Senior Associate Director - Annual Giving

About the Opportunity

Job Summary

Are you passionate about higher education and the impact it can have on individuals and communities? Do you have a proven track record in donor retention and alumni engagement? If so, we invite you to apply for the position of Senior Associate Director of Annual Giving at Northeastern University, where you'll serve as a leader on the Annual Giving team and play a pivotal role in helping to achieve our annual donor count goals.

The Senior Associate Director will oversee our donor retention strategies, with a particular focus on the Northeastern Loyalty Society, our consecutive giving recognition society. Responsibilities include:

• Developing a robust strategy for retaining donors from all constituencies, with a particular focus on growing our retention rates among our critical recent graduate audience.
• Regular meetings with donors and potential donors to solicit and steward gifts.
• Oversight of our loyal giving society, including solicitation strategies, personal outreach, stewardship of donors, and collaboration across the Advancement division to ensure appropriate recognition of members.
• Managing other donor recognition programs, including special donor events.
• Tracking and analyzing results of retention efforts to future strategies.

The Senior Associate Director will also be responsible for developing strategies to enhance Annual Giving programs to support donor growth, including:

• Researching best practices and new innovations in the Advancement space.
• Building out new program structures & implementation plans, including hiring where necessary.
• Investigating technology resources for future implementation to enhance Annual Giving programs.
• Oversight of Giving Day strategy & execution.

This position will manage two staff members: an Administrative Assistant, and an Associate Director whose primary responsibilities are overseeing Northeastern's signature Giving Day program along with managing affinity-based fundraising strategies.

A successful candidate is someone with strong leadership qualities who can guide their team to success, someone who can think creatively and strategically, and someone who has the ability to manage multiple priorities at once. Teamwork and collaboration are key.

The Senior Associate Director must be able to represent the university and the Annual Giving & Alumni Relations team in a professional, enthusiastic manner with a customer service and team focus. Evening and weekend work are occasionally required as needs dictate. This person is required to perform their duties in person on the Boston campus. Other duties as assigned, including assisting at several events throughout the year.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required
• Six or more (6+) years of experience in development, preferably in higher education and/or annual giving
• Demonstrated skill in relationship building, gift solicitation, and stewardship
• Excellent management, organizational, interpersonal, public speaking, and computer skills
• Superior communication skills (written and oral), including the ability to understand and convey university programs, priorities, and issues to a wide variety of audiences
• Detail oriented
• High level of self-confidence and enthusiasm
• Ability to be a self-starter
• Strong customer service focus
• Ability to interact professionally and diplomatically with alumni, volunteers, students, parents, friends, staff, faculty, vendors, and external entities
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively as a member of the Annual Giving team and the University Advancement division

Key Responsibilities

Donor Retention

• Develop solicitation and stewardship strategies to retain donors (lybunts & flybunts) from one year to the next in support of overall Annual Giving donor goals.
• Partner with the Associate Director, Annual Giving Outreach to build out targeted renewal appeals to deploy throughout the year.
• Develop stewardship strategies for all donors/campaigns to ensure donors are thanked and to communicate the impact of their giving.
• Conduct one-on-one and small group meetings, both in person & virtually, with past donors to solicit gift renewals.
• Partner with Advancement Resources to develop a dashboard to track lybunt retention across segments.
• Investigate options for Digital Gift Officer structures to aid in relationship building and driving meaningful connections with donors, with an eye towards development of a larger DXO program for Annual Giving in the future.
• Manage donor recognition strategies, including events to generate positive feelings about giving.

Northeastern Loyalty Society Management

• Oversee all aspects of the Northeastern Loyalty Society, with a particular focus on how to leverage NLS as a solicitation tool to retain lybunts & flybunts.
• Oversee all aspects of NLS member stewardship, always looking for opportunities to expand member courtesies and recognition, including running events in key markets.
• Personal outreach to NLS members as needed to encourage participation in events and programs that may be of interest.
• Collaborate with Alumni Relations colleagues to ensure NLS members and donors in general are appropriately recognized at events, holding special NLS events in areas where demographics support the need.
• Partner with Advancement Resources to develop a dashboard to track NLS membership demographics and assess effectiveness of NLS programming.

Annual Giving Program Development

• Research best practices and models in place at other institutions to determine what could work at Northeastern.
• Build out new program structure(s) and implementation plan(s), including strategy, hiring, and oversight work.
• Investigate technology resources for future implementation to enhance programs.

Staff Management & Affinity Strategy Oversight

• Manages (1) Administrative Assistant and (1) Associate Director with the possibility for additional direct reports in the future
• Provide strategic direction for the Associate Director of Annual Giving programs, particularly in the area of developing affinity-based strategies and also overseeing their work on Giving Day
• Participate in the hiring, onboarding, and development of direct reports.
• Professional development of team members who report directly to this position.
• Annual goal setting and performance evaluation is required

Position Type

Advancement

Additional Information

Northeastern University considers factors such as candidate work experience, education and skills when extending an offer.


Northeastern has a comprehensive benefits package for benefit eligible employees. This includes medical, vision, dental, paid time off, tuition assistance, wellness & life, retirement- as well as commuting & transportation. Visit for more information.


All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Compensation Grade/Pay Type:
110S

Expected Hiring Range:
$76,335.00 - $107,823.75

With the pay range(s) shown above, the starting salary will depend on several factors, which may include your education, experience, location, knowledge and expertise, and skills as well as a pay comparison to similarly-situated employees already in the role. Salary ranges are reviewed regularly and are subject to change.