Director of Philanthropy and Community Engagement in Kalamazoo, Michigan at Beacon Health System

The Director of Philanthropy and Community Engagement leads Beacon Health Foundation’s strategy for building broad-based donor connection, community participation, donor retention, and future major gift pipeline. This role aligns annual giving, associate giving, councils, physician engagement, sponsorships, community partnerships, fundraising events, engagement events, and stewardship follow-up into one disciplined donor engagement system.

This position is a senior fundraising leadership role, not an events or support role. The Director ensures community philanthropy is used intentionally to identify emerging donor interest, build belonging and trust, strengthen donor retention, activate volunteer and physician relationships, and create clear pathways from first engagement to deeper philanthropic commitment.

Working closely with the Major Gifts Team, Foundation Operations, and Foundation Communications, this role ensures engagement activity leads to timely follow-up, accurate CRM documentation, useful donor intelligence, stewardship opportunities, and qualified pipeline movement. The Director supervises Development Associates and establishes the standards, planning tools, and accountability needed for community philanthropy to function as an integral part of the Foundation’s fundraising model.

Department Purpose

The Community Philanthropy and Strategic Donor Engagement team builds the future donor pipeline by creating meaningful ways for people to connect with Beacon Health Foundation’s mission and by ensuring those connections are intentionally moved into renewal, stewardship, upgrade, leadership giving readiness, or Major Gifts handoff pathways.

• Community and annual giving
• Associate giving
• Physician Philanthropy Council and physician engagement
• Foundation councils and volunteer engagement
• Engagement events, fundraising events, and third-party events
• Sponsorships and corporate/foundation relationship pathways
• Grants
• PPC, GEM, donor wall, grant, and proposal-readiness support
• Stewardship collaboration, donor retention, and donor engagement follow-up
• Pipeline intelligence and handoffs to Major Gifts, Operations, and Communications

MISSION, VALUES and SERVICE GOALS

• MISSION: We deliver outstanding care, inspire health, and connect with heart.
• VALUES: Trust. Respect. Integrity. Compassion.
• SERVICE GOALS: Personally connect. Keep everyone informed. Be on their team.

Core Responsibilities Community Philanthropy and Donor Pipeline Strategy

• Lead the Foundation’s community philanthropy and donor pipeline strategy, ensuring annual giving, associate giving, events, councils, physician engagement, sponsorships, and community relationships are intentionally designed to identify, qualify, engage, retain, and advance donors toward deeper philanthropic commitment.
• Build community giving as a relationship, belonging, trust-building, and future pipeline function, not simply a transaction or event revenue function.
• Design engagement activity to support the full donor journey from first connection to renewed giving, upgraded giving, stewardship, leadership giving readiness, or Major Gifts referral.
• Ensure community philanthropy and leadership giving operate as connected stages of the same fundraising system, with clear expectations for purpose, measurement, and handoff.

Donor Segmentation, Qualification, and Handoff

• Develop donor segmentation and engagement strategies in partnership with Operations and Major Gifts, clarifying which community donors build participation, which donors represent future pipeline, which relationships warrant deeper cultivation, and which donors should be advanced toward leadership giving conversations.
• Maintain a defined portfolio or strategy list of community philanthropy, corporate/foundation, sponsorship, council, physician, associate, and emerging leadership donors and prospects, with responsibility for qualification, engagement strategy, stewardship planning, and appropriate solicitation or handoff.
• Own the strategy for moving community-based donors, event participants, associate donors, council members, physicians, sponsors, corporate partners, and other engaged constituents into defined next-step pathways.
• Partner with Operations to ensure participation, engagement, stewardship, sponsorship, and follow-up data are captured accurately in CRM and converted into actionable pipeline insight.
• This role does not replace the Major Gifts Team’s ownership of major donor strategy, but it is accountable for building and qualifying the relationship pathways that feed that strategy.

Councils, Physician Philanthropy, and Volunteer Influence

• Lead the strategy for using Foundation councils and the Physician Philanthropy Council as relationship-building, donor discovery, trust-building, stewardship, and community intelligence assets.
• Activate councils, physicians, board members, and community volunteers as strategic relationship assets who can create access, transfer trust, validate philanthropic priorities, surface community intelligence, and support meaningful stewardship.
• Partner with the Foundation President, Senior Director, Michigan Philanthropy and Development, Major Gifts Team, Communications, and Operations to prepare agendas, talking points, donor follow-up, engagement plans, and stewardship opportunities.
• Ensure council and physician engagement is connected to donor strategy, clinical credibility, community trust, and future philanthropic growth.

Engagement Events and Community Fundraising Discipline

• Lead the strategy and oversight for third-party fundraising events, Foundation fundraising events, and donor engagement events.
• Establish decision criteria for events and engagement activity, including strategic purpose, audience fit, donor movement potential, stewardship value, staff capacity, budget, follow-up requirements, and alignment with Foundation priorities.
• Clarify the purpose of each event: fundraising, donor discovery, stewardship, council engagement, physician engagement, community visibility, associate engagement, sponsorship development, or pipeline development.
• Establish event standards, timelines, planning tools, ownership, follow-up expectations, and post-event evaluation.
• Ensure event activity is evaluated by strategic value, relationship movement, and donor follow-up, not simply attendance or activity volume.
• Work through a shared operating model with Major Gifts, Operations, and Communications so engagement activity leads to clear donor follow-up, accurate CRM documentation, timely stewardship, and donor-facing materials that support relationship movement.

Donor Pipeline, Proposal Readiness, and Strategic Engagement Support

• Provide directional oversight for GEM-related work assigned to the Community Philanthropy and Strategic Donor Engagement team.
• Ensure PPC-related support, donor wall coordination, grants support, proposal-readiness support, and related engagement work are connected to donor strategy and not treated as disconnected tasks.
• Support major gift proposal readiness by ensuring engagement information, donor context, stewardship history, event involvement, council connections, and other relevant details are organized and routed appropriately.
• Guide the team’s support for grants, sponsorships, corporate/foundation engagement, and vendor-related fundraising opportunities so those relationships are tracked, stewarded, and connected to donor strategy when appropriate.
• Help identify when corporate, foundation, vendor, grant, sponsorship, or council relationships may warrant Major Gifts follow-up.

Stewardship, Retention, and Donor Confidence

• Lead the Foundation’s community-level stewardship and donor retention strategy in partnership with Major Gifts, Communications, and Operations, ensuring donors receive timely, accurate, meaningful follow-up that builds trust, demonstrates impact, and creates future philanthropic opportunity.
• Treat stewardship as a donor retention and revenue protection strategy, not simply a courtesy or follow-up task.
• Track stewardship needs that arise from community philanthropy, associate giving, events, sponsorships, councils, physician engagement, third-party activity, and corporate/foundation relationships.
• Partner with Communications on donor stories, stewardship pieces, impact messaging, invitations, collateral, talking points, and post-event follow-up that reinforce donor trust and belonging.
• Partner with Operations to track stewardship commitments, donor activity, follow-up actions, and retention or upgrade opportunities.

Team Leadership and Cross-Functional Operating Rhythm

• Supervise, coach, and develop Development Associates assigned to community philanthropy and strategic donor engagement work.
• Clarify the division of responsibilities between associates so each person understands their areas of ownership and how their work connects to the larger fundraising model.
• Set expectations for timelines, follow-up, donor service, accuracy, CRM documentation, stewardship tracking, and cross-functional communication.
• Lead a regular community philanthropy and donor engagement review process with Major Gifts, Operations, and Communications to evaluate upcoming engagement activity, donor follow-up, stewardship needs, prospect movement, council opportunities, and pipeline handoffs.
• Ensure Development Associates understand their role in supporting high-quality donor engagement, proposal readiness, stewardship, and pipeline movement.

Key Measures of Success

• Community philanthropy activity produces qualified donor leads, documented next steps, upgraded relationships, renewed giving, stewardship opportunities, and appropriate Major Gifts handoffs.
• Events and engagement activity are evaluated by strategic purpose, audience quality, relationship movement, follow-up completion, stewardship value, and pipeline contribution, not simply attendance or activity volume.
• Councils, physicians, board members, sponsors, associate donors, and community partners are connected to clear engagement pathways that build trust and future philanthropic capacity.
• Donor retention, renewal, and upgrade strategies are strengthened through timely stewardship, impact communication, and coordinated follow-up.
• Major Gifts receives timely donor intelligence, qualified referrals, council insights, physician connections, sponsorship opportunities, and stewardship leads.
• Operations receives accurate participation, attendance, donor activity, sponsorship, stewardship, and follow-up data.
• Communications receives complete and timely donor stories, audience strategy, messaging needs, stewardship opportunities, and campaign support details.
• Development Associates have clear roles, performance expectations, timelines, and accountability for work that advances donor engagement and pipeline movement.

Leadership Competencies

• Drives Results - Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances.
• Customer Focus - Building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions.
• Instills Trust - Gaining the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity, and authenticity.
• Collaborates - Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.
• Communicates Effectively - Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.

ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Associate complies with the following organizational requirements:

• Attends and participates in department meetings and is accountable for all information shared.
• Completes mandatory education, annual competencies and department specific education within established timeframes.
• Completes annual employee health requirements within established timeframes.
• Maintains license/certification, registration in good standing throughout fiscal year.
• Direct patient care providers are required to maintain current BCLS (CPR) and other certifications as required by position/department.
• Consistently utilizes appropriate universal precautions, protective equipment, and ergonomic techniques to protect patient and self.
• Adheres to regulatory agency requirements, survey process and compliance.
• Complies with established organization and department policies.
• Available to work overtime in addition to working additional or other shifts and schedules when required.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum of 8 to 10 years of progressive experience in philanthropy, development, donor engagement, healthcare philanthropy, annual giving, community fundraising, stewardship, volunteer leadership, or nonprofit advancement.
• Demonstrated experience building donor engagement strategies that support donor retention, pipeline development, upgrade pathways, major gift readiness, or revenue growth.
• Experience leading staff, managing cross-functional fundraising systems, and working with senior leaders, physicians, board members, donors, volunteers, sponsors, and community partners.
• Strong understanding of donor segmentation, moves management, stewardship strategy, CRM discipline, and how community philanthropy supports major and leadership giving.
• Experience directing events, community-based fundraising, donor engagement, stewardship, sponsorships, associate giving, physician engagement, or council support preferred.
• Healthcare philanthropy, grateful patient engagement, physician engagement, council development, or complex nonprofit fundraising experience strongly preferred.
• Strong organizational, communication, relationship-building, decision-making, and project management skills.
• Commitment to accuracy, trust, follow-through, donor-centered service, and disciplined use of Foundation resources.

Working Conditions

• Works in an office environment.
• May experience some mental/visual fatigue due to continued use of computer equipment.

Physical Demands

• Requires the physical ability and stamina to perform the essential functions of the position.