Associate Vice President, Donor Experience

City of Hope

Irwindale, CA

Job posting number: #7091636 (Ref:10014657)

Posted: August 5, 2022

Application Deadline: Open Until Filled

Job Description

About City of Hope

About City of Hope:  Focused on eliminating cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses, City of Hope has established itself as a world-class leader in transforming the future of health. Raising the philanthropic resources to fuel its leading-edge research, its exceptional and compassionate clinical care, and its advancement of biomedical education and training, is a vital component of City of Hope’s model of success. 

Our Mission:  City of Hope is transforming the future of health.  Every day we turn science into practical benefit.  We turn hope into reality.  We accomplish this through exquisite care, innovative research and vital education focused on eliminating cancer and diabetes.

City of Hope’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: City of Hope’s diversity, equity and inclusion strategy aims to formulate a policy and systems-focused approach that addresses social determinants of health and responds to implicit bias and structural racism. Since its inception more than a century ago, City of Hope has been dedicated to providing equitable treatment to all the people we serve. This focus on inclusion is the cornerstone of our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) strategy and reflects our commitment to those founding principles. Our mission, “to infuse DEI into the DNA at City of Hope,” will serve as our north star and help ensure the tenets of diversity, equity and inclusion are an integral part of our day-to-day engagement with each other, our patients, their families and caregivers, and our broader community.

 

Office of Philanthropy Vision Statement: Philanthropy is at the heart of City of Hope’s mission in turning “hope into reality.” We offer an extraordinary donor and volunteer experience, one that invites, delights, and deepens relationships over time.  City of Hope Philanthropy is one of a handful of premiere, exceptionally-regarded, and top-producing programs in the country.

Recruiting and developing exceptionally talented team members are hallmarks of the Office of Philanthropy.   We demonstrate our commitment to our people through continuous learning and development opportunities and aim to foster an environment where each individual can thrive, personally and professionally.   We increase the effectiveness of our team through transparency and accountability, building trust within teams; celebrating diversity and inclusion; enhancing team communications and removing roadblocks to maximize activation.

Position Summary

The Office of Philanthropy (OOP) is looking to make a transformative hire in a newly created Associate Vice President of Donor Experience.  This innovative leader will report to the Vice President of Communications and Donor Experience, and will lead a growing and forward-thinking staff specializing in donor engagement, stewardship, gratitude, cultivation and recognition. 

Looking through the lens of philanthropic audiences, this strategic and cutting-edge leader is tasked with identifying areas within the Office of Philanthropy and throughout the greater City of Hope enterprise where enhanced donor experiences are to be deepened and/or developed. The Associate Vice President will provide guidance in ensuring that donor experiences are tied to the campaign framework and help bring enterprise strategic priorities to life. The Associate Vice President’s (AVP) ultimate responsibility is to design, guide and execute on strategies essential for fostering donor loyalty and connection, cultivating top prospects, demonstrating the importance and impact of giving (through a variety of platforms), building an “experience culture” and helping shift City of Hope’s philanthropic culture to one focused on giving to enterprise priorities. In doing so, the Associate Vice President of Donor Experience will play a critical role in helping City of Hope build the donor pipeline, strengthen donor relationships, secure significant gifts at all levels and increase philanthropic revenue.

The AVP will lead the OOP’s transition to strategic, behavior-based donor relations and donor engagement, and work closely with the Vice President, Philanthropy and Donor Experience for alignment, strategy development and resource deployment.

We are seeking a pioneering leader who has experience in building and activating programs from the ground up and is able to engage internal and external stakeholders in program conceptualization, design, iteration and adoption through active listening.  This will include a refreshed donor recognition/society program based on donor behaviors, the creation of a donor persona program and an enhanced donor experience strategy prioritization system. A proven track record in building successful, creative and trust-based partnerships with frontline fundraisers, prospect management colleagues, event planners and communications colleagues is critical.

Key Responsibilities include:

Donor Engagement/Donor Experience Leadership

  • Oversee the development and implementation of a comprehensive donor experience plan to strengthen donor relationships, communications and events with an emphasis on loyalty, connection, inspiration and retention. A key area of focus for this work is Transformational and Principal level relationships/strategies. The AVP will oversee staff in this area, plus lead strategies for concierge level touchpoints. Additionally, they will collaborate with Individual Giving leadership to ensure alignment.
  • Drawing upon a keen understanding of multi-industry consumer/values-based approaches and best practices as well as corporate consumer-based trends, the donor experience plan will include new policies and strategic approaches to donor recognition, gratitude and stewardship, tailored engagement plans for top prospects at all levels of the donor cycle, and innovative ways to report donor impact.
  • Drive strategies that will increase donor/prospect awareness of opportunities for philanthropic impact, with the goals of 1) demonstrating the impact of giving to institutional priorities; 2) strengthening donor interest and satisfaction; 3) strengthening donor retention with increased giving by retained donors; and 4) expanding the prospect pipeline and building a stronger base of donors at all levels.
  • Support the creation and implementation of cultivation strategies for emerging top-tier prospects.
  • Collaborate with the VP-CSIDE/Campaign Architect and other City of Hope colleagues on the conceptualization of signature philanthropy/campaign events. The AVP will oversee staff in this area, partner in campaign and individual giving event strategy and be an integral leader in designing, implementing and providing best practice guidance to an evolving and growth area for the Office of Philanthropy.
  • Partner with philanthropy leadership to identify donor experience priorities, goals, and opportunities for donors at all levels and at all stages of the donor cycle.
  • Develop internal processes for collaborative development of donor engagement/experience strategies.
  • Provide leadership and strategic thinking on all matters of donor experience/engagement, including donor engagement plans, donor recognition, persona-based identification and segmentation, and behavior-based recognition societies. 
  • Partner with the Philanthropy and Campaign Communications team to create and deploy cross-channel messaging and storytelling content for use throughout various OOP activities.
  • Partner with the Philanthropy and Campaign Communications team to deliver tailored donor engagement strategies for the various donor segments.
  • Collaborate with OOP Operations, Finance, Business Intelligence and other teams to implement/enhance donor engagement tracking systems and internal reporting and to monitor return on investment.
  • Build a culture of accountability, transparency and performance by leveraging AccessHope software to support engagement and experience opportunities/programs/interactions. Develop and implement policies, systems and procedures for tracking workflow and interactions within AccessHope in a timely manner.

Donor Recognition and Stewardship

  • Oversee a comprehensive and strategically aligned multi-campus donor recognition program.
  • Partner with Campaign Strategic Initiatives colleagues in ensuring that “big ideas” and other key elements of the campaign framework and enterprise strategic plan are woven throughout the donor experience and donor outreach. 
  • Lead the effort to shift the City of Hope culture from stewardship to one that is donor experience-centric.
  • Develop innovative, strategic, actionable plans for donor recognition at various gift levels and types, with an emphasis on TG/PG and MG frameworks.  The overarching goal is to deepen strategic engagement and investment across all levels of giving.
  • Oversee the development and implementation of strategic, customized engagement plans for top prospects at all stages of the donor cycle in close consultation with fundraisers in Individual Giving.
  • Oversee the timing of scheduled stewardship communications and activities, working closely with the Transformative Philanthropy and Campaign Communications team.
  • Lead the development, refinement and implementation of policies and procedures relating to donor recognition and stewardship.
  • In consultation with the VP-CSIDE and Chief, Strategic Initiatives and the Campaign, lead the development of donor recognition strategies for special fundraising initiatives and/or a multi-year, comprehensive campaign within the context of City of Hope’s overall donor recognition framework.
  • Monitor best practices and evolving innovations in donor recognition and stewardship.
  • Consult with volunteers and implement other unique donor surveying approaches to proactively collect, monitor and manage the stewardship needs of donors and develop tracking methods for reporting overall stewardship productivity.
  • Oversee and optimize a highly personalized and centralized approach to donor experience with intentional touchpoints, including holiday cards/outreach to donors, volunteers and prospects.
  • Ensure successful and effective donor recognition and stewardship across all communications channels.
  • Actively participate in the OoP Gift Acceptance Committee, providing best practice guidance and direction.

Donor Persona Program

1)            In conjunction with a consulting partner, define and deliver a set of donor personas that represents the City of Hope donor pool.

  • Determine the values, behaviors, characteristics and indicators that should go into a donor persona definition.
  • Define a set of donor personas that represent the values, behaviors, motivators, interests, preferences and characteristics of different segments of our donor pool. This set of personas should account for donors at all levels of the giving spectrum.
  • Consideration should be given to grateful patients and/or patients’ family members who may be prospects but who are not yet donors.
  • Identify the specific criteria for assigning donor personas to the individuals in our donor database.
  • Because donors are likely to fit more than one persona, develop a method for assigning both primary and secondary personas to individuals in our database. Define what differentiates a primary versus a secondary persona assignment.
  • Provide direction and criteria for the ongoing evaluation and assignment of primary and secondary personas as new individuals are added to our database in the future.
  • Provide a process/plan for evaluating and adjusting persona assignments as needed over time as (1) a donor moves from one life stage to the next and (2) a donor’s relationship with City of Hope evolves.

Account for how age and life stage impact persona assignments.

2)            Provide actionable, strategic guidance on the use of donor personas.

  • Provide a comprehensive set of strategic recommendations for how the personas – and the values, motivators, interests, behaviors, needs and preferences that underlie them – might inform our engagement strategies, helping us create a lifelong pathway for engagement and giving for donors at all levels.
  • Map out donor journey’s for different identified cohorts of donors? What kinds of engagement strategies support these donor journeys?

Events and Leadership Deployment

  • Lead the strategy, design and anchoring in of a robust centralized event experience and ensure that dedicated staff implement the strategic conceptualization, design and execution of signature philanthropy/campaign events with all elements of donor experience in mind.
  • Champion and work collaboratively with Senior Leaders to assess needs and provide staff with strategy, vision and clear outcomes for event/donor experience success. Provide leadership to support a shifting culture in regards to Leadership Deployment anchors.
  • Provide visionary direction and oversight for the Enterprise Leadership Deployment program and strategize and support the staff member charged with this program.

Management

  • Lead a centralized model, while partnering closely with key OOP partners serving as members of other OOP teams to ensure the overall vision for donor experience. Direct reports currently include the Senior Executive Director, Donor Experience; Senior Executive Director, Leadership Deployment & Campaign Signature Events; Senior Director, Donor Experience for Transformative Giving; Senior Director, Donor Experience, Recognition, the Assistant Director, Recognition. As this is a growth area, the possibility for additional hires or strategic alignment is possible.
  • Foster a positive and innovative work environment, characterized by open communication, accountability and motivation to optimize team performance, satisfaction/morale and retention. Provide effective communication, leadership by example, guidance and resources.
  • Evaluate staff performance regularly and, in concert with the VP-Philanthropy and Donor Experience, determine merit increases, promotions and disciplinary actions. Determines staff qualifications and competency, and assist with recruitment and selection of new staff hires.  Work within the established overall OOP engagement model, which includes annual surveys, engagement discussions with staff and community building.
  • Train, orient and mentor new and existing staff. Establish a set of standards and expectations to measure team and individual performance.
  • Strengthen the overall engagement with leadership, faculty, department heads and members of the staff, developing a culture of strategic engagement and experience.
  • Design the annual budget, and monitor program expenditures related to engagement/experience efforts.

Serve as a Role Model for the Office of Philanthropy

  • Act as a strategic and visionary leader in representing the Office of Philanthropy with City of Hope colleagues and external partners. 
  • Act as spokesperson for City of Hope activities as requested.
  • Demonstrate an ability to solve problems, overcome hurdles and navigate sensitive issues with discretion, tact and strong communication skills.
  • Possess a thorough knowledge of the key fundraising priorities for COH
  • Participate in committees, task forces and other special projects as requested.
  • Perform other duties as assigned.
 

Basic education, experience and skills required for consideration:

  • Bachelor’s degree required. 
  • Minimum fifteen years of experience in Advancement/ complemented with either a minimum of five years of management-level, frontline fundraising or marketing/consumer-based outreach experience in client relations and philanthropy experience; nonprofit or healthcare experience preferred.
  • Ideal minimum of 7-10 years of experience managing staff.

Preferred education experience and skills:

  • Experience with the hospitality and/or consumer service industries – including experience with consumer-based marketing and data, high-level customer service practices, and models for tracking customer satisfaction

Additional Information:

  • To protect the health of patients and staff and to comply with new State of California mandates, City of Hope staff are required to show proof of full vaccination prior to start date.  Compliance is a condition of employment.  

City of Hope is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with disability



City of Hope is a community of people characterized by our diversity of thought, background and approach, but tied together by our commitment to care for and cure those with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. The innovation that our diversity produces in the areas of research, treatment, philanthropy and education has made us national leaders in this fight. Our unique and diverse workforce provides us the ability to understand our patients' needs, deliver compassionate care and continue the quest for a cure for life-threatening diseases. At City of Hope, diversity and inclusion is a core value at the heart of our mission. We strive to create an inclusive workplace environment that engages all of our employees and provides them with opportunities to develop and grow, both personally and professionally. Each day brings an opportunity to strengthen our work, leverage our different perspectives and improve our patients’ experiences by learning from others. Diversity and inclusion is about much more than policies and campaigns. It is an integral part of who we are as an institution, how we operate and how we see our future.


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