Director, Annual & Leadership Giving

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 annual gifts within the $5,000–$25,000 leadership giving range.
• Develop appropriate ask amounts and solicitation strategies based on donor history, interests, engagement, and philanthropic capacity.
• Prepare personalized proposals, correspondence, presentations, and other donor materials as appropriate.
• Establish annual revenue and activity goals for the assigned portfolio.
• Maintain accurate projections and forecasts for assigned donors and prospects.
• Maintain accurate and timely records of donor contacts, strategies, proposals, solicitations, and next steps in Raiser’s Edge.
• Coordinate with the Chief Development Officer on significant donor relationships and solicitation strategies.
• Identify donors whose capacity, engagement, or philanthropic interests indicate readiness for major or planned giving strategies and facilitate an intentional transition when appropriate. Annual & Leadership Giving Strategy
• Develop strategies to grow the number of donors making annual gifts of $5,000 to $25,000.
• Strengthen leadership annual giving as a core source of sustainable philanthropic revenue for CAF and NAEC.
• Develop strategies for increasing donor retention, renewal, consecutive-year giving, and upgrades within the leadership giving portfolio.
• Create intentional pathways for donors to progress from broad-based annual giving into leadership giving.
• Develop appropriate recognition, engagement, and stewardship strategies for leadership annual donors.
• Evaluate opportunities to strengthen or establish annual giving societies that recognize and encourage sustained giving at leadership levels.
• Develop strategies for increasing giving within the $5,000–$25,000 range and encouraging multi-year donor relationships.
• Use donor and portfolio performance data to refine qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies.
• Ensure leadership giving serves as a strong pipeline for future major and planned gifts. Donor Pipeline Development
• Use the organization's direct response donor base as a primary source for identifying prospective leadership annual giving donors.
• Regularly analyze giving history, recency, frequency, cumulative giving, organizational engagement, and available capacity information to identify prospective portfolio donors.
• Develop intentional strategies for moving qualified direct response donors from transactional giving into personalized cultivation and relationship-based fundraising.
• Identify opportunities among CAF members, volunteers, event attendees, and other organizational constituents who demonstrate philanthropic potential.
• Develop strategies for reengaging lapsed donors with leadership giving potential.
• Maintain a healthy balance between active qualification prospects and established portfolio donors.
• Identify leadership donors with the capacity and inclination to progress into major and planned giving relationships.
• Establish clear donor pathways from direct response and annual giving through leadership, major, and planned giving.
• Participate in regular portfolio and pipeline reviews with the Chief Development Officer. Donor Stewardship & Retention
• Develop personalized stewardship strategies that strengthen relationships and demonstrate the impact of donor support.
• Ensure assigned donors receive timely, meaningful, and appropriate stewardship.
• Develop strategies to retain donors within the $5,000–$25,000 annual giving range and encourage increased and consecutive-year support.
• Identify opportunities for personalized outreach following significant gifts, organizational milestones, events, or other meaningful engagement.
• Partner with Development staff to develop appropriate donor recognition and stewardship activities.
• Work collaboratively with program staff to gather stories, outcomes, and impact information for donor communications.
• Connect donors with programs, aircraft, educational initiatives, events,