Department Summary: The mission of VCU’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) is to maximize philanthropic support by engaging stakeholders with our institution working in partnership with all VCU schools, programs and campuses as one development and alumni relations community and implementing the best practices and efficient strategies to achieve a comprehensive development program.

The Primary Giving team (commonly referred to as annual giving in the industry) supports VCU’s mission and financial sustainability through effective donor engagement, relationship building, portfolio activation and leadership annual giving fundraising. Their core focus is to cultivate and maintain a broad base of support from donors who contribute regularly at levels below the major gift threshold. To accomplish this, the team employs strategically planned and coordinated campaigns, utilizing a variety of channels, messages, and approaches to connect with donors. These methods include, but are not limited to, omni-channel direct marketing campaigns, direct solicitation, volunteer management, and giving days.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Reporting to the Executive Director of Primary Giving, the Assistant/associate Director of Annual Giving, Digital Campaigns, supports DAR’s overall annual giving goals of increasing constituent engagement and philanthropic support through direct and indirect channels. This role serves as the Primary Giving team’s subject matter expert for Give Campus, our fundraising technology platform. While the role is not expected to serve as a deep technical expert, it is responsible for building and executing within the platform, understanding platform capabilities, identifying gaps between current utilization and available functionality, and supporting opportunities to improve adoption, processes, documentation, and operational effectiveness. 

The Primary Giving team has the unique opportunity to make final determination of duties, working title and salary based on the knowledge, skills and experience of the candidate pool. Candidates with varying levels of experience are encouraged to apply and will be considered equally.

As the assistant director of digital campaigns, you will:

Technology and platform execution and enablement

• Create and maintain unique tracking links, giving forms, and crowdfunding (social fundraising) campaigns within the Give Campus platform.

• Lead the organization and execution of VCU Giving Day campaign site including digital and technology architecture, tiered landing pages, giving forms, and fund configuration.

• Maintain a thorough understanding of how VCU’s fundraising technology platform functions.

• Stay informed on new and upcoming features within core tools and platforms, including AI-related functionality, by coordinating with vendor liaisons or account representatives.

Partnership and collaboration

• Serve as the lead Primary Giving team project manager and point of contact for DAR and university partners for VCU Giving Day to include fund configuration, matches and challenges, asset requests and collection, and content finalization.

• Develop internal and external partnerships and collaborate with DAR colleagues to promote the use of the crowdfunding platform at VCU.

• Create and maintain success guides for crowdfunding partners.

• Support university partners in developing strategy and execution of crowdfunding projects, including use of advocates, social media, and other marketing channels.

Operations and processes

• Create/maintain unique tracking links and giving forms through request queues in the project management platform.

• Maintain all related documentation for various VCU Giving Day processes including site build out, matches and challenges, external stakeholder toolkits, and priority funds.

• Maintain documentation of current processes and policies developed through shared governance.

As the associate director of digital campaigns, you will be responsible for all of the above, as well as:

• Develop and maintain guidelines and best practices for using current tools and platforms.

• Coordinate limited testing or piloting of new platform features and functionality.

• Support efforts to improve data, reporting, and analytics across relevant tools and platforms.

• Reinforce shared expectations for how tools and platforms are used and support the integration of new features into existing workflows.

• Enable and support the use of existing but underutilized features within digital fundraising tools and platforms.

• Support onboarding and refresher training for tool and platform users.

• Serve as key liaison with DAR technology colleagues.

As a team member, you will:

• Maintain and encourage open and honest professional relationships within the team and throughout DAR and VCU.

• Establish, cultivate, and maintain effective working relationships with internal partners.

• Collaborate with peers and stakeholders to add to DAR’s collective innovative thinking.

• Align your values with DAR’s core purpose and values.

Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in higher education, corporate, or nonprofit environment

• Minimum of one year of experience in annual giving, marketing, or fundraising

• Understanding of donor stewardship programs and lifecycle communications, especially for recurring and loyal donor audiences

• Strong knowledge of technology used in marketing, communications, and fundraising or nonprofit operational environments (e.g. Give Campus)

• Strong ability to develop and maintain clear documentation, guidelines, best practices, and processes that support consistent and efficient operations

• Strong stakeholder engagement and partnership skills, including the ability to collaborate effectively across campuses and functional teams

• Organized and detail-oriented work style with the ability to track and coordinate work within shared project management tools (e.g., Smartsheet)

• Problem-solving mindset and ability to assist with troubleshooting requests related to tools and platforms while recognizing when to escalate issues to technical experts

• Ability to work collaboratively in a complex institutional environment and align fundraising strategies with organizational goals

• Experience with complex database systems (e.g. Blackbaud eCRM, Raiser’s Edge)

• High level of professionalism, integrity, and commitment to donor-centered philanthropy

• Demonstrated ability to work in and foster an environment of respect, professionalism and civility with a population of faculty, staff, and students from all backgrounds and experiences, or a commitment to do so as a staff member at VCU.

Preferred Qualifications

• 3-5 years of experience in annual giving, marketing, or fundraising in a nonprofit or higher education (Research I) setting or similar complex environments

• Experience using the fundraising technology platform GiveCampus

• Experience in project management and customer service

• Knowledge of fundraising strategies and philosophy and IRS regulations around philanthropic giving and accounting

Interested applicants are required to submit a resume and cover letter for consideration.

Benefits: All full-time university staff are eligible for VCU’s robust benefits package that includes comprehensive health benefits, paid annual and holiday leave, generous tuition benefits, retirement planning and savings options, tax-deferred annuity and cash match programs, employee discounts, well-being resources, abundant opportunities for career development and advancement, and more.

VCU is also committed to hiring veterans. The University will include a veteran’s period(s) of military service in calculations of the annual leave accrual rate. This may provide veterans with an increased leave accrual.

Unit: Development MBU

Department: Primary Giving

Salary Range: $60,000 - $75,000

University Job Title: 1521S - Sr Specialist DV Senior

FLSA Exemption Status: Exempt

Hours per Week: 40

Restricted Position: No

ORP Eligible: No

Flexible Work Arrangement: Yes; hybrid work arrangements are available for candidates within commuting distance to Richmond, VA and available to come into the office for required meetings.

Eligible for sponsorship (e.g. H-IB visa status, etc.): No

Wireless stipend: Eligible

Contact Information:
Contact Name: Izzy Kane
Contact Email: irkane@vcu.edu