Director, Annual Engagement

About the role

The Director of Annual Engagement will serve as a key architect of philanthropic growth at a pivotal moment in our institution's history, leading a comprehensive annual and mid-level giving program in direct support of our new hospital campus and long-term campaign goals. Responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive annual giving and donor engagement strategy to enhance and grow philanthropic support across individual, employee, and community audiences.

Responsibilities

• Partners with development staff to identify and refer legacy gift prospects identified through annual giving engagement, ensuring a warm handoff that supports the organization's planned giving program.
• Leads the development, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive annual engagement strategy to achieve fundraising goals.
• Oversees all annual giving initiatives, including direct mail, digital campaigns, employee giving, grateful patient programs, and recurring giving.
• Develops and manages a donor pipeline strategy to identify, acquire, retain, and upgrade donors toward major gift readiness.
• Designs and manages a structured mid-level giving program to cultivate annual donors at the $1,000–$10,000 level as a distinct pipeline tier between the annual fund and major gifts.
• Partners with Foundation leadership, development officers, and marketing staff to align messaging and engagement strategies.
• Supervises and mentors annual giving staff, ensuring high-quality execution and professional development.
• Establishes key performance indicators and regularly monitor and report on campaign results, donor retention, and engagement metrics.
• Identifies donor engagement gaps and recommend data driven improvements to strengthen fundraising outcomes.
• Develops segmentation strategies and targeted communications to increase donor response and lifetime giving.
• Collaborates with clinical and administrative partners to enhance grateful patient fundraising efforts.
• Oversees vendor relationships and ensure effective execution of campaigns across multiple channels.
• Manages and tracks budget for annual giving and engagement initiatives.
• Ensures consistent donor stewardship, acknowledgement, and recognition processes across all giving levels.
• Assists in maintaining accurate donor information in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT.
• Ensures all grateful patient fundraising activities adhere to HIPAA regulations and institutional data privacy protocols.
• Partners with compliance and IT teams to maintain audit-ready data workflows.
• Prepares reports, presentations, and analyses for senior leadership and Board of Directors.