Job Description

Donor Engagement Officer

Job Family

MET

Job Function

Fundraising

Career Track

Fundraising

Job Level

Mid-level

Job Title

Donor Engagement Officer

Pay Grade

BG-7

Reporting Line

Director, Annual Fund

Supervises

None

Career Path

Major Gifts Officer

Status

Full Time

Duty Station/Location

Minneapolis Hub

On-site, hybrid, remote

Hybrid, at least 2 days/week in office

Travel expectations

10%

About Alight

Alight is a proximity-driven humanitarian organization that restores power and agency to people experiencing displacement. For nearly 50 years, we’ve walked alongside our customers – displaced communities – in some of the most challenging and complex places in the world. Regardless of role or responsibility in this organization, we center the choices, dignity, and lived experience of people we serve – even when it complicates the work. We live our values at each step of our shared journey. At our best, our commitment to displaced people is sustained, relational, and grounded in trust.

Our mission and purpose

Alight’s purpose is to inspire and unleash abundance in every person, and our mission is to build a meaningful life for and with the displaced. This means not simply addressing basic needs, but building lives filled with joy, dignity, and connection.

Our approach: co-creation

Alight takes a collaborative, human-centered approach. Unlike traditional humanitarian aid, we co-create solutions hand in hand with displaced communities, who know best what they need.

The Marketing & Engagement Team (MET)

You’re on a team ambitiously advancing the work of Alight by actively engaging donors, supporters, and partners in a way that is meaningful to them and promotes Alight’s work worldwide.

The Marketing and Engagement Team (MET) is led by Alight’s Chief Marketing & Engagement Officer (CMEO) and is comprised of several teams: Annual Fund, Partnerships/Government Affairs/Major Gifts, Donor Services, Marketing & Communications. As a collective, this team is responsible for leading the next chapter of our brand evolution, raising the visibility of Alight, increasing private giving, building strategic partnerships, and setting Alight apart in the market.

The Annual Fund team communicates with and appeals to donors and potential donors through multiple channels and various giving and engagement opportunities primarily in order to raise unrestricted revenue to support Alight’s worldwide programs, improve the quality of our work, and promote the overall strategy to increase co-creation and improve the quality of programs

The Role

The Donor Engagement Officer proactively develops and manages donor engagement strategies for an assigned portfolio and designated middle-donor segments within Alight’s broader Annual Fund strategy, exercising discretion in determining cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and engagement approaches in support of Alight’s mission and fundraising goals. This role is charged with growing donor engaged and involvement, as well as successfully facilitating annual giving programs.

This role interacts with donors at the $10k-20k annual giving level as a gifts officer, serving as the primary relationship manager for an assigned portfolio and exercising discretion in donor prioritization, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and engagement approaches. The Officer works collaboratively with the Annual Fund Director and leadership team but is expected to independently determine the most effective approach for managing assigned donor relationships, make recommendations regarding portfolio strategy, and adjust tactics based on donor interests, giving history, organizational priorities, and fundraising results.

Building a shared organization takes time and intention. We will always be becoming Alight, which means your work will evolve as well. For now, here’s how you could anticipate spending your time:

Portfolio Management (55%):

• Develop and independently manage strategy for an assigned middle-donor portfolio within Alight’s broader annual giving strategy, with responsibility for determining cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and engagement approaches.
• Manage a portfolio of very engaged middle donors. Your primary responsibility is with donors and prospects (approx. $10k-20k), cultivating, soliciting and stewarding through frequent contact. You’ll also work to develop and maintain a system of communication and conversation with less engaged middle donors. And you’ll make space for developing relationships with a smaller group of middle donors prospects and new donors.
• Independently prioritize donors and prospects and determine the appropriate timing, method, and frequency of engagement based on donor interests, capacity, history, and organizational priorities.
• Identify donors’ passions and interests, build relationships, and determine how best to connect those interests with appropriate Alight programs and funding opportunities, with consideration for the organization’s most critical funding needs as identified by leadership. Develop and execute individualized solicitation strategies, including recommending ask amounts, timing, messaging, proposal approach, and appropriate involvement of organizational leadership.
• Execute gift solicitation efforts, with a particular focus on current donors, past donors and prospects; create proposals for general operating and restricted programs, including blended asks; manage toward a target annual revenue goal for your portfolio and relevant middle donor segments
• Use research, screening data, giving history, portfolio performance, and professional judgment to inform donor segmentation, solicitation levels, and engagement priorities.
• Determine appropriate stewardship and recognition approaches for assigned donors within established organizational guidelines.
• Evaluate portfolio performance and adjust individual donor and portfolio tactics when results, donor behavior, or organizational priorities warrant a different approach.
• Provide recommendations to the Annual Fund Director regarding donor trends, portfolio opportunities, stewardship practices, and potential improvements to middle-donor strategy based on portfolio experience and analysis.
• Work with the Director and CMEO to further all fundraising goals, meeting individual goals while helping the team reach group revenue goals
• Network monthly at philanthropic and community events, seeking out opportunities to speak or add Alight’s name to the conversation; engage new supporters and partners in the needs and hopes of displaced people and the breakthrough humanitarian work of Alight; acquire and convert new middle and major donors through these outreach efforts
• Support the Annual Fund team and Marketing and Engagement Team in all Minneapolis-based donor and community events, engaging specifically on the donor stewardship and relations side of event management

Middle Donor Engagement Society (25%):

• Develop and manage engagement approaches for the assigned middle-donor audience within the broader Annual Fund strategy.
• Work with the Annual Fund and Global Partnerships & Engagement teams to create virtual and in-person engagement events, leveraging Alight’s global changemakers and innovative programming;
• Recommend audience priorities, engagement formats, messaging, and appropriate organizational participants based on donor interests and portfolio needs.
• Assess the effectiveness of engagement activities and recommend adjustments to content, format, audience, or approach based on participation and donor response.
• Work with the annual fund team to create printed collateral in service to the middle donor group, providing input on messaging and content based on donor insights and engagement trends.

Legacy Giving and Additional Leadership of Donor Stewardship (10%):

• Develop recommendations and independently execute approved approaches for non-cash gifts, matching gifts, and other giving opportunities within the assigned donor segment.
• Work with Annual Fund team to design an approach for non-cash gifts; manage matching gifts outreach to maximize support and engagement with corporate employee donors.
• Work with Annual Fund Director to develop recommendations for and implement components of a long-range approach to promote and solicit bequests, trusts, and other planned/deferred gifts, coordinated with and complementary to other activities of the overall Marketing and Engagement Team
• Identify donor opportunities and recommend changes to stewardship or giving approaches based on donor interests, portfolio experience, and emerging fundraising opportunities.
• Communicate the impact of Alight while representing the organization and the issue of forced displacement to our community

Data and Contact Record Management & Other Responsibilities (10%)

• Analyze fundraising results, donor behavior, portfolio trends, and engagement outcomes and use that analysis to inform portfolio decisions and recommendations.
• Provide the Annual Fund Director with insights and recommendations regarding portfolio performance, donor segmentation, solicitation strategy, and emerging opportunities.
• Collaborate with the Director and the database/production coordinator to ensure accurate and consistent data record keeping and gift acknowledgment, including working in Raisers Edge alongside the team.
• Perform record entry for all personal fundraising activity to ensure proper management moves and tracking of solicitation and cultivation progress
• Identify issues affecting portfolio effectiveness and recommend improvements to donor workflows, engagement practices, or portfolio processes.
• Other tasks and responsibilities as assigned in service of the success of all fundraising needs of the organization

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• Minimum of 3–5 years of progressively responsible fundraising, donor engagement, annual giving, or major gifts experience, including demonstrated responsibility for independently managing donor relationships and solicitation strategy.
• Demonstrated track record in annual giving or major gifts.
• Demonstrated experience developing cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship approaches for an assigned donor portfolio.
• Experience with middle-donor programs/societies, matching gift programs, or planned giving preferred.
• Proficiency with customer relationship management (CRM) software to maximize relationship management, Raiser’s Edge is a plus

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• Takes initiative without waiting for prompts; the ability to follow through on goals even when motivation dips, to show up consistently, and to turn ideas into actionable results Reveres donors; No one is required to give – a recognition that each and every donor is doing something incredible when they give, and sacred ownership that it’s their job and privilege to make the donor feel the amazingness of their act...through a full-circle engagement cycle
• Extraordinary interpersonal skills: the ability to communicate effectively and diplomatically with donors and colleagues.
• Demonstrated ability to exercise independent judgment and discretion in donor prioritization, cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and relationship-management decisions.
• Ability to evaluate donor information and multiple potential courses of action and determine an appropriate approach without relying solely on prescribed procedures or routine supervisory direction.
• Ability to translate broader fundraising strategy into individual donor and portfolio plans, assess results, and modify approaches based on professional judgment and changing circumstances.
• Ability to use discretion when handling and communicating sensitive information
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative, work independently, and be detail-oriented
• Strong analytical skills and ability to use donor data, giving history, and fundraising results to inform decisions and recommendations.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Ability to make persuasive and motivating presentations and build relationships with members of diverse constituencies at all levels of authority.
• Ability to get to the heart of the matter by understanding the audience and by synthesizing variety of material into into strong donor communications and engagement approaches.
• Ability to work cross-functionally with global teams and influence outcomes without direct supervisory authority.
• Ability to travel domestically (and internationally)(up to 5%) and participate in evening and weekend hours for donor meetings and events.

Values Alignment

You are curious and truly listen. You appreciate the complexities of human beings. You ask questions, seek information, and dig deeper into understanding a problem holistically before working to solve it. You enter a space with humility and an eagerness to learn.

You believe shared ownership creates better outcomes. You trust displaced customers to guide the way forward. You’re open to new and different possibilities, are motivated in what an abundant future could hold, and you generate ideas sparked from insight – and foster spaces that are safe for others to generate their ideas too. You bring others in, build ecosystems, and share power with those who care about this more than you do. You adapt your work to make space for others.

You embrace transformation. You recognize and honor that our work centers people – a constantly changing and complex customer within a constantly changing and complex world. And so too, we must constantly change. You believe in the abundance of human beings and you understand that to unleash that abundance, we must bravely enter a bold new chapter capable of transforming the future.

You value beauty. You believe a meaningful life includes joy, dignity, and connection. You place weight on the experience people have – of a place, a space, a person, a service. You strive to create things that are human-worthy and you believe quality should be determined by those experiencing it.

Compensation & Benefits

• Compensation: Range of $72,615-$81,857, commensurate with experience.
• Borderless Team of 2,500 staff worldwide that sees possibility, celebrates moments of abundance, shares new ideas, and strives to do a better thing every day.
• Learning & Development – Access hundreds of free online learning courses to take at your own pace and tailor to your professional goals.
• Flexible Leave Time – Between vacation days, personal leave days, and holidays, you have ample opportunities to take time off when you need it.
• Health, dental, and MedEvac Insurance – We strive to offer the best-in-class healthcare plans to our staff each year. We cover 100% of the cost for your health premium and 75% of the cost for coverage for your spouse/dependents.
• Retirement – We contribute 3% of your salary regardless of your contribution amount, after one year of service.
• Generous Leave Time – Between vacation days, personal leave days, and holidays, you have ample opportunity to take time off when you need it.

Alight is an Equal Opportunity Employer offering employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, citizenship, physical or mental disability, or protected veteran status. Alight complies with all applicable laws governing nondiscrimination in employment.

We strive to represent the diverse communities we serve. Applicants who contribute to this diversity and those who bring lived experience with displacement are strongly encouraged to apply.