Director of Development, Leadership Annual Gifts

City of Hope’s mission is to “turn hope into reality.”  Focused on eliminating cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses, City of Hope has established itself as a world-class leader in transforming the future of health. Raising the philanthropic resources to fuel its leading-edge research, its exquisite and compassionate clinical care, and its advancement of biomedical education and training, is a vital component of the City of Hope model of success.  Each member of the Office of Philanthropy is a stakeholder in this work, with personal accountability for his/her role in building a successful future of delivering new cures, treatments and education.

The Office of Philanthropy’s vision is to support this life-saving work by being known institutionally and nationally as a model of excellence among elite fundraising programs. Recent recruitments of nationally and internationally renowned faculty offer advancement leaders new opportunity for partnership among philanthropy, research and patient care.

The Development (DOD) will contribute to this vision by participating in key processes and programs that sustain an office-wide focus on collaboration, efficiencies and metrics-based outcomes. Through individual contribution, the DOD will be a part of creating our evolution into a perpetually campaign-ready, donor-centered, leading industry program to support City of Hope’s mission. In pursuit of this outcome, we are committed to growing careers within the Office of Philanthropy to attract and retain the most talented professionals in the country, and excel as a highly collaborative, efficient and creative team. To this end, we invest in our staff through the Team Activation Program (TAP) initiative. This initiative increases the effectiveness of our team through focused transparency & accountability, building trust within teams; training & development; celebrating innovation & risk taking; enhancing team communications and removing roadblocks to maximize activation. The TAP initiative ensures that the Office of Philanthropy is poised to move quickly, effectively and efficiently to maximize opportunities on behalf of City of Hope.

Under the supervision of the AVP, Annual Giving, the Director of Development, Leadership Annual Gifts (DOD), will contribute to this vision by participating in a commitment to key processes and programs that sustain an office-wide focus on collaboration, efficiencies and metrics-based outcomes. By providing strong individual contribution, the DOD will be a part of creating our evolution into a perpetually campaign-ready, donor-centered, leading industry program to support City of Hope’s mission. In pursuit of this outcome, we are committed to growing careers within the Office of Philanthropy to attract and retain the most talented professionals in the country, and excel as a highly collaborative, efficient and creative team.

In this role, the DOD will have individual accountability for fundraising performance goals of frontline-facing activities and management of direct response appeals and communications for City of Hope’s Leadership Annual Giving (LAG) audience. The DOD is personally responsible for securing individual gifts of $1,000 - $25,000, qualifying prospects for migration to Major Gifts and Planned Giving and leading the growth of multi-channel direct-response fundraising strategies to acquire, retain, and upgrade donors making cumulative annual contributions of $1,000 - $25,000. As the LAG program grows, this position may also manage the development and performance of LAG fundraising staff.

The DOD will undertake sustainable, mission-focused cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of donors to build the leadership and special gifts donor pipeline, with an emphasis on first-time donors and upgrading existing annual donors. In pursuit of these outcomes, responsibilities include developing productive relationships with City of Hope gift officers, physicians, researchers, and  staff, engaging them in substantive activities to identify new prospects and leverage existing prospect relationships that lead to increased philanthropy. The incumbent will work in partnership with volunteers and Office of Philanthropy colleagues to build the pipeline of major gift donors, securing meetings and implementing individual cultivation and solicitation strategies.

The DOD will have demonstrated success in building and/or supporting philanthropic relationships while also consistently meeting development goals. Will have demonstrated experience in interacting effectively with donors and prospects, and demonstrate an understanding of the spectrum of frontline activity including gift policies, donor cycle management and meaningful donor engagement. The incumbent will have strong written and oral communications skills, exhibited through the development of successful donor communications. Experience building internal (staff, physicians, administrators) relationships is required.

These experiences will have been secured with five or more years of consecutive experience in a non-profit environment, with experience in a complex health care environment preferred.

Key Responsibilities include:

Leads City of Hope’s Leadership Annual Giving program towards reaching its annual performance goals through individual performance and modeling commitment to our vision. Includes:

• Meet annual activity and financial performance metrics. Ability to thrive in a metric and data driven environment.
• Plan and implement multi-channel leadership annual giving engagement and solicitation strategies within the Annual Giving program.
• Identify and develop leadership gift pipeline-building efforts in support of City of Hope’s philanthropic priorities and initiatives.
• Manage mid-level communications (appeals, stewardship, etc.) in close collaboration with the AVP, Annual Giving.
• Develop and implement thoughtful, strategic cultivation, solicitation and stewardship plans for prospective leadership, special and major donors (with a focus on individuals) for gifts of $1k - $25,000.
• Ensure regular contact with donors through various activities and communications, including face-to-face meetings. Identify and participate in joint leadership and special giving opportunities in collaboration with Philanthropy colleagues from across the institution and Office of Philanthropy teams for prospects, and work towards successful solicitations.
• Identify and qualify new leadership, special and major gift prospects.
• Coordinate activities with other development officers and entities, including physicians and administrators.
• Maintain an active portfolio with low inactive/cold rates, moving prospects through the fundraising cycle.
• Special projects as assigned.

Serve as a role model for the Office of Philanthropy. Includes:

• Act as spokesperson for City of Hope activities as requested.
• Participate in meetings, search committees, task forces, and other special projects.
• Maintains a positive image when dealing with executive staff, donors, prospects, fundraisers and other City of Hope employees.
• Practices a high level of integrity and honesty in maintaining confidentiality.

Follows established City of Hope and department policies, procedures, objectives, performance improvement, attendance, safety, environmental, and infection control guidelines, including adherence to the workplace Code of Conduct and Compliance Plan.  Practices a high level of integrity and honesty in maintaining confidentiality.

Performs other related duties as assigned or requested.

Basic education, experience and skills required for consideration:

• High school diploma. Experience may substitute for subject area requirements.
• 5-7 years related experience. Relevant education or related experience in biomedical sciences or health care may be substituted for part of this requirement. Experience in a complex medical or academic development setting encouraged.

Preferred education experience and skills:

• Bachelors Degree

Additional Information:

• As a condition of employment, City of Hope requires staff to comply with all state and federal vaccination mandates.

City of Hope is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with disability.