Director, Advancement Strategy & Campaign Operations

OVERVIEW

The Director, Advancement Strategy and Campaign Operations for The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is responsible for translating fundraising strategy into coordinated execution across the advancement division ensuring campaign and annual fundraising priorities are supported by clear plans, disciplined processes, reliable information, effective systems, and shared accountability. As a member of the Advancement leadership team, the director serves as a strategic and operational partner to the Vice President of Advancement and division colleagues.

The incumbent leads annual giving planning strategy, comprehensive campaign operations, contributed revenue forecasting, portfolio-management practices, dashboard oversight, and cross-functional execution. The director ensures that data, research, technology, and business intelligence are translated into actionable fundraising strategies by providing operational leadership for advancement services, prospect research and analytics, CRM database management, gift administration, and related operational functions.

The Children’s Museum is building and sustaining an inclusive culture that encourages, supports, and celebrates differences. We believe that collaboration and open dialogue among people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives best support our vision and mission.

REPORTS TO: Vice President of Advancement

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Partners with Advancement leadership team to develop and execute annual and multi-year fundraising strategies aligned with museum priorities. Translates goals into clear operating plans, milestones, performance measures, ownership, and timelines, and leads division-wide annual contributed revenue planning and goal setting.

Serves as the operational leader for campaign and annual giving planning, translating campaign strategy into actionable plans, milestones, prospect activity, volunteer engagement, reporting, and coordinated execution. Maintains visibility into campaign progress, pipeline, proposals, anticipated commitments, fundraising gaps, and key opportunities and risks.

Establishes and monitors expectations for Advancement team’s CRM utilization, data governance, documentation, portfolio management, reporting, and fundraising business practices. Leads regular contributed revenue forecasting, campaign reviews, pipeline reviews, and fund development performance discussions, ensuring data accuracy to inform decisions and assignments. Conducts and coordinates prospect research, wealth screening, donor analysis, and environmental scanning to identify and qualify prospective donors and inform fundraising strategy.

Supports and facilitates disciplined portfolio and pipeline management across fundraising teams. Engages in contributed revenue forecasting processes in partnership with division leaders and in consultation with finance. Establishes consistent standards for pipeline opportunity, probability, anticipated value, timing, and forecast confidence; uses scenario planning and pipeline modeling to identify potential outcomes, gaps, and suggested interventions.

Ensures appropriately sized, qualified, and strategically assigned portfolios; focuses reviews on prospect movement, strategy, barriers, opportunities, and next actions. -Provides prospect research and portfolio management support to department colleagues, including analysis of donor capacity, affinity, relations, giving and engagement history, and relevant external information to inform customized cultivation, solicitation and stewardship strategies.

Provides strategic leadership for Advancement Services, CRM effectiveness, gift administration, prospect intelligence and related operational functions. Sets priorities and service expectations and ensures frontline fundraisers and leaders receive timely, accurate, and actionable information while partnering with the Development Business Analyst on routine reporting, dashboards, datasets, and more technical analytical work.

Partners with colleagues across the museum to address systems, integration, reporting, and data-governance needs and to reduce unnecessary administrative burden on frontline fundraisers.

Establishes effective operating rhythms across Advancement, including leadership meetings, forecasting sessions, portfolio reviews, campaign strategy meetings, and progress reviews. Clarifies ownership, decision rights, timelines, and expected outcomes and ensures major initiatives move from discussion to decision to execution.

Provides objective analysis and recommendations regarding fundraising performance, organizational capacity, resource allocation, emerging opportunities, and areas of risk. Evaluates Advancement strategies, processes, and workflows and recommends improvements that support fundraising productivity.

Coordinates campaign and fundraising execution across organizational teams. Prepares materials for and coordinates museum and campaign leadership, board, and executive strategy discussions and ensures decisions and assignments are documented, monitored, and completed.

Contributes to the leadership and culture of the Advancement division by modeling professionalism, collaboration, transparency, accountability, continuous improvement, and results-oriented decision-making. Promotes shared accountability across functional boundaries while preserving the revenue and donor-strategy accountability of fundraising team members.

REQUIREMENTS

Bachelor’s degree preferred with five (5) years of fundraising operations management experience. Experience in campaign operations, data management oversight, fundraising strategy, or a related field within a nonprofit or similarly complex organization preferred.

Three (3) years of CRM, database management and systems management experience, with demonstrated ability to lead others and hold staff accountable for results. Experience establishing effective reporting, business-process, and performance-management practices. Ability to direct analytical and technical resources without personally serving as the primary analyst or system administrator.

Demonstrated understanding of fundraising strategy and operations, including comprehensive campaigns, revenue forecasting, prospect pipelines, portfolio management, performance measurement, donor relationship processes, and advancement services.

Proven ability to translate complex strategic goals into coordinated operating plans, management systems, priorities, milestones, ownership, and measurable outcomes across multiple teams and stakeholders.

Demonstrated analytical ability and sound judgment, including experience interpreting fundraising performance, pipeline and financial information; identifying risks and opportunities; and developing decision-oriented recommendations for senior leaders.

Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and facilitating decisions across organizational boundaries, including the ability to clarify accountability, navigate ambiguity, address barriers, and maintain momentum on complex initiatives.

Ability to work effectively with senior executives, nonprofit boards, campaign volunteers, fundraising leaders, Finance, technology teams, and other internal and external partners.

Highly self-directed with strong initiative, organizational leadership, project management, problem-solving, facilitation, and change-management skills. Must be able to manage competing priorities and consistently drive follow-through.

Exceptional written and oral communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information into concise, actionable reporting and recommendations for leadership and governance audiences.

Places a high value on diversity and inclusion by promoting diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion activities. Maintains a professional demeanor through inclusive language, tact, and sensitivity.

ADA REQUIREMENTS

• Must be able to perceive space, read documents and reports, analyze detailed information, and view a computer monitor.
• Must be able to communicate in person, virtually, and telephonically in one-on-one and group settings, including facilitating meetings, presenting recommendations, and coordinating complex projects with diverse internal and external partners.
• Must be able to lift objects up to 25 pounds of weight.
• Required ability to remain stationary for extended periods and to traverse the campus and grounds regularly. Must be able to navigate local and regional travel as required for campaign, leadership, or partner engagement.