Director of Stewardship-Development

Job Description

The parish Director Stewardship/Development provides administrative, operational, and logistical direction for the parish's major capital campaign and annual giving initiatives. The Director is responsible for the overall process of engaging with parishioners post gift and managing gifts. Draft gift acknowledgement policies. Policies are necessary to establish standards/framework for acknowledging gifts and its commitment to thanking donors properly.

Director Stewardship/Development stewardship is the process that occurs once a donor has given a charitable contribution to the parish. Reporting to the Business Manager and Pastor, the donor stewardship officer is responsible for the overall process of engaging with donors post gift and managing their gifts as donors intended; specifically providing timely and accurate gift acknowledgment letters and receipts, honoring donor gift intent, and conveying the desired impact of the donor gift. Donors are updated on the progress and outcomes of their gift, thereby ultimately inspiring donors into the next cultivation experience by actively engaging them with the parish and its impact.

The donor Director Stewardship/Development actively builds donor trust, loyalty, and retention, so that current and new donors are inspired to provide continued support to the parish, furthering a
long-term, mutually beneficial relationship. A strong donor stewardship process should help the parish retain donors, increase the annual giving levels, and and commitment.

Throughout all phases, the Campaign Coordinator ensures that every donor encounter, gift record, and campaign communication reflects the excellence worthy of the mission it supports. Provides leadership in developing strategies for effectively managing fundraising campaigns, such as comprehensive, capital, annual fund, faculty/staff giving, and/or specific unit fundraising campaigns. Is responsible for approving/coordinating/denying all parish fundraising requests annually.

Broad Participation Campaign (The first Months 6-36)
Draft for approval by the Business Manager, Pastor and Finance Council gift acknowledgement policies. These policies are necessary to establish standards and framework for acknowledging gifts and affirm its commitment to thanking donors properly. These policies should include: dollar thresholds, who signs at each threshold, turnaround time between receipt of gift and delivery of the acknowledgement, (gift receipt and thank you's) who is involved as signatories, proper salutations, when to customize additional, approved ways to say thank you, procedures for recording in the database, filing hard copies or digital copies of all thank you letters and notes. Finance Council and Pastor need to approve this policy.
• Identify and recommend fund-raising software.
• Add new donors to donor database and/or update current donor profiles based upon most recent gifts size and timing. Keep accurate records and provide timely updates.
• Process donor gifts quickly and accurately.
• Send donation tax receipts ASAP (No later than 72 hours is best practice) so that donors know when their gift has been received.
• The more personal receipts are; the better donors will be able to understand the impact of their gift. (For example, a receipt that thanks a donor for their contribution to our Capital Campaign will show that parish is placing the donors' gift toward its intended purpose.)
• Support the Business office and execution of the parish-based participation phase, including parish events, kick-off events, volunteer trainings, and celebration events.
• Coordinate volunteer appreciation awards and dinner.
• Manage production and distribution of campaign materials with consultants: brochures, pledge forms, parish packets, bulletins information, and digital assets.
• Coordinate and support communications logistics with consultants: mailing lists, email campaigns, parish bulletin copy, and social media content (as directed).
• Update campaign progress reports including participation rates, pledge totals, cash received, and parish-level performance.
• Track solicitation outcomes and next steps; ensure all activity is recorded accurately in the campaign database.
• Provide general administrative support to the campaign team as needed.
• Develop reports and documents for leadership and decision-making purposes,
• Reporting & Analytics: Generate weekly, monthly and quarterly fundraising reports for the Business office to track progress against goals, pledges, and funds received.

Operations (Ongoing Responsibilities)
• Coordinate with the Business office team to enter and update donor records, pledges, gifts, contact reports, and produce acknowledgment letters in timely fashion.
• Coordinate and enter in processing pledges and gifts: prepare pledge reminders, record payments, issue tax acknowledgment letters, and reconcile with the Accounting Manager and Business Office.
• Monitor all donor information and provide statistical analysis for Business Office.
• Develop reports and documents for leadership and decision-making purposes.
• Manage campaign correspondence in collaboration with the Business Office and consultants; thank you letters, donor stewardship communications, pledge follow-ups, and pastoral outreach.
• Assure that databases are properly managed and current. Maintain comprehensive campaign files, reports, and archives (digital and physical).
• Ensure all activities align with Catholic ethical standards, archdiocesan policies, and IRS regulations governing charitable contributions.
• Ensure correspondence (including letters of appreciation and donors' tax purposes) are strategic, appropriate and timely.
• Ensure complete security and confidentiality of all donor information.
• Coordinating quarterly planned giving events in the parish (speakers on life insurance, finance information, health care etc.).

QUALIFICATIONS
• Knowledge/Skills: Understanding of and respect for Catholic Church teachings, mission and value with the belief that stewardship is a spiritual act
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to draft professional correspondence that reflects the tone and mission of the parish
• Strong professional and interpersonal skills with the ability to work respectfully, collaboratively, positively, and joyfully with bishops, clergy, staff, volunteers, major benefactors, and parishioners.
• Working knowledge of donor database systems (Raiser's Edge, PDS, or similar)
• Fully proficient in the MS Office suite of applications; intermediate proficiency in Excel/Sheets is recommended/
• Problem solver with strong planning and organizational skills and keen attention to detail
• Ability to take initiative, multi-task, and work with minimal supervision while maintaining flexibility and adaptability to evolving demands and timelines.
• Ability to attend occasional evening and weekend events
• High discretion and integrity in handling confidential donor, prospect, and parish information
Education Required:
• BS/BA in Communications, Public Relations, Business, Marketing, or Nonprofit Management or equivalent degree and experience.
• Working knowledge of donor database systems (Raiser's Edge, NXT,PDS or similar)
Years and Types of Experience:
Three or more years of development-related experience, preferably in a non-profit organization. Experience with event planning and working with a contact relationship management (CRM) database for fundraising required.

Preferred
• Experience supporting a capital campaign, donor reporting and managing, or major gifts effort.
• Experience with volunteer coordination, event logistics, or data entry and reporting in a fundraising environment.
• Familiarity with Catholic stewardship, capital campaign phases, and parish or diocese organizational structures
• Basic familiarity with accounting principles as applied to gift processing and pledge tracking.

About the Employer

The mission of evangelization is entrusted by Christ to his Church to be carried out in all her forms of ministry, witness, and service. By evangelizing, the Church seeks to bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their faith in Jesus and strengthened by the sacraments, most especially the celebration of the Eucharist, they freely share that faith with others to transform the world.