Director of Annual Giving - Oklahoma Baptist University

 

OBU Mission Statement

OBU transforms lives by equipping students to pursue academic excellence, integrate faith with all areas of knowledge, engage a diverse world, and live worthy of the high calling of God in Christ.

Expectations for all Employees

Oklahoma Baptist University achieves its mission through a shared commitment to the following expectations.  All employees must embrace these expectations and model them in their behavior.

• Demonstrate commitment to the essentials of the Christian faith.
• Commit to the mission and vision of Oklahoma Baptist University.
• Treat people with dignity and respect.
• Build relationships on honesty, integrity, and trust.
• Strive for excellence through teamwork, leadership, and a strong work ethic.
• Manage human and financial resources wisely and efficiently.

Purpose: The Director of Annual and Leadership Giving provides strategic leadership and oversight for Oklahoma Baptist University’s comprehensive annual giving and mid-level donor programs. This position is responsible for driving participation, retention, and growth across key donor segments, including annual fund donors, recurring and online donors, faculty and staff contributors, programmatic giving for mid-level donors and alumni, and corporate sponsorships.

The Director manages all annual and mid-level campaigns (digital, mail, and event-based) while coordinating donor engagement and stewardship strategies that strengthen the donor pipeline. The role also provides direct collaboration with the Academic Chairs, OBU Go Teams Directors and Assistant Athletics Director for fundraising to ensure unified goals, messaging, and donor experience across the University.

Essential Functions:

Annual Giving and Mid-Level Strategy

• Build on current initiatives and programs to execute a comprehensive annual giving strategy that includes direct mail, email, digital, social media, and peer-to-peer fundraising to increase donor acquisition and recurring giving retention.
• Lead initiatives for OBU’s Annual Fund, Friends of the Arts, Giving Day, recurring giving, and mid-level donor fundraising initiatives and engagement.
• Oversee segmentation, messaging, and creative direction in collaboration with Advancement Communications and Marketing.
• Design and implement multi-channel appeals to increase donor participation, renewal, and upgrade rates.
• Collaborate and lead staff and student workers assigned to annual giving and annual fund engagement functions.
• Partner with the CRM and Data team to analyze donor trends, retention metrics, and giving patterns.

Donor Engagement, Stewardship, and Alumni Giving

• Collaborate with Donor Relations Team to execute stewardship plans and engagement touchpoints for all annual and mid-level donors, ensuring timely acknowledgments, impact reporting, and personal communications.
• Collaborate with the Alumni and Engagement team to coordinate alumni-focused giving and participation campaigns.
• Partner with the Donor Relations team to design annual impact reports and creative stewardship initiatives that reinforce OBU’s donor-centered philosophy.
• Maintain a portfolio of mid-level donors and corporate partners with potential to grow into major giving relationships.

Corporate and Programmatic Fundraising

• Maintain and build on current strategies and solicitation efforts for corporate sponsorships supporting campus events, academics, the arts, and athletics.
• Coordinate recognition benefits, contracts, and visibility opportunities for business partners.
• Serve as a liaison between Advancement, Academic Affairs, and Athletics (when appropriate) to align corporate and community partnerships with institutional goals.

Collaboration and Leadership

• Partner with the Assistant Athletics Director for Fundraising to align athletic annual campaigns, booster programs, and sponsorship efforts with OBU Advancement standards.
• Collaborate with Major Gift Officers to ensure consistent donor pipeline development and stewardship continuity.
• Work closely with Advancement Services on data integrity, reporting, and prospect movement from annual to major gift levels.
• Work closely with Donor Relations and Engagement Team as well as University Marketing and Communications team to ensure high level donor experiences and timely impact reporting.
• Serve as collaborative member of the Advancement team, contributing to overall strategy, stewardship, campaign planning and culture of excellence.

Required Qualifications:

·         Fundraising, business, marketing or sales background.

·         Social media and marketing skills and understanding with analytical aptitude.

·         Project management and constituent engagement experience.

·         Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with highly creative.

·         Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with internal and external partners.

·         Passion for Christian higher education and alignment with the mission and values of Oklahoma Baptist University and the President.

Preferred Qualifications:

·         Experience in annual giving, campaign management, donor engagement, or development communications.

·         Proven success leading multichannel fundraising campaigns and managing staff or vendors.

·         Strong understanding of donor segmentation, CRM utilization, and data-driven fundraising.

Education:

Required: Bachelor’s degree

Preferred: Master’s degree

Required Experience:

·        2 – 5 years marketing, sales or business experience.

Preferred Experience:

·         2 – 5 years of experience in higher education advancement or campaign fundraising.

·         Experience working with online and high-volume giving campaigns.

·         Experience executing online, email or direct mail campaigns.

Equipment:

·         Required: Experience utilizing customer or donor management systems, Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite, Social Media Platforms and mass email applications.

·         Preferred: Experience utilizing fundraising CRM system such as Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge, campaign software systems such as Gravyty as well as social media tracking and planning systems such as Sprout or Vista.

Physical Requirements:

·         Event logistics set up and donor and alumni hosting event attendance. 

Special Requirements:

·         Must be a member of a local evangelical* Christian church.*Evangelical is a broad term referring to segment within Christianity which maintains the authority of the Bible and the belief in salvation by faith in Jesus alone.

OBU Benefits Summary:

OBU understands that our employees are our most valuable assets when fulfilling our mission. We strive to offer an extensive array of benefits and opportunities for employees to choose from. Full-time employees benefit from the generous OBU provision of premium contributions for nationwide family-friendly Health and Dental coverages along with free life insurance that includes accidental death and dismemberment equal to an employee’s base salary. OBU provides access to optional employee-paid ancillary benefits like vision, hospitalization, critical illness, accident, additional employee-paid family life insurance coverages, and education benefits at OBU and other institutions of higher education. There is generous paid time off that includes annual granted vacation time, accrued sick leave, six annual holidays, and week-long breaks for Thanksgiving and Christmas that include energy conservation days. For all employees working at least half-time, there is an employer matching opportunity for retirement investments in a 403(b)(9) plan administered by Guide Stone. There are numerous other perks and opportunities for OBU employees including FREE family membership to the OBU Recreation and Wellness Center or RAWC, Global outreach university mission trips, cafeteria discounts, and parking privileges to name a few.