Assistant Director of Annual Giving

The Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA) is a private, nonprofit corporation that encourages individuals and organizations to make gifts to the university and to connect with the UW. We provide important engagement opportunities to link UW-Madison alumni to each other and to their alma mater, building a strong community of Badgers.

About the role

In this highly collaborative role, you will help shape and execute integrated annual giving campaigns that connect alumni and friends to the impact of UW-Madison, deepen donor relationships, and advance meaningful philanthropic support. This opportunity is ideal for a creative, analytical, and relationship-oriented professional who enjoys developing targeted outreach strategies, optimizing campaign performance, and bringing fresh ideas to audience engagement.

The Assistant Director will develop and manage targeted annual giving efforts that encourage participation from alumni and friends. Working closely with annual giving teammates and colleagues across WFAA, this role will build and execute thoughtful engagement and solicitation strategies across multiple channels as part of the Annual Campaign, a year-long fundraising cycle. This is a hybrid position that will require you to work weekly in our Madison, WI office location.

Responsibilities

• Develop strategic plan for engagement and effective solicitation of alumni and friends through the Annual Campaign.
• Grow scope, efficiency, and effectiveness of one-to-many campaigns.
• Collaborate with annual giving team members, marketing, development, alumni relations and engagement, and campus partners on integrated strategies for messaging, solicitation, and stewardship.
• Increase participation across audiences using multichannel and omnichannel strategies.
• Collaborate with all members of the Annual Giving team to optimize the donor experience.
• Analyze qualitative and quantitative data from multiple sources to drive continuously improved campaign performance.
• Share campaign results and key insights with campus and internal partners.
• Refine segmentation strategies to identify and target donor and prospect audiences most effectively.
• Build targeted audiences to support campaign segmentation and outreach.
• Monitor industry/trend reports and benchmarking analyses to identify opportunities for growth or efficiency and to identify viable new channels.
• Manage Campaigns budget in coordination with the Marketing Manager.
• Draft communications about the campaigns for internal and external audiences.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of increasingly responsible experience in annual giving and/or development.
• Strong knowledge of annual giving strategies, direct response marketing, and comprehensive fundraising programs.
• Skilled in strategic planning, critical thinking, and collaboration.
• Strong analytic aptitude as well as data analysis/interpretation skills.
• High-level proficiency with MS Office products.
• Ability to innovate and willingness to try new things.

Qualifications

• Familiarity with Salesforce CRM and Power BI.
• Excellent oral and written skills.
• Exhibits high-level aptitudes in managing multiple tasks, advanced office, and administrative management skills.
• Excellent project management skills.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently and make autonomous decisions where appropriate.
• Ability to collaborate.
• Curiosity and lifelong learning skills; desire to learn more.
• Desire for and pursuit of process improvements.

Benefits

We offer competitive pay and an outstanding benefits program, including a generous 10% 401k contribution after just one year of service.