Director of Annual Fund

Summary Statement

Calvary Day School stands at the intersection of Kingdom Education and academic excellence delivered by committed and compassionate teachers and administrators who love the Lord and our students. This unique blend creates a transformative environment where students are nurtured spiritually, challenged intellectually, and empowered to grow in character and leadership.

Generosity at CDS is rooted in the truth that everything belongs to God and has been entrusted to us for His purposes. Because God has been generous to us in Christ, we respond with joyful, worshipful generosity. 

CDS’s legacy of generosity has created a school where students are equipped to think, learn, and live from a biblical worldview by integrating God's Word into every aspect of life so they can impact the world for Christ. Generosity and faithfulness are in the fabric of our history and continue to be a blessing to CDS. 

The Calvary Day School Director of Annual Giving is responsible for planning, managing, and executing a comprehensive annual giving program that grows philanthropic participation and support from parents, grandparents, alumni, faculty/staff, and friends of the school.

This role focuses on building a strong culture of annual generosity through clear communication, strategic segmentation, donor engagement, stewardship, volunteer support, campaign execution, and accurate data management. The Director of Annual Giving will work closely with school leadership, communications, admissions, alumni relations, parent volunteers, and the Executive Director of Generosity to increase annual giving revenue, participation, donor retention, and community understanding of the school’s philanthropic priorities.

I am excited to invite you into this story to help shape the future of generosity at CDS.

Principal Duties

• Execute the school’s established annual giving plan while also having significant input in shaping strategy and priorities, including parent giving, grandparent giving, alumni giving, faculty/staff giving, and community giving.
• Develop and manage an annual calendar of appeals, giving campaigns, stewardship touchpoints, parent/alumni engagement opportunities, and donor communications.
• Lead the planning and execution of annual giving initiatives such as the Initiative for Excellence, matching gift campaigns, year-end appeals, class participation efforts, and other annual giving priorities.
• Create segmented solicitation strategies for key audiences, including current parents, grandparents, alumni, parents of alumni, faculty/staff, and friends of the school.
• Partner with the communications team to develop compelling annual giving messaging, emails, letters, social media content, giving forms, impact stories, and campaign updates.
• Track, analyze, and report annual giving progress, including dollars raised, donor participation, donor retention, average gift size, pledge fulfillment, class participation, and campaign performance.
• Manage donor and gift data carefully in the RE NXT, ensuring timely entry of donor interactions, pledges, appeal codes, giving designations, notes, and stewardship activity.
• Support parent and alumni engagement efforts that strengthen relationships and increase participation in annual giving.
• Serve as staff liaison to parent and alumni volunteer groups as assigned, helping equip volunteers to encourage participation and promote annual giving priorities.
• Coordinate stewardship for annual giving donors through thank-you communication, impact reporting, recognition efforts, and donor follow-up.
• Identify annual giving donors who may have capacity for deeper engagement and appropriately refer major gift prospects to the Executive Director of Generosity.
• Collaborate with school leaders to understand funding priorities and translate those needs into clear, donor-friendly annual giving messaging.
• Support pledge reminders, recurring gift promotion, matching gift communication, and donor renewal strategies.
• Maintain a strong understanding of annual giving best practices in independent-school advancement.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Experience

• 3–5 years of experience in annual giving, advancement, fundraising communications, nonprofit development, school fundraising, donor relations, or a related field.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and execute annual giving campaigns, appeals, donor communications, or participation-based fundraising initiatives.
• Experience using donor databases, CRM systems, or advancement software to track gifts, pledges, donors, appeals, and campaign performance. Experience with RE NXT preferred. 
• Strong writing ability, with experience creating donor-facing communication, campaign messaging, stewardship content, or fundraising appeals.
• Experience working with volunteers, parents, alumni, or school/community constituents preferred.
• Experience in an independent school, Christian school, church, college, university, or nonprofit advancement environment preferred.
• Familiarity with annual giving metrics such as participation, retention, renewal, pledge fulfillment, segmentation, and donor acquisition preferred.

Position Requirements or Standards

• Professes Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
• Faithfully attends and financially supports a local church whose beliefs agree with the Statement of Faith of Calvary Day School.
• Strong commitment to the mission, values, and Christian educational philosophy of Calvary Day School.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple campaigns, deadlines, audiences, and details at once.
• Ability to analyze giving data and use that data to shape strategy, segmentation, reporting, and follow-up.
• Comfortable working with donor management software, spreadsheets, email platforms, and Microsoft Office Suite.
• Experience with Blackbaud, Raiser’s Edge NXT, FACTS, MinistryPlatform, or similar systems preferred.
• Ability to work collaboratively with school leadership, communications, parent volunteers, alumni, faculty, staff, and advancement colleagues.
• Ability to attend events and participate in activities outside of normal office hours
• Strong attention to detail, especially related to donor records, pledges, gift designations, reporting, and stewardship follow-up.
• Warm, professional, and relational presence with parents, grandparents, alumni, faculty/staff, and school families.
• Ability to communicate the importance of annual giving in a way that is clear, invitational, mission-centered, and participation-focused.
• Enthusiasm, humility, initiative, and a commitment to excellence.

Key Measures of Success

• Growth in annual giving revenue.
• Increased parent, grandparent, alumni, and faculty/staff participation.
• Improved donor retention and renewal rates.
• Timely and accurate campaign reporting.
• Strong execution of annual giving campaigns, appeals, and stewardship plans.
• In collaboration with the Executive Director of Generosity, establish annual goals, benchmarks, and metrics for success alongside the fundraising and participation outcomes already listed.
• Clearer community understanding of the purpose and impact of annual giving.
• Strong collaboration with communications, school leadership, and parent/alumni volunteers.
• Accurate and consistent use of RE NXT to support fundraising strategy.

*At CDS, we are focused on finding the strongest candidate for the role, and we recognize that excellence can come from a wide variety of experiences and paths. When reviewing applications, we consider an equivalent combination of knowledge, skills, education, and lived experiences that align with the minimum qualifications. If you are interested in this opportunity, we encourage you to view your background broadly and highlight the skills and experiences that best prepare you for the role.