Director of Development, Annual & Special Giving

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Director of Development, Annual & Special Giving

About Garden Spot Communities

At Garden Spot Communities, we see aging as a time for purpose, opportunity, and connection. Our heritage, mission, and values guide our work today and help shape what comes next. As a faith-based, not-for-profit senior living ministry headquartered in New Holland, Pennsylvania, we are guided by our mission: “Inspired by the life of Jesus, we cultivate vibrant community for purposeful living,” and our Guiding Principle: Be Kind. Do Good. Show Love.

TrellisWorks is the charitable foundation of Garden Spot Communities. With collective wisdom and a spirit of creativity, the foundation redefines aging through benevolent care and cooperative living, arts and culture, healthy aging and brain health, and wisdom and care initiatives.

Discover Garden Spot’s benefits and experience Life with Purpose™

• Medical, Vision, and Dental insurance

• 401K program with 100% company match

• Tuition assistance

• First-time homebuyer program

• Experienced based pay starting at $75,000/year

As our Director of Development, Annual & Special Giving, you’ll turn generosity into opportunities for purposeful living across Garden Spot Communities! From building lasting donor relationships to bringing memorable fundraising events to life, you’ll help people find meaningful ways to give back. You’ll lead annual giving, grow recurring support, and nurture mid-level donor relationships all alongside a creative Mission Advancement team. Along the way, you’ll help donors see the smiles, stories, and possibilities their generosity makes possible.

What You’ll Do

Annual giving strategy and appeals

• Develop and execute an annual giving plan with revenue, donor-count, retention and participation goals for each campus.

• Lead the year-end appeal calendar, including the Garden Spot Village and Frederick Living Benevolent Care appeals and the Benevolent Care Annual Challenge.

• Write multi-channel appeals (direct mail, email, online giving, resident invoice giving) with segmented asks and gift/pledge forms and hand them off to the Associate Director of Mission Advancement for production and mailing.

• Manage response tracking for gift options including checks, credit cards, IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions, appreciated securities and recurring monthly gifts.

• Partner with the Associate Director of Mission Advancement to source resident and donor stories that bring each appeal to life.

Donor acquisition, retention and upgrading

• Manage a portfolio of mid-level donors and prospects (annual gifts of $1,000-$5,000) through the full moves management cycle: identification, qualification, cultivation, face-to-face solicitation, stewardship and recognition.

• Grow and steward the monthly giving program, including recurring gifts added to resident invoices.

• Engage residents, families, team members and the wider New Holland, Zieglerville and Lancaster County communities as first-time donors.

• Monitor lapsed and LYBUNT/SYBUNT donors and run renewal and reactivation efforts.

• Identify annual donors with major-gift, Time to Shine campaign or Legacy Society potential and refer them to the Chief Mission Advancement Officer.

Stewardship and impact reporting

• Ensure timely, accurate and personal gift acknowledgments and tax receipts.

• Oversee stewardship of TrellisWorks giving societies, including Legacy Society members and recurring donors, through visits, communication and special events.

• Support the use and donor stewardship of designated funds, such as each campus Benevolent Fund, so donors see how restricted gifts are used.

• Produce donor impact reports, such as the annual Benevolent Fund impact postcards for each campus.

• Plan donor recognition and appreciation touchpoints, including thank-you calls and resident donor gatherings.

Special fundraising event production

• Plan and produce signature fundraising events, such as the Autumn Soirée benefiting the Garden Spot Village Benevolent Fund or Capital Campaign, from concept through post-event follow-up.

• Set event budgets, net revenue goals, timelines and run-of-show; secure venues, catering, audio-visual support and entertainment partners such as Gretna Theatre.

• Recruit and steward event sponsors, table hosts and in-kind donors.

• Manage invitations, online registration, ticketing, RSVPs, and seating.

• Recruit, train and coordinate volunteer committees of residents, team members and community partners.

• Coordinate donor education events, such as planned giving seminars and estate planning luncheons at Garden Spot Village and Frederick Living, with the Chief Mission Advancement Officer.

• Ensure every ticket, sponsorship and gift is recorded and acknowledged promptly, and evaluate each event on net revenue, attendance, new donors and cost per dollar raised.

Peer-to-peer and team giving

• Develop giving days, team member giving and resident-led peer giving efforts.

Data, budget and reporting

• Manage gift entry and acknowledgment processing, maintaining clean donor records, gift coding, and segmentation in the donor database.

• Manage the annual giving budget and reconcile gifts with finance.

• Report monthly results against goals, including revenue, retention, average gift and cost per dollar raised.

Advancement team participation

• Serve as an active, collaborative member of the Mission Advancement team, contributing to team meetings, annual planning and shared fundraising goals.

• Share donor insights, prospect information and results openly, so donor contact is coordinated across the team.

• Support colleagues' priorities, including campaign, planned giving and storytelling efforts, and help during peak periods such as year-end and major events.

• Model a culture of mutual respect, accountability and shared success that reflects the Guiding Principle: Be Kind. Do Good. Show Love.

Staff supervision

• Hire, train, supervise and evaluate the Donor Operations Assistant, who manages administrative functions and accounting of Foundation gifts.

• Set priorities and turnaround standards for gift entry, receipting, acknowledgments and monthly gift reconciliation with finance.

• Review gift reports and data quality regularly to ensure accuracy and donor confidentiality.

What We’re Looking For

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in nonprofit management, communications, marketing, business or related field, or equivalent experience.

• 5-7 years of nonprofit fundraising experience, with direct responsibility for annual fund, direct mail or digital appeals, and 2+ years of supervisory experience hiring, coaching and evaluating staff.

• Proven record of meeting revenue and donor retention goals.

• Excellent writing and editing skills, with the ability to craft warm, persuasive appeal letters and acknowledgments.

• Working knowledge of DonorPerfect or a similar donor database, gift processing and fundraising metrics.

• Strong relationship-building skills with older adults, families, team members, and community partners.

• Ability to manage multiple campaigns, deadlines, and budgets at once.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience in senior living, healthcare, or faith-based philanthropy.

• Familiarity with IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions, gifts of securities and planned-giving referrals.

• Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) or Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) credential or progress toward it; educational funding is available through the employer.

• Experience with online giving platforms, email marketing tools, and data segmentation.

Skills and dispositions

• Leads from a genuine commitment to GSC's mission and Guiding Principle, while welcoming residents and team members of every faith tradition and none.

• Relational and intuitive - builds genuine relationships, reads audiences well and applies what is learned to shape each step of the fundraising process.

• Cultural awareness and sensitivity - engage respectfully with donors, residents and team members of diverse backgrounds, cultures and generations.

• Fluid engagement - moves comfortably between audiences and settings, from one-on-one donor visits to resident gatherings, community events and leadership meetings.

• Wisdom - thoughtful stewardship of donor relationships and resources.

• Creativity - fresh, innovative approaches to appeals and engagement.

• Pro-aging spirit - tells stories of vitality, contribution and purpose rather than decline.

• Team player - collaborates generously across campuses, departments and community partners.

• Open communicator - shares information freely and communicates clearly, honestly and promptly.

• Results focus - sets measurable goals and uses data to improve outcomes.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Garden Spot Communities is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all team members. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or veteran status.