Annual Giving Specialist

Title: Annual Giving Specialist

Overview (What is this role? What are we looking for?):

Barber National Institute is seeking an Annual Giving Specialist to lead and grow our annual giving program while building lasting relationships with donors and prospective donors. This role develops and executes thoughtful, multi-channel fundraising campaigns; helps donors understand the impact of their support; and uses data to strengthen donor acquisition, retention, engagement, and revenue results.

The ideal candidate is a relationship-focused, organized, and analytical fundraising professional who can manage several initiatives at once, communicate compellingly across channels, and collaborate closely with Advancement, Strategic Communications, Finance, and community partners. This position reports to the Chief Advancement Officer.

What you’ll bring (Competencies or Behaviors):

• Strong relationship-building skills and a donor-centered approach to communication, stewardship, and engagement
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to develop effective appeals, impact messaging, and donor communications
• Strong organization and project-management skills, with the ability to manage campaigns, vendors, deadlines, donor relationships, and competing priorities
• Analytical judgement and attention to detail when interpreting campaign performance, maintaining donor records, and handling confidential or financial information
• A collaborative, adaptable, and accountable work style that reflects Barber National Institute’s Core Commitments, including transparent communication, problem-solving, ethical judgement, and confidentiality

What you’ll have (Qualifications):

• At least two years of professional experience in annual giving, donor relations, advancement, philanthropy, nonprofit development, direct response, campaign management, or a related field
• Experience developing or coordinating direct mail, email, digital, peer-to-peer, giving day, or other annual giving campaigns
• Experience building and maintaining donor relationships and supporting donor cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, or retention strategies
• Experience using a CRM, donor-management system, or comparable database system
• A bachelor’s degree in nonprofit management, business, marketing, communications, public relations, philanthropy, or a related field is preferred; an equivalent combination of directly related education and experience may be considered
• Experience in a nonprofit, human services, healthcare, education, disability services, or another mission-driven organization is preferred
• A valid driver’s license and ongoing compliance with agency and insurer driving eligibility requirements for role-related travel

A typical day-to-day may include (Responsibilities):

• Develop and implement an annual giving plan that grows unrestricted philanthropic support, increases donor retention, and expands community engagement with Barber National Institute
• Coordinate multi-channel campaigns, including direct mail, email, digital appeals, Erie Gives, Giving Tuesday, Founders Day, year-end appeals, peer-to-peer initiatives, and targeted or seasonal campaigns
• Build meaningful relationships with current and prospective annual donors through personalized outreach, donor conversations, acknowledgments, stewardship communications, impact reporting, and other engagement strategies
• Develop donor segmentation and solicitation strategies based on giving history, engagement, interests, and donor behavior to improve response rates, retention, average gift, and overall campaign performance
• Identify annual donors who may have potential for deeper philanthropic involvement and partner with Advancement leadership on cultivation, moves management, and donor pipeline development
• Partner with Strategic Communications to create donor-centered messaging, impact stories, testimonials, digital content, social media, videos, campaign materials, and recognition strategies
• Manage campaign timelines, creative development, printing, mailing, digital deployment, vendor relationships, and internal workflows to deliver accurate and timely initiatives
• Maintain accurate donor records, engagement activity, moves management information, campaign data, and performance indicators in the designated CRM system
• Analyze results such as dollars raised, donor count, retention, acquisition, average gift, response rates, year-over-year performance, and progress toward annual goals; prepare reports, projections, and recommendations for leadership
• Support gift processing, acknowledgment, stewardship, donor recognition, Advancement events, volunteer philanthropy committees, proposals, appeals, and other mission-aligned activities