PRIMARY FUNCTION:

The Assistant Vice President, Annual Giving (AVP) will provide leadership and day-to-day management for annual giving programs across the Jefferson enterprise.

They will have frequent interaction and coordinate closely with colleagues throughout OIA, as well as volunteer leaders, to ensure a coordinated, data-driven, and collaborative approach to donor acquisition and annual giving efforts and related communications. The AVP will also work with stakeholders across all campuses to create and implement an employee giving campaign. The AVP will supervise a team of annual giving professionals.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Provide strategic leadership of Jefferson’s annual giving programs to meet annual fundraising goals, with priorities including:
  • Design of the enterprise wide annual strategic plan to achieve specific, measurable goals, e.g., dollars raised (unrestricted and restricted), donor acquisition, upgrades and retention, participation (comprehensive and by constituency), and average gift size;
  • Creation and implementation of state-of-the-art strategies for acquisition, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and relationship management (e.g., social media, direct mail marketing, electronic and web-based communication, and individual relationship management) based on predictive modeling, marketing research, and national best practices;
  • Provide transparent, easily accessed, and up-to-date annual giving information to stakeholders and colleagues throughout Jefferson;
  • Effective management of Enterprise Annual Giving team ;
  • Optimize unrestricted dollars raised, percentage of grateful patient/alumni and faculty/staff participation, donor retention and average gift size, and internally in terms of collaboration across the institutions, clean data, ease of access to data, and timely and effective donor stewardship;
• In collaboration with key campus stakeholders, conceive, design, implement and execute an enterprise-wide employee annual giving campaign;
• In collaboration with key campus stakeholders, conceive, design, implement and execute an enterprise-wide Giving Day;
• Oversee executive and trustee annual giving across enterprise;
• Coordinate with marketing, communications, and alumni relations to best align effective and complementary messaging, branding, and activities, i.e., collaborate with colleagues to guarantee that marketing and communication expenditures produce optimum returns in donor acquisition, retention and dollars raised, coordinate and complement communications strategies for other foundation teams and support the branding and messaging within institution guidelines;
• Practice sound financial stewardship by monitoring all annual giving budgets on a regular basis; this responsibility includes budget development, quarterly projections, and long-term budget assessments;
• Supervise a team of annual giving professionals.
• Interact with colleagues and constituents in a manner consistent with Jefferson values.

Bachelor’s degree required, advanced study or additional degree in a related field is helpful.

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CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, AND REGISTRATION:

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EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

7-10+ years of progressively responsible experience in fundraising field with expertise in annual giving, including at the leadership level, at a university, academic medical center, or comparably complex organization.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The ideal candidate will possess the following skills and competencies:

• Entrepreneurial and strategic risk taker who applies an innovative, cutting-edge approach to engagement and fundraising strategies in order to generate excitement, create momentum, facilitate action, deepen commitment, and increase support;
• Proven ability to achieve annual giving goals, including dollars raised, donor retention, acquisition, and participation;
• Solid understanding of social media and new technologies;
• Demonstrated experience in developing an annual giving strategic plan;
• In-depth understanding of effective marketing techniques for both broad and highly segmented constituencies at all ages and life stages, from faculty/physicians and staff, to current students to parents, from grateful patient and alumni non-donors to long-term donors (including non-alumni/non-patient donors and trustees);
• Facility to effectively analyze and segment data and strategize based on detailed analytics
• Poise and collaborative skills to engage, inspire, and support high-caliber leaders and volunteers, esteemed faculty, physicians, researchers, grateful patients, donors, prospects, alumni, colleagues, staff, and other internal and external constituencies;
• Strategic management and mentoring skills to help guide a results-oriented, cohesive annual giving operation, while maintaining best practices, camaraderie, and shared accountability;
• Excellent communication skills, including:
• Facility to eloquently articulate Jefferson’s mission, programs, research, services, impact, and goals to diverse constituencies;
• Active listening and translational abilities: the talent to elicit information from varied sources and then render that disparate, complex information into a sound, well-organized case for support;
• Understanding of current and emerging communication technologies, social media, and trends;
• Impeccable writing and proofreading ability.
• Agile team member with the proven ability to multi-task, prioritize, and successfully execute in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment;
• Keen attention to detail;
• Critical thinking skills, political savvy, and emotional intelligence;
• Financial savvy and ability to effectively steward resources to maximize engagement opportunities within a given budget;
• Effective balance between optimism and pragmatism;
• Steadfast integrity and loyalty, seasoned with a sense of humor and perspective;
• This position is eligible for hybrid work, however incumbent must be local to the Greater Philadelphia area and be available for regularly scheduled on-site work at our Center City campus and other locations in the region, including occasional nights and weekends.

Covid Vaccination is a requirement for employment at Jefferson for employees working at Jefferson’s clinical entities or at the University. If you are not currently vaccinated you will be required to receive the vaccination prior to hire date if you are offered employment, unless you request and receive an approved medical or religious exemption from Jefferson.

Jefferson includes Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health, a dynamic university and health system with broad reach across the Delaware Valley. Jefferson is the second largest employer in Philadelphia and the largest health system in Philadelphia based on total licensed beds.

Through the merger of Thomas Jefferson University and Philadelphia University in 2017, our University includes ten colleges and four schools. We are an NCAA Division II university and an R2 national doctoral university offering undergraduate and graduate-level programs that provide students with a forward-thinking education in architecture, business, design, engineering, fashion and textiles, health, medicine and social science.

Jefferson Health, the clinical arm of Thomas Jefferson University, has grown from a three-hospital academic health center in 2015, to an 18-hospital health system through mergers and combinations that include hospitals at Abington Health, Aria Health, Kennedy Health, Magee Rehabilitation and Einstein Healthcare Network. We have over 50 outpatient and urgent care centers; ten Magnet®-designated hospitals (recognized by the ANCC for nursing excellence); the NCI-designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (one of only 70 in the country and one of only two in the region); and one of the largest faculty-based telehealth networks in the country. In 2021, Jefferson Health became the sole owner of HealthPartners Plan, a not-for-profit health maintenance organization in Southeastern Pennsylvania. We are the first health system regionally to create an aligned payer-provider partnership.

Jefferson’s mission, vision and values create an organization that attracts the best and the brightest students, faculty, staff, and healthcare professionals, as well as the most visionary leaders to drive exceptional results.

• OUR MISSION: We improve lives.
• OUR VISION: Reimagining health, education and discovery to create unparalleled value
• OUR VALUES: Put People First, Be Bold & Think Differently and Do the Right Thing

As an employer, Jefferson maintains a commitment to provide equal access to employment. Jefferson values diversity and encourages applications from women, members of minority groups, LGBTQ individuals, disabled individuals, and veterans.