Grateful Patient Programs Director

Job Description

Essential Duties & Responsibilities including but not limited to:

• Design and drive the multi-year strategy for grateful patient and family giving, in support of identification, engagement through cultivation, solicitation and stewardship resulting in major/principal gifts secured by the Philanthropy team.
• Provide long-term strategic direction, program evaluation, reporting, and recommendations for enhancements to ensure a best-in-class program for a healthcare system.
• Establish annual goals, priorities, success measures, and oversight (including HIPAA-compliant workflows) for the program.
• Work directly with Philanthropy frontline leadership and their team members to support local and system-wide outreach and promote physician and clinical staff engagement.
• Build close, trust-based partnerships with Philanthropy frontline teams in support of the frontline staff’s relationships with the local physicians, nurses, administrators, and staff to identify prospects.
• Develop and lead tailored training and educational initiatives for clinicians and leadership to assist local philanthropy teams in expanding, normalizing and operationalizing regular and consistent grateful patient referrals.
• Prepare and deliver presentations in partnership with local philanthropy leaders to increase program awareness and adoption across departments.
• Work with donor relations and the local VPs to build connections with clinicians who receive gifts made in their honor.
• Collaborate with Prospect Development and Reporting teams to advise on patient data loads for top prospects, wealth screening validation, and assignment workflows to gift officers, as appropriate.
• Develop systems for tracking referrals and program impact on fundraising revenue, including dashboards and regular pipeline reviews.
• Monitor, collect, and communicate biographical and employment updates for physicians, nurses, administrators, and patients to the Data Administration team.
• Ensure strict adherence to HIPAA/PHI and institutional grateful patient policies across all programming and data handling.
• Collaborate with marketing/communications/direct response to create materials that elevate program visibility and support physician and nursing engagement.
• Foster strong collaboration with Development leadership and colleagues to ensure synergy across Direct Response, Major/Principal Gifts, Planning Giving, and Corporate/Foundation Relations.
• Participate in key events and institutional meetings; model ethical conduct, integrity, and accountability consistent with health-system values.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Advanced degree or relevant certifications a plus.
• 7–10 years of progressively responsible experience in fundraising, institutional advancement, or health-system philanthropy; track record of success in closing major gifts and a deep familiarity with donor-centered operations and grateful patient giving strongly preferred.
• Proficiency with CRM/reporting, online databases, and productivity tools (e.g., MS Office); advanced PowerPoint skills beneficial.
• Exposure to medicine, healthcare, or science environments and familiarity with HIPAA-compliant data practices.

Preferred Qualifications & Skills

• Demonstrated experience engaging faculty/clinicians and coordinating across complex institutions to deliver fundraising results.
• Executive presence; persuasive communication skills for diverse audiences; ability to influence and collaborate across a large, matrixed health-system.
• Strong analytical/problem-solving capabilities; ability to design metrics, dashboards, and internal controls to measure program effectiveness.

Dept./Unit-Specific Skills

• Expert knowledge of healthcare fundraising, donor relations, and applicable laws, rules, and policies;
• Strong ethical standards with strict confidentiality.

Pay Range

$130,000.00 USD - $160,000.00 USD