CAA Director of Individual Giving & Donor Engagement

Position Summary

The Director leads CAA’s individual giving and donor engagement strategy, overseeing systems, workplans, and cross-department coordination to cultivate and steward donors at all levels. This role translates programmatic and advocacy work into fundraising strategies, leads the individual giving function, and supervises a Senior Development Manager position.

About Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA)

Chinese for Affirmative Action was founded in 1969 to protect the civil and political rights of Chinese Americans and to advance multiracial democracy in the United States. Today, CAA is a progressive voice in and on behalf of the broader Asian American and Pacific Islander community. We advocate for systemic change that protects immigrant rights, promotes language diversity, and remedies racial and social injustice.

At the grassroots level, our community building work nurtures the ability of immigrants to participate fully in civic life. These activities include direct services, leadership development, and civic engagement with limited-English proficient newcomers and immigrants on issues that impact our community. At the systemic level, CAA leads advocacy, communications, and movement building work to improve public policy and shape public discourse. We produce community-based research, publish policy analyses and recommendations, influence opinion through media, organize to engage elected and government officials, and nurture a range of progressive coalitions.

In 2014, CAA helped to launch the Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE) network, which focuses on long-term movement building, capacity infrastructure, and leadership support for Asian Americans committed to social justice. Including CAA, there are currently 11 partnering member groups with unique strengths. Fiscal sponsorship, administrative, and operational support is provided centrally for all of these groups so they can focus on their core programs.

In 2020, CAA was one of the founding organizations of Stop AAPI Hate (SAH), a U.S.-based coalition dedicated to ending racism and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAs & PIs). SAH strives to advance the multiracial movement for equity and justice by building power for our communities, working in solidarity with other communities of color, and advocating for comprehensive solutions that tackle the root causes of race-based hate.

With local offices anchored at its San Francisco Chinatown headquarters, CAA provides direct services and maintains an active state policy presence through an office and partnership in Sacramento, and statewide and national advocacy through English and Chinese-language strategic communications and a variety of active relationships with allies.

Position Description

CAA is seeking a strategic, relationship-oriented fundraising leader to serve as its Director of Individual Giving and Donor Engagement. This senior leadership role is responsible for developing and guiding CAA’s individual giving and donor engagement strategy within a distributed fundraising model that also includes institutional fundraising and government funding led through other parts of the organization.

CAA’s individual giving model is highly customized, relationship-driven, and rooted in community building. The Director provides overall leadership and responsibility for the systems, strategy, and practices needed to cultivate, steward, and deepen relationships with donors at all giving levels over time, helping build a broad and enduring community of people invested in CAA’s mission. The Director works closely with the Co-Executive Directors, board members, program and other organizational leaders to guide donor engagement, maintain shared visibility into relationship development, and ensure that opportunities and next steps move forward effectively.

The Director works across departments to understand CAA’s programmatic, policy, advocacy, communications, and organizational priorities and translate that work into compelling donor engagement strategies. The Director provides strategic direction and leads implementation for the individual giving function, supervises the Senior Development Manager in their leadership of donor events, and partners with AACRE Capacity and other colleagues to ensure that development systems, information, communications, and workflows support strong donor stewardship and fundraising results.

Key Responsibilities

Individual Giving Strategy and Fundraising Leadership

• Lead CAA’s individual giving and donor engagement strategy to grow revenue, deepen donor relationships, strengthen retention, and build a broad and enduring community of supporters.
• Set annual and multi-year priorities for individual giving in alignment with CAA’s organizational goals, fundraising needs, and relationship-based development model.
• Lead the implementation of CAA’s individual giving work, including donor research, engagement planning, solicitation, stewardship, regular appeals, donor-specific communications, and other strategies to deepen donor relationships over time.
• Provide strategic oversight for donor events and partner with the Senior Development Manager to ensure that events advance individual giving, donor engagement, and community-building goals.
• Establish systems and practices that support real-time visibility into donor relationships, next steps, and engagement opportunities across staff and leadership.
• Monitor progress toward individual giving goals, assess fundraising results, identify trends and opportunities, and make strategic adjustments as needed.
• Coordinate with colleagues leading institutional fundraising and government funding so that CAA’s overall resource development work is aligned and mutually reinforcing.

Donor Relationship Leadership and Board Engagement

• Provide leadership and accountability for donor relationship development across CAA, working with the Co-Executive Directors, board members, program leaders, and other organizational leaders to advance donor engagement, stewardship, and fundraising results.
• Match and coordinate donors and prospects with the right organizational messenger, information, opportunity, and next step based on the nature of each relationship and the goals for engagement.
• Prepare leaders and board members for organized donor meetings, support follow-up, and ensure that relationship commitments, opportunities, and next steps are tracked and advanced over time.
• Support board members in participating effectively in donor cultivation, stewardship, and fundraising efforts.
• Foster a culture of philanthropy in which donor engagement is understood as a shared organizational responsibility and is grounded in CAA’s mission, values, and substantive work.

Cross-Departmental Collaboration

• Build strong working relationships across CAA departments in order to understand current work, emerging priorities, and opportunities that may be meaningful to donors.
• Work with program, policy, advocacy, communications, and other organizational leaders to connect CAA’s substantive work with donor engagement and fundraising strategy.
• Ensure that individual giving strategy is informed by CAA’s broader organizational priorities and that donor engagement is integrated with, and supportive of, the organization’s work.
• Partner with colleagues responsible for communications and content development so that donor-facing materials support individual giving goals and relationship needs.

Development Systems and Operations

• Oversee the use of donor information, research, and fundraising data to inform strategy, prioritize opportunities, and support high-quality stewardship.
• Partner with AACRE Capacity and development staff to ensure that database systems, gift-processing support, reporting, and development workflows meet the needs of CAA’s individual giving work.
• Help develop and maintain clear systems for donor information, relationship notes, next steps, and shared accountability across the development function.
• Ensure that individual giving work is carried out in accordance with applicable policies, procedures, and nonprofit fundraising standards.

Team Leadership and Staff Supervision

• Oversee and supervise the Senior Development Manager position, including assigning and directing work, setting clear expectations, providing guidance and coaching, identifying training needs, offering regular feedback to staff, ensuring team members meet their objectives/ deadlines and that supervisory practices align with organizational policies
• Support the Senior Development Manager in supervising the Development Coordinator and maintaining clear, effective team dynamics and workflows.
• Oversee the development and execution of team members' professional growth plans, providing ongoing support and conducting comprehensive performance evaluations
• Make informed recommendations for corrective actions when necessary, while proactively addressing and resolving conflicts, and promote a positive, collaborative, and high-performing team culture.
• Provide strategic direction for the development team’s individual giving, donor engagement, appeal, event, and stewardship work.
• Develop and implement strategic goals, resolve complex issues, and make significant decisions that affect team operations and fundraising strategy.
• Collaborate with other supervisors and coordinate work across multiple teams, resolve complex issues within and across teams to ensure successful outcomes
• Lead complex work across departments, teams, senior leadership, and board members, providing clear objectives, priorities, and coordination.

Other Duties

• Perform administrative duties as required for the position.
• Perform other duties as assigned to support the overall mission of the organization.
• Contribute to a positive work environment in alignment with organizational values.

Other Details

Reports to: CAA Co-Executive Director

Supervisor Duties: Yes

Position Type: Full-time, 40 hours per week

FLSA Status: Exempt, not eligible for overtime

Location: San Francisco office. Eligible for hybrid work. Must be based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Schedule: Monday to Friday; at least 2 days/week in office; occasional nights and weekends

Deadline: Applications reviewed on a rolling basis, and early submissions encouraged.

Required Qualifications

• Deep commitment to the mission, values, and programs of CAA.
• 7–10 years of progressive experience in fundraising or development, preferably in social justice, nonprofit, or community-based organizations.
• 4+ years of direct supervision experience of employees and volunteers.
• Demonstrated success in individual giving and donor fundraising, including cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding donors at different giving levels.
• Experience designing and leading relationship-based fundraising strategies, including donor engagement planning, moves management, and stewardship.
• Proven ability to work effectively with executive leaders, board members, program leaders, and other relationship stewards to advance donor engagement and fundraising goals.
• Strong relationship-management skills, including sound judgment, discretion, and the ability to navigate complex, high-trust relationships.
• Experience supervising and developing staff and leading complex work across teams
• Ability to use donor research and fundraising data to inform strategy and decision-making.
• Excellent written, verbal, interpersonal, strategic, organizational, and analytical skills.
• Knowledge of nonprofit fundraising best practices and compliance standards.
• Proficiency with Google Workspace and collaboration tools such as Asana and Slack.
• Working knowledge of Salesforce, Every Action, or comparable donor CRMs,
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.
• Ability to work in person at the CAA office in San Francisco, and attend Bay Area or regional activities as needed.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience fundraising in Asian American, immigrant rights, civil rights, or other social justice contexts.
• Experience with planned giving or legacy giving.
• Advanced experience with Salesforce, Every Action or comparable donor CRMs

To Apply

Apply by submitting an application and uploading a cover letter and resume to: https://tinyurl.com/IndiGivingDir

In your cover letter, describe your interest in the position and the organization, and highlight relevant experience. Please note that incomplete applications that do not contain a cover letter and a resume will not be considered.

CAA shares fiscal sponsorship with Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE). Staff hired by CAA will be employees of AACRE.

AACRE is dedicated to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and equitable work environment where everyone is valued and discrimination has no place. We are committed to serving the rich diversity of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, and strongly encourage women, trans and gender expansive individuals, people of color, immigrants, LGBTQIA+ individuals, people with conviction or arrest records, and those living with disabilities to apply.

AACRE is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE). We consider all qualified candidates for employment regardless of age, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status.

Please visit https://caasf.org for more information.

We are committed to supporting our employees to thrive in service of our mission by providing generous benefits, which include 100% health, dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurance for employee coverage and 65% for dependent coverage; employer-funded health reimbursement account; paid time off; and professional development stipend.