Director of Individual Giving & Donor Engagement

Build meaningful donor relationships and create strategies that grow giving and deepen engagement with Akin’s mission.

Akin is looking for an experienced and strategic Director of Individual Giving & Donor Engagement to lead and grow our individual giving program. This role is an opportunity for a fundraising leader who understands both the art and science of donor engagement—building strong relationships while using data and donor behavior to develop strategies that drive sustainable revenue growth.

In this role, you’ll lead an integrated individual giving program spanning annual giving, direct mail, digital fundraising, donor acquisition and retention, segmentation, moves management, and donor communications. You’ll develop strategies that engage donors throughout their journey with Akin, from their first gift through increased giving and deeper philanthropic involvement.

You’ll work closely with colleagues across Fund Development, Marketing & Communications, Programs, Finance, and organizational leadership to create thoughtful, coordinated donor experiences and strengthen Akin’s pipeline of supporters.

What You’ll Do

Lead Individual Giving Strategy

• Develop and lead a comprehensive individual giving strategy aligned with Akin’s organizational and revenue goals.

• Establish annual and multi-year revenue goals, performance measures, and strategies for the individual giving program.

• Build strategies to strengthen donor acquisition, retention, renewal, upgrades, and lifetime value.

• Develop moves management strategies that create clear pathways from initial giving to deeper engagement and increased philanthropic support.

• Identify opportunities to re-engage lapsed donors and donors at risk of attrition.

• Monitor donor behavior and fundraising performance, adjusting strategies based on results and emerging opportunities.

• Partner with Major Gifts and Donor Relations leadership to identify and facilitate appropriate donor transitions.

Drive Annual Fund, Direct Mail & Digital Fundraising

• Lead annual fund strategy across direct mail, email, digital fundraising, online giving, giving days, year-end fundraising, and other direct response channels.

• Develop and manage the annual fundraising calendar in partnership with the Director of Philanthropy.

• Lead direct mail strategies for donor acquisition, renewal, upgrades, lapsed donors, and targeted appeals.

• Develop digital fundraising strategies that expand Akin’s donor base and increase online revenue.

• Evaluate campaign performance using measures such as response rates, average gift, acquisition cost, net revenue, retention, and donor lifetime value.

Strengthen Donor Communications & Stewardship

• Develop and manage an integrated donor communications calendar.

• Lead the development of annual fund appeals and other fundraising communications.

• Coordinate impact stories and donor-facing program content that demonstrate the impact of philanthropic support.

• Develop and coordinate fundraising collateral and donor materials.

• Partner with Marketing & Communications on campaign messaging, design, brand alignment, production, and distribution.

• Identify opportunities to strengthen fundraising content and giving experiences across Akin’s website and digital channels.

Build the Donor Journey & Pipeline

• Partner with the Director of Philanthropy to identify opportunities to engage donors through programs, events, volunteerism, communications, and community engagement.

• Establish meaningful and consistent donor touchpoints throughout the year.

• Use donor data and engagement behavior to develop strategies for different donor segments.

• Identify opportunities for donor acquisition, retention, upgrades, reactivation, and major gift cultivation.

• Partner with Finance to support accurate fundraising revenue reporting and forecasting.

What You Bring

You are a strategic and collaborative fundraising professional who understands how to build an individual giving program that combines strong donor relationships, compelling communications, and data-informed decision-making. You’re comfortable moving between big-picture strategy and execution and enjoy partnering across teams to achieve shared goals.

You bring strong analytical, project management, writing, and communication skills, along with an understanding of fundraising within complex organizations. You know how to use donor data and fundraising metrics to identify opportunities, evaluate performance, and continuously improve results.

You also bring a commitment to accessibility, inclusion, and belonging and understand how inclusive practices contribute to strong teams, meaningful donor relationships, and effective community-centered work.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in nonprofit management, business, communications, marketing, public administration, or a related field and at least seven years of progressively responsible fundraising or development experience; or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.

• At least five years of direct experience in individual giving, annual giving, direct response fundraising, donor engagement, or a closely related area.

• Demonstrated experience managing multi-channel fundraising campaigns, including direct mail and digital fundraising.

• Experience using donor segmentation, fundraising analytics, and donor behavior to inform strategy and measure results.

• Experience developing donor-facing fundraising communications and appeals.

• Experience managing revenue goals and evaluating fundraising performance against established metrics.

• Experience supervising, coaching, or developing staff.

• Experience working with a donor CRM or fundraising database.

Preferred Qualifications

• Eight or more years of progressive fundraising or development experience, including experience leading a comprehensive individual giving or annual fund program.

• Experience managing a significant individual giving portfolio or annual fund with demonstrated year-over-year revenue growth.

• Experience building or significantly expanding donor acquisition, retention, and upgrade programs.

• Experience developing sophisticated donor segmentation and moves management strategies across multiple giving levels.

• Experience with integrated direct mail, email, digital advertising, online giving, and peer-to-peer or giving-day campaigns.

• Experience partnering with major gifts teams to identify, qualify, and transition donors with increased giving potential.

• Experience with fundraising forecasting, budgeting, and revenue modeling.

• Experience working within a nonprofit or mission-driven organization serving children, families, or communities.

• Experience managing external fundraising vendors, consultants, mail houses, or digital fundraising partners.

• CFRE certification or other relevant fundraising professional development or certification.

Work Environment & Hybrid Work

This position works in a typical professional office environment and requires extended periods of computer work. Infrequent travel to other regional offices may be required.

Akin supports flexible and hybrid work arrangements where appropriate based on position responsibilities and organizational needs. Hybrid arrangements may be adjusted based on business needs.

SALARY RANGE AND BENEFITS:

We provide a comprehensive benefits package, including competitive pay, medical, dental and retirement benefits and paid time off. As required by various pay transparency laws, we share a competitive range of compensation for candidates hired into each position.

The target starting pay for this position is $102,523 - $128,148, typically within the first half of these ranges. Actual offers will be based on individual qualifications relevant to the role and will not take an applicant’s pay history into account.

The range above allows our employees room for growth during their tenure in the position.