Director of Annual Appeals

Please include a cover letter with resume.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Office of Development’s primary purpose is one of service and fundraising. These efforts include working closely with the Bishop, senior diocesan staff, pastors, parishioners and community members to increase giving to the Catholic Diocese of Arlington and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington and their various ministries, programs, and entities.

The Office assists with programs that encourage financial giving and stewardship from parishioners to meet operational and capital needs and financial resources for ministries, programs and services of the Diocese, parishes, schools, and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington. The Office also provides professional and technical fundraising consultation and support to parishes, schools, institutions and organizations of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington

Reporting to the Development Office Executive Director, the Director of Annual Appeal Programs oversees the development, organization, and implementation of the annual appeal and other giving programs at the diocesan, parish, and school levels.

PRINCIPLE DUTIES:

• Plays a leading role in managing the programs and staff in the Office of Development
• Manages the staff and process for all gifts and pledges received in the iMIS database and ensures the BLA and other charitable gifts (and pledges are correctly processed.
• Serves as the management representative with the bank that manages the 3 lockboxes associated with the Diocese for various appeals.
• Manages the oversight of stock and mutual fund gifts that are received through the Office of Development for the diocese, parishes, schools, and Diocese of Arlington Scholarship Foundation, and serves as the management representative to the outside financial services company.

• Leads the implementation of the annual Bishop’s Lenten Appeal:
• Assists in selecting the Appeal’s unifying theme and imagery.
• Helps strategize each year to determine the appropriate balance for the various methods of donating: direct mail, online, in-pew process and personal solicitation.
• Develops theme design (with outside graphic artist), production and distribution of all thematic appeal collateral material, including copywriting of brochures, solicitations, gift acknowledgements, donor recognition pieces, web pages, emails and flyers; works with translation service to ensure appropriate BLA materials are translated for parish distribution.
• Works in collaboration with Executive Director and Bishop’s Office to allocate individual parish BLA goals.
• Has oversight on BLA donor events, meetings and training sessions, including obtaining bids for invitations, selecting vendors/caterers and attending the events.
• Works in collaboration with the staff of the Office of Communications to ensure BLA presence on social media platforms and to create videos for the BLA.
• Serves as liaison between the Office of Development and parishes to ensure adherence to processes recommended by the office; and
• Oversees maintenance of a large volume of highly confidential donor records.

• Coordinates the Parish Offertory Program−a comprehensive program designed to increase total diocesan offertory−by consulting with individual parish leadership and annually updating program material.

• Manages the development efforts of the Diocese of Arlington Scholarship Foundation (DASF); provides advice and counsel to diocesan-level and local-level efforts to encourage maximum annual support of the Diocese of Arlington Scholarship Foundation.

• Works directly with DASF donors to communicate program requirements and help facilitate donations.
• Ensures VA DOE required donation procedures are followed and that donors receive VA tax credit certificate
• Serves as the management representative with donors and staff from the Commonwealth of Virginia Dept. of Education in processing gifts through VA DOE portal. Creates annual DASF appeal mailing including appeal letter and flyer as well as the DASF Annual Report, published in the Arlington Catholic Herald.,

• Provides support to the Executive Director of the Office by managing special projects or appeals as needed. May make administrative decisions for staff or office in the absence of the Executive Director.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND AUTHORITY:

Management

Positions supervised: 3Development Database Coordinator

• Annual Appeal Program Associate
• Development Office Administrative Assistant
• Manages the diocesan relationship with the banking staff who run the Lockbox service which processes over $22 Million in pledges annually.

• Supervision Received
• Given wide latitude and exercises significant discretion under the general direction of the Development Office Executive Director

• Budgets and Financials
• Manages the annual appeal program and parish offertory budgets

• Systems and Processes
• Responsible for effective implementation and data integrity of the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal donor files and related information within the iMIS database.
• Responsible for ensuring the proper handling of all pledge receipts for the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal: $22 M+ annually.
• Responsible for ensuring the proper handling of all cash receipts for the Diocese of Arlington Scholarship Foundation: $3M+ annually

• Physical Demands/Working Environment
• While performing the duties of this job, required to have ordinary ambulatory skills sufficient to visit other locations; ability to stand, walk, stoop, kneel, crouch, and manipulate (lift, carry, move) light to medium weight of 10 – 50 pounds
• Requires good hand-eye coordination, arm, hand, and finger dexterity, including ability to grasp, and visual acuity to use a keyboard, operate equipment and read
• Frequently required to sit, hear, talk and use repetitive motion of the hands/wrists
• Work performed in and out of the office setting
• Required to travel to parishes and schools throughout the diocese
• Occasional evening and/or weekend work is required
• Work performed in an individual, well-lighted office. The noise level is usually low. The space is wheel chair-accessible.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Knowledge/Skills: Demonstrated project facilitation, presentation, and copywriting skills. Able to create intermediate to advanced level documents, spreadsheets, presentations and emails using MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and MS Outlook; to apply critical thinking to solve problems in an everyday work setting; to be an active listener; to articulate ideas clearly, concisely and professionally both orally and in writing; to work collaboratively, foster teamwork and address conflict as it arises; to develop, manage and evaluate programs, to align individual program goals with strategic goals and objectives and to formulate recommendations to improve program delivery and management; to work and complete follow up activities independently; to solicit personal feedback and make changes when needed.

Thorough knowledge of the principles and practices of fundraising along with a thorough knowledge of fundraising software. Ability to organize, create and implement fundraising efforts using strategic marketing techniques. Strong interpersonal relations skills to interact with diocesan officials, pastors, and parishioners.

• Knowledge/experience with direct mail campaigns and print production schedules working with an outside print/mail house is extremely beneficial.

• Must have in-depth knowledge of the Catholic church organizational and operational procedures.

• Education Required: Bachelor’s degree in communications, finance and/or marketing or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Licenses/Certifications: Valid driver’s license must be maintained at all times.

• Years and Types of Experience: Five to eight years’ professional development and fundraising experience in a faith-based non-profit organization, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.