Director of Annual Giving and Donor Stewardship
ONEONTA, NY
Full Time
Experienced
Date: February 11, 2026
Title: Director of Annual Giving and Donor Stewardship
Description: The Director of Annual Giving and Donor Stewardship leads the strategy and execution of the College’s annual giving and donor stewardship programs. This role is responsible for growing unrestricted and restricted annual support, strengthening donor retention and loyalty, and ensuring a meaningful, mission-centered donor experience. The Director also personally solicits and stewards leadership annual fund donors, helping to strengthen the pipeline for future major and planned gifts.
Working closely with Advancement colleagues, campus partners, and volunteers, the Director plays a key role in advancing the College’s culture of philanthropy.
Responsibilities:
Annual Fund Strategy and Management
An independent, residential liberal arts college enrolling approximately 1,200 full-time undergraduates, Hartwick embraces the teacher-scholar model, with teaching excellence as the first priority, and seeks to recruit, retain and promote a diverse workforce. The College features a Liberal Arts in Practice general education curriculum and aspires to “be the best at melding liberal arts education with experiential learning.”
Hartwick operates as a community of learners where there is a very real sense of belonging and connection. By joining Hartwick, you become part of a group of people who work together, share in our successes, and a celebrate our accomplishments. All positions at Hartwick contribute to the education and development of students with the opportunity to see the impact on future leaders—what you do at Hartwick really matters.
Our beautiful 425-acre campus is located in the scenic Susquehanna River valley in Oneonta, New York—a charming town near the northern foothills of the Catskill Mountains. Hartwick offers health benefits to domestic partners of employees, flexible scheduling, opportunities to engage in athletic and cultural events (concerts, exhibits, and lectures) and tuition benefits for eligible employees and their dependents.
Hartwick College prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation/preference and gender identity/expression and is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to broadening “the understanding, awareness, and appreciation of diversity among all members of the Hartwick community.” Women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.
Hartwick College is committed to providing a safe and secure educational and employment environment. Employment at Hartwick College is therefore contingent upon a successful background check on every new employee. Candidates to whom an offer of employment is made will be required to sign a Release of Information Form authorizing the College to conduct a thorough background check.
Hartwick College is committed to a diverse candidate pool, values an inclusive workforce and workplace environment, and wishes to minimize or eliminate the impact of implicit bias during the search and hiring process.
All applicants are asked to submit the following materials with their online applications:
Title: Director of Annual Giving and Donor Stewardship
Description: The Director of Annual Giving and Donor Stewardship leads the strategy and execution of the College’s annual giving and donor stewardship programs. This role is responsible for growing unrestricted and restricted annual support, strengthening donor retention and loyalty, and ensuring a meaningful, mission-centered donor experience. The Director also personally solicits and stewards leadership annual fund donors, helping to strengthen the pipeline for future major and planned gifts.
Working closely with Advancement colleagues, campus partners, and volunteers, the Director plays a key role in advancing the College’s culture of philanthropy.
Responsibilities:
Annual Fund Strategy and Management
- Design, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive annual fund program to increase participation, revenue, and donor retention across all constituencies (alumni, parents, faculty/staff, friends, and students).
- Manage multi-channel annual giving efforts, including direct mail, email, digital giving, phonathon, crowdfunding, and giving days.
- In collaboration with Advancement colleagues; set annual goals, manage budgets, analyze results, and adjust strategies based on data and trends.
- Collaborate with major and planned giving staff to ensure coordinated donor engagement and effective pipeline development.
- Supervise volunteers, student workers, and future staff as needed.
- Personally solicit leadership annual fund gifts (e.g., top annual donors, reunion leadership gifts, and special initiatives) through meetings, calls, and personalized outreach.
- Manage a portfolio of leadership annual fund donors and prospects, with responsibility for qualification, solicitation, stewardship, and renewal.
- Partner with the Vice President for Advancement & External Relations and major gift officers on coordinated solicitation strategies.
- Identify and cultivate leadership annual fund donors with capacity and interest for major gifts, and facilitate thoughtful handoffs to major gifts’ staff.
- Develop and oversee a donor stewardship program that ensures timely, accurate, and meaningful acknowledgment and recognition of gifts.
- Create stewardship strategies for leadership annual donors and key constituencies, including impact reporting and personalized communications.
- Engage in cross campus collaboration to collect and share stories that demonstrate the impact of donor support.
- Oversee donor recognition societies and related events or communications including the annual report of gifts, scholarship reports and the Partners in Scholars event.
- Assist with alumni/friends/student events as needed. Attendance at some events with travel and extended hours required.
- Comply with all applicable College, federal, state, local and associational laws, rules and regulations.
- Participate in significant campus activities, such as but not limited to; Welcome Weekend, True Blue Weekend, and Commencement Weekend.
- As a representative of the College, comport oneself in a professional manner at all times, both on and off campus.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
- Excellent written and oral communication and interpersonal skills.
- Strong project management, attention to detail, organization and analytical skills.
- A commitment to higher education and the ability to articulate a persuasive case for continued engagement and annual support of Hartwick College.
- Ability to manage multiple assignments and projects, meet deadlines and goals.
- Position continually requires demonstrated poise, tact and diplomacy.
- Strong initiative and creativity with a high energy level, sense of humor, enthusiasm and flexibility.
- Must be a self-starter and able to work with minimal supervision.
- Computer literacy skills and understanding of database research and management, and donor relations; proficiency with MS Office.
- Proven ability to work with a diverse population of students and volunteers of all ages.
- Must be able to travel and work evenings and weekends as needed.
- CFRE preferred.
- Knowledge of budget preparation and higher education policies and procedures.
- Experience working with volunteer leaders and advisory councils.
- Knowledge of Alumni engagement programs.
An independent, residential liberal arts college enrolling approximately 1,200 full-time undergraduates, Hartwick embraces the teacher-scholar model, with teaching excellence as the first priority, and seeks to recruit, retain and promote a diverse workforce. The College features a Liberal Arts in Practice general education curriculum and aspires to “be the best at melding liberal arts education with experiential learning.”
Hartwick operates as a community of learners where there is a very real sense of belonging and connection. By joining Hartwick, you become part of a group of people who work together, share in our successes, and a celebrate our accomplishments. All positions at Hartwick contribute to the education and development of students with the opportunity to see the impact on future leaders—what you do at Hartwick really matters.
Our beautiful 425-acre campus is located in the scenic Susquehanna River valley in Oneonta, New York—a charming town near the northern foothills of the Catskill Mountains. Hartwick offers health benefits to domestic partners of employees, flexible scheduling, opportunities to engage in athletic and cultural events (concerts, exhibits, and lectures) and tuition benefits for eligible employees and their dependents.
Hartwick College prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation/preference and gender identity/expression and is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to broadening “the understanding, awareness, and appreciation of diversity among all members of the Hartwick community.” Women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.
Hartwick College is committed to providing a safe and secure educational and employment environment. Employment at Hartwick College is therefore contingent upon a successful background check on every new employee. Candidates to whom an offer of employment is made will be required to sign a Release of Information Form authorizing the College to conduct a thorough background check.
Hartwick College is committed to a diverse candidate pool, values an inclusive workforce and workplace environment, and wishes to minimize or eliminate the impact of implicit bias during the search and hiring process.
All applicants are asked to submit the following materials with their online applications:
- A cover letter;
- A resume; and
- The names and contact information for three references, with annotation regarding how the reference is related to you and your work (at least one of your references must be from a current and/or previous supervisor).
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