Lead Recurring Giving Specialist (Fundraising)

LEAD RECURRING GIVING SPECIALIST (FUNDRAISING)

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia – one of the most popular websites in the world, serving nearly half a billion users every month. It is the only non-profit in the top 50 websites, supported by a community of millions of individual donors around the world.

The Wikimedia Foundation is expanding its team and seeking an experienced fundraiser to own and grow our recurring giving program. This role is responsible for driving retention, upgrade, reactivation, and long-term value of monthly and annual donors, and for contributing to sustainer acquisition strategy in close coordination with the dedicated team.

The successful candidate will bring a creative, data-driven mindset and a strong test-and-learn approach to accelerate growth and deepen supporter engagement across email, direct mail, SMS, on-platform messaging, and self-service donation tools.

Responsibilities:

Program Strategy & Growth

• Own and grow the recurring giving program, leading initiatives to expand the sustainer base, improve donor retention, reduce attrition, and drive long-term value of monthly and annual donors. 
• Develop upgrade and cross-sell strategies to increase donor lifetime value (LTV), including structured ask strings based on LTV, giving history, and engagement behaviour.
• Contribute to sustainer acquisition strategy guided by the dedicated team. 

Donor Journey & Lifecycle Management

• Design and optimise tailored donor journeys to deliver an optimal donor experience across onboarding, retention, upgrade, reactivation, and win-back.
• Lead and continuously improve dunning processes, including payment retries, recovery strategies, lapse prevention, and reactivation campaigns.
• Oversee and optimize self-management donation tools
• Continually refine supporter touchpoints ensuring all recurring giving communications are donor-focused and aligned across channels.
• Oversee campaign implementation end-to-end, conducting complex data selections and segmentation, ensuring strong execution

Campaign Management, Reporting & Budgeting

• Monitor KPIs, produce reports and adjust tactics to meet revenue and targets related to acquisition (in partnership with the dedicated team), retention, attrition, recovery, upgrade, and lifetime value.
• Contribute to the development and management of the acquisition and recurring giving budget. Support forecasting and performance re-projections.
• Partner with the data team to ensure analysis supports strategic decision-making.
• Collaborate in donor research initiatives (e.g., user testing, surveys, focus groups) to inform program improvements.

Cross-Team Collaboration

• Support the Audience Strategy team in initiatives beyond recurring giving aiming to enhance donor upgrade opportunities and increase donor lifetime value (LTV).  
• Work closely with colleagues across Fundraising to ensure activities are coordinated, strategic, and supporter-centric.

Requirements:

• Experience managing and analysing sustainer giving programs. 
• Proficiency in donor retention, upgrade strategies, recurring donation management, and techniques for growing donor lifetime value.
• In depth knowledge of supporters, the market and the charity sector to predict future trends, across global fundraising markets
• Experience launching, managing, and testing fundraising campaigns and dunning processes across multiple channels, as well as integrated direct response marketing principles.
• Experience working with detailed audience segmentation, data analysis, and managing complex donor journeys across multiple audience segments.
• Comfortable working with donor KPI metrics and utilizing them to drive strategic decisions.
• Strong organizational and project management skills, with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across teams and departments.
• A proactive and results-oriented approach, with a commitment to continuous improvement and learning. 

This role offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to the growth and success of the fundraising department at Wikimedia Foundation by driving audience development initiatives and optimizing direct response fundraising efforts. If you are passionate about fundraising, data-driven decision-making, and making a positive impact, we encourage you to apply.

The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge, and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge freely. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content, support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible, and advocate for policies that enable Wikimedia and free knowledge to thrive. 

The Wikimedia Foundation is a charitable, not-for-profit organization that relies on donations. We receive donations from millions of individuals around the world, with an average donation of about $15. We also receive donations through institutional grants and gifts. The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.

As an equal opportunity employer, the Wikimedia Foundation values having a diverse workforce and continuously strives to maintain an inclusive and equitable workplace. We encourage people with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply. We do not discriminate against any person based upon their race, traits historically associated with race, religion, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy or related medical conditions, parental status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, or any other legally protected characteristics.

The Wikimedia Foundation is a remote-first organization with staff members including contractors based 40+ countries*. Salaries at the Wikimedia Foundation are set in a way that is competitive, equitable, and consistent with our values and culture. The anticipated annual pay range of this position for applicants based within the United States is US$114,758 to US$177,097  with multiple individualized factors, including cost of living in the location, being the determinants of the offered pay. For applicants located outside of the US, the pay range will be adjusted to the country of hire. We neither ask for nor take into consideration the salary history of applicants. The compensation for a successful applicant will be based on their skills, experience and location.

*Please note that we are currently able to hire in the following:
US States: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia*, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico*, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming (*US Territory or Federal District)
Countries: Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya*, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore*, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Our non-US employees are hired through a local third party Employer of Record (EOR) and must have current work authorization in their location. (*citizens/permanent residents only)
We periodically review this list to streamline to ensure alignment with our hiring requirements.

All applicants can reach out to their recruiter to understand more about the specific pay range for their location during the interview process.

If you are a qualified applicant requiring assistance or an accommodation to complete any step of the application process due to a disability, you may contact us at [email protected] or +1 (415) 839-6885.

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