Director, Individual Giving (Flexible Location, Remote)

The Mission Continues is a national organization that connects veterans with under-resourced communities in order to develop them as community leaders. We empower veterans to continue their service and give communities access to veteran talent, skills and preparedness to generate visible impact. Founded in 2007, The Mission Continues is grounded in the belief that veterans have an unwavering desire to continue serving their country, even if they can no longer do so in the military.    THE OPPORTUNITY The Mission Continues is seeking a dynamic and results-oriented fundraising professional to join our growing development team. Reporting to the Vice President Development Officer, the Director, Individual Giving will be responsible for expanding the individual giving program from annual gifts, major gifts, planned and principal donors.    The Director, Individual Giving will expand our annual giving and major gifts program program to acquire new donors, retain and grow existing donors and renew lapsed donors. The ideal candidate is an innovative, entrepreneurial development professional with a demonstrated record of success in building and sustaining growth and expanding mission awareness from individual donors.   As a member of the development leadership team, this person will excel at collaborating with colleagues, frontline fundraising and developing and implementing strategy. The fundraising goal for 2022 is approximately $12 million. The revenue is currently made up of corporate, foundation and individuals with a high percentage coming from institutional. This is an opportunity for the right candidate to collaborate with a cross set of teams to support the continued built out of a robust individual giving program. Location for this position can be any major metro market where we have a service platoon.   WHAT YOU WILL DO: - Build, oversee and grow the individual giving program across The Mission Continues through major gifts, annual fund and planned giving programs. - Create and manage major gift solicitation strategy and annual giving strategy. - Create long-term planned and principal giving strategies and plans. - Strategically identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit and steward major and planned gifts from individuals, family foundations while maintaining relationships with donor advisors and donor advised funds.  - Manage the research, strategy, and reporting process to enhance stewardship and personalized relationship building with all levels of individual donors. - Actively produce written proposals, requests, appeals and other donor communications in close  partnership with the Communications and Marketing teams.  - Create, cultivate and steward a portfolio of individual major donors.  - Contribute to growing a culture of philanthropy that is respectful, ethical, and transparent with donors  and colleagues and meets the organization’s fundraising needs.  - Collaborate with the program team on local/regional individual donor strategy.    WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR: - Fundraising professional with 5-8 years of progressive individual and annual giving experience including demonstrated success in soliciting five and six-figure gifts. - A self-starter who can build and execute strategy with significant autonomy, good judgment, creativity and a focus on meaningful results. - Proven moves management skills and creation of strategies to sustain and increase investments from individual donors and family foundations. - Ability to serve as a team player and strong individual contributor. - Ability to work and perform on a virtual team. - Ability to manage multiple priorities, work in a deadline driven environment and manage complex projects with a superb attention to detail. - Excellent communication, customer focused and interpersonal skills. - Must be flexible and able to work some evenings and weekends.   PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: - Military service is a plus - Familiarity with Salesforce   TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS   Must have the ability to travel to multiple cities throughout the United States depending on portfolio, approximately 6 times per year for 1-2 number of days per week (25% travel). Multi-day and/or weekend travel will be required on program event dates, which occurs on weekends 1-4 times a year.    PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS  The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee is occasionally required to move on uneven terrain; carry objects; sit; reach with hands and arms. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate. During events, employees are expected to be able to move around a job site and carry up to 50lbs. If you require a reasonable accommodation in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to the Manager of Talent Acquisition & Onboarding.    If the above speaks to you, we’re excited to learn more about you!  The Mission Continues recognizes that diverse employees, veterans and supporters are critical to our workforce and mission. We are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where all team members are valued and can reach their full potential. We want a team that reflects our diversity, so that we can approach every mission with integrity, compassion and authenticity.  Compensation is competitive and is commensurate with experience. The Mission Continues offers exceptional medical, dental, vision, life and long-term disability benefits for all team members.  All successful candidates for this position will be required to submit to a criminal background check.