Annual Giving / Individual Giving

The Director of Development leads the creation and execution of a comprehensive annual giving strategy designed to grow participation, retention, and revenue. This involves assessing past program performance, identifying trends and opportunities, setting annual goals, and ensuring that all annual giving efforts support the organization's broader fundraising objectives. The strategy must include clear timelines, targeted donor segments, and coordinated messaging across all giving channels.

A central responsibility is overseeing the development and rollout of all annual giving campaigns across multiple channels, including direct mail, email, social media, and digital engagement tools. The Director ensures each campaign is well-planned, compelling, and consistent in messaging and design. This task requires close coordination with internal communications teams and external vendors to produce high-quality appeals delivered on schedule and optimized for audience reach and conversion.

The Director is responsible for building and refining segmentation strategies that tailor outreach based on donor behavior, history, and interests. This includes creating differentiated messages for first-time donors, recurring donors, lapsed donors, and other key segments. Effective segmentation allows the organization to increase participation, strengthen relationships, and better steward donors throughout the annual giving pipeline, ultimately improving retention and long-term donor value.

A major task is ensuring that annual donors feel valued and connected to the mission through meaningful stewardship and thoughtful engagement. The Director builds donor retention plans that include timely thank-yous, updates on impact, and personalized communication. They also lead donor acquisition initiatives aimed at expanding the supporter base, while working to reactivate lapsed donors through targeted outreach. This stewardship work provides the foundation for donors to deepen their commitment over time.

The Director oversees and nurtures a mid-level giving program that bridges the gap between annual giving and major giving. This includes identifying donors with the potential to upgrade their support, creating tailored communications and benefits for this cohort, and monitoring their engagement and giving patterns. By cultivating mid-level donors more intentionally, the Director strengthens the pipeline for major gifts and increases overall donor lifetime value.

This task requires the Director to oversee the full workflow of annual giving appeals—from concept and copywriting to design, production, and delivery. The Director creates and manages the appeals calendar, ensuring campaigns launch consistently and on schedule. They collaborate with writers, designers, printers, and digital vendors to ensure quality and timeliness, while also evaluating results after each appeal to refine strategy and improve future performance.

The Director ensures that all communications connected to annual giving tell a cohesive, compelling story about the mission and the impact donors make possible. This includes crafting or guiding the creation of appeal letters, newsletters, stewardship pieces, and digital updates. By working closely with program and communications teams, the Director ensures that donors receive meaningful, transparent updates that reinforce their decision to give and encourage ongoing support.

Giving days and focused micro-campaigns require strong coordination and strategic execution, both of which fall under the Director's role. They plan campaign themes, timelines, outreach strategies, and partner engagement to maximize visibility and donor participation. This includes mobilizing ambassadors or volunteers, integrating peer-to-peer efforts, and ensuring follow-up communications effectively recognize donors and communicate campaign impact.

The Director regularly reviews data and analytics to assess the health and performance of the annual giving program. This includes monitoring key metrics such as retention rates, acquisition numbers, response rates, and donor upgrade patterns. The Director produces reports for leadership to inform decision-making and uses insights to refine segmentation, campaign strategies, and pipeline progression. Data-driven management ensures that the annual giving program remains robust, efficient, and scalable.