Director of Annual Giving & Alumni Relations

The Director of Annual Giving is responsible for the strategic planning, execution, and management of Carthage College’s annual giving program. This individual leads efforts to cultivate, solicit, and steward annual fund donors to ensure consistent and growing philanthropic support for the College’s mission and priorities. The role plays a key part in fostering a culture of engagement and generosity among alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and friends of Carthage.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and lead a year-round, integrated solicitation strategy across alumni, parents, and friends that aligns with engagement efforts and events.
• Oversee all mass appeals-including seasonal and thematic campaigns-ensuring consistent branding, strong storytelling, and data-driven segmentation to maximize engagement.
• Manage alumni social media accounts by creating engaging content, promoting events and initiatives, and fostering meaningful online connections that strengthen alumni engagement and affinity with the institution
• Coordinate with Director of Advancement and Volunteer Programs reunion groups throughout the year; create and write fundraising messages for each group; provide updates and analysis of efforts.
• Plan and execute Red & Ready Giving Days, a cross-campus, 36-hour giving challenge, including solicitation strategy, alumni events, campus events, virtual events, and follow-up.
• Manage segmentation, messaging, and targeting strategies across all channels (direct mail, email, social, web, phone, and text).
• Support alumni-led initiatives, including regional events, virtual gatherings, non-class year reunions, and alumni tours, to expand engagement opportunities and strengthen alumni connections with the institution
• Create and manage a leadership annual giving initiative, such as upgrading $500 donors to leadership-level support, through coordinated direct mail, digital, and phone campaigns. Work with the Director of Prospect to identify annual donors who can be advanced to managed prospect
• Analyze complex data sets concerning constituent populations, giving levels, trends, and gift frequency.
• Summarize and present data in a clear and compelling manner verbally and in writing, and use this information to make data-based decisions about solicitation strategies.
• Serve as the advancement point for faculty and staff using the Advancement CRM (Slate) to send targeted alumni communications, providing strategic guidance on audience segmentation and messaging to support engagement and fundraising goals, including mass email campaigns for the athletics monthly newsletters/Champions Club and the performing arts.
• Work closely with gift officers to offer programmatic support, provide information, and include prospects in solicitations and volunteer opportunities.
• Manage direct mail and digital campaigns supporting planned giving, ensuring messaging is clear, consistent, and aligned with overall advancement goals. Oversee targeted outreach strategies that engage prospective donors and strengthen long-term legacy giving participation.
• Manage alumni operations including oversight of the alumni inbox, maintenance of accurate and up-to-date alumni records, and curation of alumni stories that highlight engagement, achievement, and institutional impact
• Work closely with the Director of Stewardship and Donor Relations to manage leadership giving societies, with special emphasis on loyalty donors (Alford Park Society) and recurring donors (Sustainers), ensuring consistent engagement, recognition, and stewardship that strengthens donor retention and long-term support.
• Serve as a key leader within the Advancement division, contributing to campaign planning and long-term development strategy.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required; a degree in communications, nonprofit management, marketing, or related field preferred.
• Requires 3 to 12 months of related experience, such as management, business, or fundraising.
• Requires excellent oral and written communication skills to effectively communicate with potential donors, college administrators, and faculty members.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, web content management systems, and CRM platforms (e.g., Slate) required.
• Comfort working with data and metrics to assess volunteer engagement and campaign effectiveness.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with campus departments, alumni, and student groups.
• Positive, proactive, and adaptable mindset with a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

About Carthage

Located on the shore of Lake Michigan in the thriving Chicago-Milwaukee corridor, Carthage College blends the best liberal arts traditions with desirable degree programs, transformative learning opportunities, and personal attention from dedicated faculty and staff. Our beautiful campus, an 80-acre arboretum with stunning lake views, is home to 2,600 undergraduate students and 200 graduate students. Founded in 1847, Carthage is consistently named a Best Midwestern College by The Princeton Review and a Most Innovative School by U.S. News & World Report. All Carthage employees play a vital part in the success of our students, as we work together to create an environment where all can achieve their true potential. Grow with Carthage.

Carthage College is an equal opportunity employer (EOE) dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse community. We welcome applications from a broad spectrum of people, including members of ethnic minorities, women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, protected veteran status or status as an individual with a disability.