for occasional evening and weekend donor and organizational events.

Preferred Qualifications

• Five or more years of progressively responsible fundraising experience with a demonstrated track record of personally soliciting and closing significant individual or major gifts.
• Experience managing a donor or prospect portfolio and moves-management pipeline.
• Experience using donor CRM/database systems.
• Knowledge of the philanthropic communities of San Luis Obispo County and/or Northern Santa Barbara County.
• Experience engaging nonprofit Board members, volunteers, or community leaders in fundraising.

About Boys & Girls Clubs of Mid Central Coast

Our mission is to enable all young people—especially those who need us most—to realize their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring citizens.

Every day, Boys & Girls Clubs of Mid Central Coast creates safe, supportive places where young people can learn, grow, build relationships, discover opportunities, and prepare for their futures.

The Director of Individual Giving will play an important role in connecting people throughout our communities with that mission and building a strong culture of philanthropy that helps open doors to opportunity for local youth.

Compensation & Position Details

Salary Range: $80,000–$93,000 annually, depending on experience and qualifications.

This is a full-time, exempt position requiring frequent travel throughout Boys & Girls Clubs of Mid Central Coast's service area and occasional evening and weekend donor and organizational events.

Benefits include paid sick