Director, Annual & Leadership Giving
Job at a glance
Description Director, Annual & Leadership Giving Department: Development Reports To: Chief Development Officer Classification: Full-Time, Exempt Location: Dallas, Texas preferred. Hybrid or remote work options may be considered based on candidate experience, qualifications, and organizational needs. Position Summary The Director, Annual & Leadership Giving is a frontline fundraising professional responsible for identifying, qualifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding donors with the potential to make annual gifts of $5,000 to $25,000 in support of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) and the Henry B.
Tippie National Aviation Education Center (NAEC). Reporting to the Chief Development Officer, the Director will build and manage a portfolio of annual and leadership giving prospects, with a significant portion of the portfolio developed by identifying promising donors from the organization's direct response fundraising program and other constituent audiences. The Director will engage donors personally and develop individualized strategies designed to deepen their connection to the mission and increase their philanthropic support.
The goal is to move qualified prospects from transactional or lower-level giving into meaningful, relationship-based annual gifts of $5,000 to $25,000. Leadership annual giving represents a critical source of sustainable philanthropic support for CAF and NAEC and serves as an important bridge between broad-based annual giving and major philanthropy. The Director will be responsible for strengthening this donor community while developing a consistent pipeline of future major and planned giving prospects.
The successful candidate will be an entrepreneurial and relationship-focused fundraiser who enjoys discovering donor potential, building relationships, and personally asking for financial support. This individual will combine strong interpersonal skills with a disciplined, data-informed approach to prospect qualification and portfolio management. Essential Duties and Responsibilities Prospect Identification & Qualification Build a portfolio of prospective annual and leadership donors primarily through the identification and qualification of donors emerging from the organization's direct response fundraising program and other constituent audiences.
Regularly review donor activity to identify individuals demonstrating giving frequency, loyalty, increased giving, organizational engagement, philanthropic capacity, or other indicators of potential. Qualify prospects through personal outreach, discovery conversations, research, and engagement to determine philanthropic interests, capacity, and inclination. Engage promising donors regardless of their current giving level when available information suggests the potential for significantly increased philanthropic support.
Develop qualification strategies designed to determine whether prospects have the interest and capacity to make annual gifts of $5,000 to $25,000. Partner with the Database Administrator and Chief Development Officer to establish and refine criteria for identifying prospective leadership annual giving donors. Maintain an active qualification pipeline to ensure a consistent flow of new prospects into the managed portfolio.
Promptly return prospects who do not warrant individualized portfolio management to appropriate annual giving or stewardship strategies. Leadership Giving & Portfolio Management Build and manage a portfolio of approximately 125–175 qualified donors and prospects with the potential to make annual gifts of $5,000 to $25,000. Develop individualized strategies for the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of assigned donors and prospects.
Establish meaningful relationships through personal visits, telephone and video conversations, email, events, and other individualized engagement. Maintain a consistent schedule of donor qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship activity. Personally solicit donors for ann