Director of Annual Giving

Austin Preparatory School, located in Reading, Massachusetts, is seeking a qualified candidate for the position of Director of Annual Giving. Founded in 1961, Austin Prep is an independent co-ed Catholic school in the Augustinian Austin Prep enrolls approximately 800 students in grades 6-12 and employs 75 faculty.

The Director of Annual Giving reports to the Director of Development and is responsible for the strategic design and implementation of Austin Prep’s comprehensive annual giving program, the Austin Prep Fund. The Director leads programs, events, initiatives, and communications aimed at increasing current-use giving and donor participation while supporting the School’s greater development and campaign goals. The Director strengthens existing relationships and builds new ones while increasing participation and giving to the Austin Prep Fund, creating a pipeline for future philanthropic giving to the school.

Responsibilities include:

Supporting the School and its leadership in advancing the mission of Austin Prep and safeguarding the School’s Roman Catholic identity and Augustinian heritage. Develop, implement, and manage strategies for maximizing philanthropic support of the Austin Prep Fund, including all goals, objectives, and tasks in an effort to build unrestricted Annual Fund giving to the $1M level, a in the next 3-5 years. Collaborate with the Development and senior leadership to align strategies with the school’s goals and vision.  Create and manage detailed plan for the Austin Prep Fund. including objectives, approach (direct mail, email, online giving, social media, etc.), segmentation strategy and schedule, brief for appeal materials, and roles for volunteers, and communications to educate and solicit constituents. Determine donor targets by constituent groups while building strategies for moving donors to higher annual giving levels.  Oversee all annual giving programs including annual Day of Giving, faculty/staff campaigns, parent class agent program, senior gift, and other activities. Manage a prospect pool of roughly 100 leadership-level annual giving prospects with annual goals for personal visits and advancing relationships.  Develop and execute an effective and sustainable volunteer program to encourage annual giving, including Class Ambassadors, Parent Annual Fund Volunteers, Faculty/Staff Volunteers, etc.  Supervise data entry, report writing and generation, and gift processing, and all additional aspects of the school’s constituent relations software. Develop Austin Prep Fund donor recognition efforts and stewardship opportunities and assist in the production of the Annual Report and other publications. Work with the Director of Alumni Engagement to support class reunion giving, and maintain high visibility in the school community, attending a variety of student, parent, admissions, and alumni events. Pursue professional development opportunities to implement best practices in alignment with the school’s pace of change and growth. We are looking for someone with 5-7 years of successful direct fundraising experience, event planning, or account management, preferably in an academic setting.  An independent and strategic thinker capable of understanding the full scope of an annual fund campaign while seeing individual tasks through completion. Bachelor’s degree required. This candidate must be able to manage several tasks simultaneously, possessing an ability to prioritize multiple tasks and manage deadlines effectively, while working with a high level of integrity and extraordinary work ethic.  The ability to work creatively to match donor interests with the school’s priorities and build meaningful relationships with individuals for purposes of cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of gifts to the school.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS AND SEARCH PROCESS

Our Commitment to Mission

The mission of Austin Prep is to “inspire hearts to unite, minds to inquire, and hands, to serve” which we exemplify through the Augustinian charisms of veritas, unitas, and caritas.  Austin Prep a Roman Catholic Augustinian secondary school committed to Catholic social teaching which is based on and inseparable from our understanding of human life and human dignity.  Every human being is created in the image and likeness of God and is therefore invaluable and worthy of dignity and respect as a member of the human family.

Austin Prep encourages applications from candidates who appreciate, understand, and respect the mission of Austin Prep and the School’s Catholic identity.  We seek applicants who can help enrich the School’s Roman Catholic Augustinian mission and can help advance our commitment to what Pope Francis calls “integral human development.”  We welcome and encourage applications from members of underrepresented groups.  In their cover letter, in addition to indicating why they are particularly interested in and qualified for this position, all candidates should describe how they can help support our Catholic faith and our Augustinian heritage.

Interested candidates should submit the following electronic documents as a single PDF to Developmentopportunities@austinprep.org

1. A cover letter expressing the applicant’s qualifications for this position. Resume Three professional references including e-mail, phone number, and a description of the professional relationship (references will not be contacted without the applicant’s permission).

We will be reviewing applications immediately and only qualified candidates will be contacted as materials are received.