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Senior Director, Individual Giving

Common Cause

Washington, DC • $132,613 to $148,526 / yr • 10/6/2026

Healthcare , Professional

Job Description

Job Description
We are seeking an experienced and strategic Senior Director, Individual Giving to set and drive the vision for Common Cause's individual giving program. This leader will oversee a comprehensive strategy spanning major gifts and direct response, including monthly giving, direct mail, telemarketing, and emerging channels, to grow our donor community and advance our organizational revenue goals. The Senior Director will lead and develop our Major Gifts team and build a culture of fundraising across the organization by equipping senior leaders and staff to engage donors effectively while also personally cultivating and stewarding a portfolio of individual donors.
This is a full-time role reporting to the Vice President, Development. The position is based in Washington, DC, with an expectation to work in our office at least two days per week and to travel nationally for donor meetings and other business needs. We hope our new Senior Director, Individual Giving will start in December.
Responsibilities
Set and drive the strategic vision for our individual giving work at Common Cause
  • Develop and implement a comprehensive and impactful major gifts strategy to increase our revenue through driving alignment between our development and communications teams
  • Supervise a Major Gifts team, collaboratively setting clear, actionable goals to ensure consistent growth of Common Cause’s major gifts community
  • Coach and develop team members towards personal goals, and support their career progression and retention at Common Cause
  • Manage team budget and establish systems to track and report on all major gifts fundraising activities
  • Set our strategic approach for long-term donor and prospect engagement, and expand our approach to direct response donor acquisition, including expanding our approach for monthly giving, and integrate direct mail with digital campaigns, email marketing, telemarketing, and Common Cause’s websites
  • Identify and implement new channels and emerging fundraising opportunities (for example, workplace giving, donations of stock, qualified charitable distributions, and retirement accounts)
Establish a culture of fundraising across the organization
  • Create and drive strategy for how the Major Gifts team will partner with senior leaders and other teams
  • Drive the strategy for how senior leaders can engage with their own major donor portfolios
  • Establish systems and processes to ensure senior leaders and other teams have the resources they need to engage with major donors
  • Drive changes across our organization that increase internal support for our fundraising initiatives
  • Establish systems to ensure all staff interactions with major donors are tracked appropriately
Establish and grow a personal portfolio of individual donors
  • Build an individual portfolio of donors to total $1.25 million or more annually
  • Develop strategic approach to cultivate and maintain these relationships, focusing on increasing gifts over time
  • Design and execute major donor fundraising campaigns to increase engagement
  • Build and nurture relationships with Donor Advisors and Donor Advised Funds
Other duties as assigned
You will thrive in this role if you have:

  • A strong commitment to Common Cause’s nonpartisan mission and to advancing civil rights through our pro-democracy agenda

  • Ability to compel action through both written and verbal communication,including distillingcomplex concepts for a broad audience, andtodifferentiate communications as needed forvariousaudiences

  • A track recordof working collaboratively with others, with the ability tobuild rapport, trust, and credibility with multiple stakeholders with diverse interests – including board members, senior management, volunteers, and others

  • Innovativeand strategic thinking skills, with the ability to navigate through ambiguityto achieve goals, and a resourceful approach to solve problems

  • Ability tonavigate organizationaland powerdynamics,respectfully navigate conflict whilemaintainingyour values,andinfluenceothers to adopt changesto meet common goals

  • Ability to manageand meetdeadlinesformultipleshort- andlong-term priorities at once, with high attention to detail; strong organization skills, andtheability to manage your time independently

  • A commitment to equity in the goals of your work and in how you work with others

  • Openness to feedback and awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

  • Familiarity with office productivity tools including Microsoft Office and Zoom, and a working knowledge of CRM software (Common Cause uses ROI Solutions and Action Network)

The following is required:

  • Experience cultivating and closing five-, six-, and seven-figure major gifts, developing donor strategies, and effectively cultivating and stewarding major donors

  • Experience fundraising through multiple direct response channels

  • Experience conceiving and hosting successful fundraising events

  • Knowledge of how to differentiate between 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) fundraising practices

  • Demonstrated knowledge of the philanthropic landscape, prospect research methodology, best practices, and evolving trends in philanthropy

  • Havemanagedand developeda team;set strategic direction for a team, and builta unified approach to achieve goals

  • A track recordof leading organization-wide change initiatives

  • Ability to travel at least 10 times per year for meetings with donors, as well as team and/or all staff retreats

  • Ability to work in-person in the DC office at least two days per week

  • Willing to have a social media presence on behalf of Common Cause, including being tagged on posts and creating content on behalf of the organization (as needed, Common Cause will provide accounts for staff members to use)

  • Per our nonpartisan policy, Common Cause staff members may not currently be in elected office (or running for office); on the Steering Committee or Finance Committee for any political candidate; or affiliated with the leadership of a political party

Additional Information about this role:

  • This position is classified as supervisory and therefore not included in the union-represented collective bargaining unit

  • Common Cause is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time; please note that if hired, you will be asked to produce documentation for authorization to work in the US

Note that as this role is based in Washington, DC, there would be a 3% increase on the offered salary as part of our geographic adjustment.
In order to ensure greater equity and transparency as an organization, Common Cause sets salary ranges consistently based on job responsibilities, and we determine salary for each staff member based on relevant years of experience (you can read more about our approach to compensation here, including where we offer geographical adjustments). For these reasons, we do not negotiate on our salary ranges or our specific salary offers.
In addition to salary, we also offer a generous benefits package, including:
  • A robust healthcare planthat covers 97% of employee’s medical care, 100% of employee’s vision and dental benefits, and 75% of family medical care and 100% of family vision and dental benefits
  • Long-term disability and life insurance
  • Generous Paid Time Off including 20 Da