Director of Individual Giving
United Way Central New York
Syracuse, NY
Salary: $80,000 - $90,000
DIRECTOR OF INDIVIDUAL GIVING
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DIVISION
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE
Working under the direction of the Chief Development Officer, the Director of Individual Giving is responsible for growing United Way of Central New York’s individual major donor pipeline through proactive identification, cultivation, and stewardship of high-capacity donors. This position manages a portfolio of individual major gift prospects and donors, leads the Leadership Giving program, and maintains a small portfolio of workplace campaign accounts to remain connected to the employer community. The Director of Individual Giving serves as a senior member of the Resource Development team and plays a key role in shaping the organization’s long-term individual philanthropy strategy.
ACCOUNTABILITY: Chief Development Officer
POSITION STATUS: Full-time, Exempt
SALARY RANGE: $80,000–$90,000 annually
OVERALL RESPONSIBILITIES
Individual Donor Cultivation & Major Gifts
•Build and manage a personal portfolio of individual major gift prospects and donors, with a focus on donors at the Leadership Giving level and above.
•Develop and execute tailored cultivation and solicitation strategies for each donor in the portfolio, including face-to-face meetings, events, site visits, and personalized communications.
•Lead day-to-day management of the Leadership Giving program: steward existing members, recruit new members, coordinate affinity group activities, and manage welcome and renewal communications in partnership with the CDO.
•Identify and qualify new major gift prospects through database analysis, event attendance,referrals from Board members and volunteers, and community engagement.
•Prepare donor briefings, gift proposals, acknowledgement letters, and stewardship reports.
•Track all prospect and donor activity in the CRM database; maintain current and accurate contact, relationship, and giving history records.
Donor Pipeline Development & Strategy
•Work with the CDO to develop and implement a moves management system to advance donors through stages of identification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
•Analyze existing donor data to identify mid-level donors with major gift potential; develop upgrade strategies in collaboration with the CDO.
•Coordinate donor recognition and stewardship events, ensuring meaningful touchpoints for high-capacity donors throughout the year.
•Partner with the Chief Community Officer to connect individual donors to United Way’s community impact work, volunteer opportunities, and affinity groups.
•Contribute to the development of an annual individual giving plan with goals, strategies,and metrics for growth.
Workplace Campaign Account Management (Small Portfolio)
•Plan, organize, and manage the annual United Way donor campaign for a limited portfolio of approximately 20–30 corporate and/or non-profit workplace campaign accounts.
•Use workplace campaign relationships to identify individual employees with major gift
potential and transition those prospects into the individual donor cultivation track.
•Provide expertise and direction to company representatives on ways to run a successful giving campaign within assigned accounts.
Management / Organization / Planning
•Maintain a current understanding of, and be able to articulate, United Way’s community impact model, initiatives, focus areas, activities, and results.
•Continuously update current and accurate campaign, donor, and prospect information in the database.
•Implement or assist with special projects; involvement with boards and committees as needed.
•Monitor and remain up to date on UWW events/issues and the local non-profit climate.
•Provide support to division staff to plan and execute meaningful donor stewardship events.
POSITION QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor’s Degree with a minimum of five years of relevant work experience in individual giving, major gifts, or nonprofit fundraising preferred.
EXPERIENCE, SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE
•Proven track record of cultivating and closing major gifts from individual donors.
•Skilled in relationship building, moves management, and donor stewardship best practices.
•Critical thinking, strong organizational skills, and creative approaches to problem solving.
•Highly skilled in organization, execution, and management of multiple projects and donor relationships simultaneously.
•Awareness of, and respect for, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
•Excellent verbal and written communication skills including public speaking, proposal writing, and donor correspondence.
•Ability to work with individuals from all levels and backgrounds, to work well independently as well as part of a team, and to work in a fast-paced environment.
•Strong Microsoft Office skills. Must have the ability to learn new and/or customized software. Experience with donor CRM systems required.
•Must possess a valid driver’s license and have unrestricted use of a reliable automobile.
This job description is not an exclusive statement of the responsibilities of the position. Other appropriate duties may be required.
To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to nwilliams@unitedway-cny.org. Visit http://unitedway-cny.org/about-us/careers/ for more information.