Holy Spirit Regional Catholic School (HSRCS): HSRCS is a PreK – 8 grade school which opened in September 1960. Today HSRCS serves approximately 300 families and 450 students. The mission of HSRCS is to provide an education strongly rooted in Catholic values, reflecting each student’s unique qualities and promoting excellence in the whole person.
Job Summary:
The Advancement Director leads the school’s advancement and marketing efforts, overseeing donor and alumni engagement, fundraising, events, donor data management, social media, school website, and marketing to support the school’s mission and strategic goals while helping to secure the school’s long-term financial future.
Responsibilities
Fundraising and Development:
- Designs and leads the implementation of comprehensive fundraising strategies for the school, including annual giving, major gifts, capital campaigns, and planned giving initiatives.
- Cultivates and maintains donor, alumni, parish, and community relationships through strategic engagement and stewardship.
- Directs donor recognition programs and ensures stewardship practices that align with best practices and diocesan standards.
- Oversees the solicitation process, determining strategy for outreach to individuals, foundations, and businesses, and delegating as appropriate to staff and volunteers.
- Analyzes donor data and giving trends to inform leadership decisions, resource allocation, and donor segmentation strategies.
- Provides oversight of the Bloomerang donor database, ensuring integrity of data, compliance with confidentiality standards, and effective use of analytics to guide advancement strategy.
- Provides strategic direction for all major fundraising events (e.g., BASH, Golf Tournament, Giving Tuesday, Spirit Nights, Spirit Wear), setting goals, monitoring budgets, and ensuring alignment with advancement priorities.
- Align service opportunities in collaboration with specific stakeholders including support for parish ministries (Haiti Mission, Lenten Food Drive, and Silver Rose), National Junior Honor Society, and other school entities
Strategic Planning:
- Work closely with the Principal, Pastor, School Advisory Council, Holy Spirit Foundation, and the Parent-Teacher Organization to align advancement goals with the school’s strategic plan.
- Support alumni engagement efforts and build a network of committed supporters.
- Monitor data and metrics to assess progress and inform decision-making
Marketing & Communications
- Serve as a visible ambassador for the school’s mission and values
- Develop and manage school branding, messaging, and outreach strategies
- Oversee print and digital communications and collaborate with the Receptionist to guide the development of family newsletters, social media posts, updates to the school’s website, and family text alerts.
- Promote the school’s mission and impact to internal and external audiences, including the Chamber of Commerce and other greater Huntsville communities.
Event Planning:
- Provides strategic leadership for all major advancement events, ensuring alignment with donor cultivation and community engagement goals.
- Oversees planning, delegation, and execution of annual fundraising and stewardship events, including Grandparents Day, Salute Our Veterans, Giving Tuesday, BASH, and the Annual Golf Tournament.
- Directs event strategy, budget allocation, sponsorship development, and post-event evaluation to maximize fundraising outcomes and donor retention.
- Engages and coordinates volunteers, faculty, and staff by setting priorities, delegating responsibilities, and ensuring accountability for successful outcomes.
Enrollment & Admissions Support
- Collaborate with admissions to support enrollment growth and retention
- Align advancement efforts with strategic enrollment goals
- Help communicate the value of the school to prospective families
- Lead the engagement strategy with military families, including Military Family Welcome and Orientation, Purple Star School, and other activities/events
Other Responsibilities
- Any other duties as assigned by the Principal
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, nonprofit management, or related field (required)
- 3–5 years of experience in fundraising, development, or advancement (preferred)
- Proven success in donor cultivation, campaign management, utilizing donor databases and technology, and event planning
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities
- Understanding of principles of fundraising, donor relations, nonprofit development, campaign management, and alumni engagement
- Marketing and communications strategies, including digital outreach
- Familiarity with Catholic education, its mission, and community dynamics
- Proficiency in the use of donor databases, preferably Bloomerang, for tracking and reporting
- Proficiency in social media, website management, and graphic design tools
- Exceptional written and verbal communication for storytelling and outreach
- Relationship-building with donors, families, parish leaders, alumni, PTO, and Booster Club
- Collaborate across departments to align advancement with school goals
- Handle confidential information with discretion and professionalism
- Adapt to changing priorities and manage events with grace under pressure
Job Conditions/Physical Demands: The following are representative of the physical capabilities that must be met by an employee in this position and the working conditions that an employee encounters while performing the essential duties of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to stand, stoop, sit, walk, talk, hear, grasp, reach, and perform repetitive motions of the fingers, hands and wrists. The employee must be able to push, pull, lift, and carry items up to 30 pounds.
Work is performed in a school office setting.
Occasional evening or weekend hours for special events may be required.
Pay: $55,000.00 - $60,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 403(b)
- 403(b) matching
- Dental insurance
- Employee discount
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person