Director of Donor Stewardship
Requisition ID: 190773
Position Purpose
The Director of Donor Stewardship serves as the strategic lead for donor stewardship and annual giving across Renown Health Foundation. Reporting to the Chief Philanthropy Officer, the Director sets the strategy for a coordinated, donor-centered program that acquires, retains, renews, and upgrades donors through direct mail, digital and online fundraising, compelling storytelling, impact reporting, and meaningful stewardship. The Director translates Renown’s mission, community impact, academic medicine priorities, and campaign vision into clear reasons to give and builds an integrated donor journey from first gift to sustained philanthropic partnership. This position serves as the Foundation’s primary liaison to Renown Marketing and Communications and collaborates directly with the Director of Communications to align brand, content, channels, media opportunities, and production while maintaining a distinct philanthropic voice. The role advances the Foundation’s 18-month Rebuild, Rebrand and Reason plan by strengthening annual giving infrastructure, positioning philanthropy as part of Renown’s ethos, and using data-informed engagement to grow participation, retention, and philanthropic revenue.
Nature and Scope
This director-level role provides enterprise-wide strategy and leadership for donor stewardship, annual giving, and philanthropic storytelling. The Director establishes the vision, priorities, audience strategies, annual calendars, standards, workflows, budgets, and performance measures that guide direct mail, digital fundraising, online giving, donor communications, recognition, and impact reporting. The role leads through influence across the Foundation and Renown Health and coordinates execution with fundraising officers, Operations, Marketing and Communications, clinicians, service line leaders, executives, board members, donors, patients, families, vendors, and external partners. The Director is accountable for building a disciplined, multi-channel program that balances donor experience, revenue growth, and long-term pipeline development. High standards of judgment, accuracy, confidentiality, and follow-through are essential. All stewardship and storytelling must honor donor intent, patient privacy, informed consent, and data security and comply with Renown Health policies, HIPAA, the Donor Bill of Rights and ethical healthcare philanthropy practices.
Responsibilities
• Set the enterprise strategy for donor stewardship and annual giving in alignment with Renown’s 10-year strategic plan, Foundation revenue priorities and the 18-month Rebuild, Rebrand and Reason plan.
• Design an integrated donor journey that connects acquisition, acknowledgment, recognition, impact reporting, renewal, reactivation, upgrade, and long-term engagement across giving levels.
• Build the annual giving plan and calendar for priority funds and service lines, with clear audiences, offers, goals, budgets, channel strategies, and measures of success.
• Make direct mail, email, web, social, paid digital, giving days, monthly giving and online giving experiences coordinated components of a multi-channel annual giving program.
• Lead donor acquisition, renewal, reactivation, recurring giving, and upgrade strategies that strengthen the pipeline from first-time and annual donors to mid-level, major and legacy giving.
• Use donor, patient, and channel data to segment audiences, personalize communications and test creative, cadence, offers, ask amounts and giving experiences.
• Establish stewardship standards by donor level and gift type, including timely acknowledgments, recognition, impact reporting, fund reporting, and meaningful engagement that demonstrates the tangible impact of giving.
• Develop a portfolio of annual and mid-level giving funds that responds to donor interests, advances Renown priorities, and creates clear pathways for deeper investment.
• Build a consent-based storytelling strategy that elevates patient, family, caregiver, physician, donor, and community voices while protecting privacy, dignity and clinical boundaries.
• Translate priority funding areas—including cancer care, children’s health, academic medicine, mental health, access, maternal and child care and future system priorities—into clear, donor-centered cases for support.
• Serve as the Foundation’s primary liaison to Marketing and Communications and partner directly with the Director of Communications on shared editorial planning, brand alignment, content development, media opportunities, digital strategy, and production.
• Define and protect a distinct Foundation voice that complements the Renown brand, positions philanthropy as part of Renown’s ethos and consistently communicates the “Reason” for giving.
• Lead the philanthropic strategy for the Foundation website and online giving experience, ensuring compelling content, intuitive donor pathways, mobile responsiveness, and strong conversion practices.
• Ensure annual giving and stewardship strategies support grateful patient, employee giving, campaign and legacy giving priorities without duplicating relationship management led by frontline fundraisers.
• Create messaging, stories and tools that equip executives, physicians, boards, campaign volunteers, and ambassadors to communicate Foundation priorities confidently and consistently.
• Establish dashboards and KPIs for donor acquisition, first-time and overall retention, renewal, reactivation, recurring giving, upgrade, response, conversion, average gift, revenue, cost to raise a dollar, digital performance, and stewardship timeliness.
• Use testing, attribution, and return-on-investment analysis to continuously improve audience strategy, creative, channel mix, donor experience and revenue performance.
• Partner with Philanthropy Operations to maintain accurate donor preferences, consent, fund designations, segmentation, communication activity, and outcomes in the donor database.
• Lead assigned staff, vendors, and agency partners; establish clear expectations, service standards, development plans, budgets and accountability for results.
• Perform other duties as assigned.
This position does not provide patient care
The foregoing description is not intended to be, and should not be construed as, an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with the job. It is intended to be an accurate reflection of the general nature and level of the job.
Minimum Qualifications
Requirements - Required and/or Preferred
Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
Education: | Ability to read, write, speak, and understand English sufficiently to perform job duties safely and effectively. Bachelor’s degree in philanthropy, communications, marketing, public relations, business, healthcare administration or a related field required; master’s degree preferred. Equivalent relevant experience may be considered. | |
Experience: | Seven years of progressively responsible experience in annual giving, donor relations and stewardship, direct response fundraising, digital fundraising, philanthropic communications, or related nonprofit work required. Experience in healthcare philanthropy and leading complex, cross-functional strategies strongly preferred. Demonstrated success growing donor acquisition, retention, recurring giving, online revenue and annual giving performance through integrated direct mail, digital and storytelling strategies required. Experience in leading staff, vendors, budgets and data-informed improvement required. | |
License(s): | None | |
Certification(s): | None | |
Computer / Typing: | Must be proficient with Microsoft Office Suite, including Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams, and Word and have the ability to use the computer to complete online learning requirements for job-specific competencies, access online forms and policies, complete online benefits enrollment, etc. |
