Summary of Position

The Director of Annual Giving will lead the expansion and integration of annual giving programming for Women’s Lunch Place (WLP), building on a donor base of 5,000 individuals who currently contribute $3M+ to WLP’s mission in the form of annual gifts and events. The incumbent will develop and deploy new strategies to increase dollars and donors, strengthening the pipeline of prospective supporters who are interested in financially contributing to WLP mission throughout its upcoming campaign. The Director focuses on managing a portfolio of mid-tier prospects (rated <$50K) while supervising the annual giving team to actively grow the tiers of WLP’s annual fund through their own portfolio management and through direct response marketing, annual events, and related strategies.

The Director of Annual Giving will join WLP at an inflection point as the organization moves forward with the quiet phase of an ambitious fundraising campaign. The incumbent embraces goal-oriented outcomes as an entrepreneurial, creative thinker who is passionate about the fundraising potential of WLP. This position builds and expands relationships with constituents in ways that have a quantifiable impact on philanthropic achievement for WLP. They will have a proven track record in fundraising or a closely related field of expertise, and will possess outstanding interpersonal competencies, the ability to effectively manage staff and projects, and be highly motivated, organized and detail oriented.

About Women’s Lunch Place

In the effort to eradicate hunger, homelessness, and poverty among women, WLP is a visionary, collaborative leader and partner in Greater Boston. With a unique, relationship-driven service model, we provide women with a path to self-sufficiency, improved health, housing, and financial stability.

Women's Lunch Place is a day shelter and advocacy center for anyone who identifies as a woman regardless of her race, immigration status, religious affiliation, criminal background, or sobriety. We are the only women’s shelter in Boston with a full-time housing staff. WLP has no intake barriers that deter women with extensive trauma histories and severe mental illnesses who are unwilling to disclose personal information to access services. Our gender-specific space ensures safety from threats of violence, abuse, and exploitation; our innovative programs empower our guests. Many of our programs were built by and for women of color. WLP has woven clinical layers throughout our programming––including a full-time therapist, part time psychiatrist, and an on-site medical clinic––which we use to address our guests’ urgent and long-term health issues.

WLP is keenly focused on solutions for the complex needs of women experiencing poverty and homelessness. Our success is driven by bold leadership, best-practice programming, strong collaborative partnerships, a diverse workforce with cultural and lived experience, and active engagement in policy initiatives that elevate the women we serve. These efforts enable us to effectively relieve food insecurity, prevent homelessness, increase economic independence, resolve legal issues, and secure greater access to health care for vulnerable women in Greater Boston. We have long served the most marginalized women in our community; invisible to many, we see their grit and resiliency and foster their hope and progress. WLP guests have been severely impacted by racial and gender discrimination, a systemic lack of access to the social determinants of health, and disproportionately prevalent experiences of gender-based violence. Our talented team of staff, volunteers, and partners assist these women with patience, compassion, and expertise in a way that restores their dignity. We recognize that the women we serve have experienced disproportionate trauma, and we tailor individual stabilization plans accordingly to allow each guest to orchestrate her own journey to health and well-being with the help of her care manager and our non-judgmental community.

Women are respected at Women’s Lunch Place––we elevate our guests’ voices and provide services that improve their lives. As they begin to build hope and contemplate a better future, our guests benefit from our comprehensive suite of programs to become stable and self-sufficient.

Key Responsibilities

1. Portfolio Management: Manages and cultivates mid-level donor relationships, enhancing giving levels and ensuring donor connection to WLP’s mission. Regularly communicates with donors, tailoring engagement based on individual interests. Identifies opportunities to increase gift levels and collaborates with colleagues for integrated donor strategies. Reports on portfolio progress, tracking gift levels, donor retention, and pipeline movement. Aims to retain donors and upgrade them to major donor status.

2. Direct Response Fundraising: Oversees an omnichannel direct response program, integrating direct mail, email, social media, and digital ads to drive contributions. Develops strategy, segments audiences, coordinates appeal campaigns, and creates compelling content. Analyzes campaign performance, optimizes strategies through testing, and ensures alignment with broader fundraising goals. Manages program budget and external vendors.

3. Annual Fundraising Events: In collaboration with Development colleagues, plans, executes, and analyzes annual fundraising events to maximize revenue and donor engagement. Oversees event strategy, budget, and sponsorship acquisition. Collaborates on event design, marketing, and volunteer coordination. Ensures donor stewardship post-event, tracks performance, and aligns events with overall fundraising goals.

4. Team Leadership & Management: Sets strategy for Annual Giving, aligning with WLP’s goals to increase the donor base and revenue. Leads a collaborative team, providing mentorship and direction for direct marketing efforts. Oversees annual fundraising metrics, ensuring goals are met. Collaborates across Development to align strategies and supports special fundraising projects.

Acceptable minimum years of experience

• Minimum of 5-7 years of annual giving fundraising experience (or equivalent experience e.g. sales/marketing)

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• Demonstrated understanding of the relevance of philanthropy and annual giving expertise
• High level of data literacy and technological acumen
• Experience managing volunteers and/or staff
• Ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, about fundraising support; requires the ability to build rapport in an open, friendly, and accepting way, listen attentively and change the thinking of, or gain acceptance of, others in varied situations
• Exceptionally strong interpersonal skills and experience interacting with internal and external constituents who are diverse in characteristics such as age, education level, race, gender identity and expression, ability, and socioeconomic backgrounds in a culturally competent and supportive manner
• Exceptionally strong organizational skills and ability to provide effective project management
• Exceptionally strong analytical skills and experience working in a metrics-driven environment
• Orientation as a team player and demonstrated strength at partnering with peers, management, and leadership and collaborating across departments
• Demonstrated understanding of the responsibility to maintain sensitive information and appreciation of ethics and compliance
• Openness to travel on behalf of WLP for donor visits or as the WLP representative, including local, regional, and domestic trips
• Commitment to the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and advancement
• Proficiency in database technologies and Microsoft Office

Additional Preferred Qualifications

· Knowledge of the fundraising profession and its theories, practices, standards, and systems

· Familiarity with a social service setting and fundraising campaigns

· Experience with portfolio and volunteer management

Compensation & Benefits 

The competitive compensation level for this new position has been benchmarked with peer organizations across Greater Boston and will be determined based on the individual qualifications of the finalist. WLP’s generous benefits include:

• Accrued Time Benefits - A generous sick and vacation time policy offers four weeks or 20 vacation days and 10 sick days annually.  After three years of continuous employment, employees receive 25 days of vacation time.
• Holidays: 10 paid holidays per year.
• Health and Insurance Benefits: 
  • 80% coverage through Blue Cross Blue Shield for both individual and family plans or;
  • 100% of the Health Insurance Premium of your partner provided it is less than the cost of our 80% coverage.
  • Dental Insurance - 100% coverage through Principal for both individual and family plans.
  • Vision Insurance – 100% coverage through Principal for both individual and family plans.
  • Long-term disability - 60% of regular compensation after 90 days up to $750 per week.
  • Short-term disability - 60% of regular compensation after 29 days up to $750 per week.
  • Life Insurance up to $25,000 
• Retirement Savings Plan: Women’s Lunch Place contributes up to 5% of an employee's annual salary automatically. Full and part-time employees who have worked over 1,000 hours in a calendar are eligible to participate.  
• MBTA Pass/Parking reimbursement: Available in our pre-tax payroll deduction plan. 
• Flexible Benefit Plan: Enables employees to (a) pay for their share of health insurance premiums on a pre-tax basis ("Insurance Premium  Assistance" and is done for your automatically if you receive your health insurance through CMV), (b) set aside money on a pre-tax basis to be used for reimbursement of health care costs that are not covered by insurance ("Health Care Assistance"), and (c) set aside money on a pre-tax basis to be used for reimbursement of dependent care expenses ("Dependent Care Assistance"). 
• Pet Insurance: Eligible to receive up to a 20% discount on pet insurance through Spot Pet Insurance.