Director of Planned Giving - 2025671

Are you a person of compassion? An advocate for justice? Someone who stands up for the rights of the vulnerable and speaks out for the marginalized, the exploited and the forgotten?  Do you believe in our calling as Christians to welcome the least of these and love our neighbor?

If you answered ‘yes’, to any of the above, World Relief, and millions of people around the world need you.

At this pivotal moment in time, we are rapidly expanding and growing our team to meet the increasing needs of our world. We are looking for people who want to use their gifts and talents to make a real and tangible difference in our world and the lives of the suffering.

If you’re looking for a purpose-driven career in which you can grow your talents, while also standing up for the rights of the vulnerable, we want you to join us today.

ORGANIZATION SUMMARY

World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization whose mission is to boldly engage the world’s greatest crises in partnership with the church. The organization was founded in the aftermath of World War II to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs of war-torn Europe. Since then, for 80 years, across 100 countries, World Relief has partnered with local churches and communities to build a world where families thrive and communities flourish.

Today, organizational programming focuses on humanitarian and disaster response, community strengthening and resilience, and refugee & immigrant services and advocacy.

POSITION SUMMARY:

World Relief is seeking a Director of Planned Giving, who is a seasoned, strategic, and pastorally grounded fundraising professional that leads World Relief’s comprehensive legacy and gift planning efforts.  Reporting to the Vice President of Strategic Engagement, this role is singularly focused on cultivating, securing, and stewarding future-oriented and asset-based gifts that advance World Relief’s long-term mission, vision and financial sustainability.  The Director will develop and execute an integrated planned giving strategy that invites partners into faithful, mission-aligned stewardship through bequests, beneficiary designations, charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, and other complex gift vehicles. This individual will serve as World Relief’s internal subject-matter expert on planned giving—partnering with donors, professional advisors, finance, legal counsel, and frontline fundraisers to align donor legacy intentions with organizational priorities.  This role requires deep understanding of donor motivation, estate and tax-aware philanthropy, and the relational dynamics of legacy conversations. The Director of Planned Giving will model a spiritually grounded, donor-centered approach that honors generosity as a response to God’s invitation, helping donors articulate and fulfill their values through thoughtful, faith-filled gift planning.

• Develop, lead and continuously refine World Relief’s planned giving vision, strategy, and pipeline—including launching a legacy community, deferred gift commitments, and blended gift opportunities.
• Establish and manage planned giving performance metrics and engagement benchmarks aligned with long-term revenue growth and donor stewardship.
• Integrate planned and asset based giving as a core component of World Relief’s overall private fundraising strategy, ensuring alignment with mission priorities and donor intent.        

• Strategically pursue and lead a portfolio of 15-20 planned giving prospects, including legacy-intent donors, professional advisor-connected donors, and long-term partners with significant deferred-gift capacity.
• Actively support and serve the Strategic Partnership Directors team providing strategic insight, pitching and technical expertise to an additional group of long-term partners with significant planned or asset-based gift capacity.
• Help develop individualized strategic multi-year cultivation and stewardship plans emphasizing trust, values alignment, and legacy impact rather than transactional solicitation across the department.
• Work with professional advisors to guide partners and prospective partners through complex asset gift opportunities to reduce tax liability and maximize giving opportunities. 
• Guide partners and prospective partners through discerning and documenting legacy commitments—including bequests, beneficiary designations, trusts, and annuities—often over extended time horizons.  

• Serve as World Relief’s primary expert on charitable gift planning vehicles, including:
  • Bequests and estate provisions
  • Charitable Gift Annuities (CGAs)
  • Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs)
  • Charitable Lead Trusts (CLTs)
  • Retirement asset and life insurance beneficiary designations 
• Translate complex financial, legal, and tax concepts into donor-friendly, values-driven conversations. 
• Collaborate closely with accounting, finance, legal, and external advisors to ensure all planned gifts meet donor intent, legal standards, and organizational policy.  

• Lead the training and equipping effort across all of the Strategic Engagement Department in developing the skills and acumen to discover and pursue planned and asset based giving opportunities. 
• Provide the expertise and insight to develop digital acquisition and web based strategies for expansion of planned giving across the Advancement Division. 
• Serve the Strategic Partnership Directors team and broader Strategic Engagement Division with planned giving counsel, resources, and sales-process support. 
• Equip frontline fundraisers to confidently identify legacy opportunities and appropriately refer donors into deeper gift-planning conversations.
• Provide coaching, training, and thought partnership to elevate planned giving fluency across the organization.    

• Oversee the preparation of legacy-related proposals, gift illustrations, agreements, endowment documentation, and personalized stewardship reports. 
• Ensure exceptional stewardship of planned gift donors through recognition, impact storytelling, and sensitive ongoing engagement. 
• Identify opportunities for planned giving donors to engage with World Relief leadership, including the CEO, VP of Strategic Engagement, board members, and senior administrators.  

• Provide prayerful presence, spiritual care, and pastoral sensitivity—especially in conversations related to legacy, end-of-life planning, and generational impact. 
• Embrace and model fundraising values rooted in Henri Nouwen’s The Spirituality of Fundraising, inviting generosity as vocation rather than obligation.
• Integrate personal faith in Jesus Christ thoughtfully and respectfully into donor relationships and internal leadership.  

• Accurately document planned giving activity, agreements, and donor intent in accordance with World Relief standards and confidentiality protocols. 
• Maintain accountability to World Relief database, brand, and gift acceptance standards.
• Represent World Relief at donor events, estate planning seminars, legacy gatherings, and community engagements as appropriate. 
• Travel as needed to cultivate and steward planned giving relationships.

• Mature and personal Christian faith
• Committed to the mission, vision, and values of World Relief
• Desire to serve and empower the Church to impact vulnerable communities
• Able to affirm and/or acknowledge World Reliefs Core Beliefs, Statement of Faith, Christian Identity and National Association of Evangelicals' For the Health of The Nation document
• 5–7+ years of demonstrated experience in planned giving, estate planning, or complex philanthropic arrangements. 
• Bachelor’s degree required
• Expert understanding of planned giving vehicles and donor legacy strategies. 
• Ability to research, understand, and communicate complex financial and legal gift structures.
• Strong relationship-building skills with donors and professional advisors (attorneys, CPAs, financial planners, trust officers).
• Demonstrated pastoral gifting, spiritual maturity, and emotional intelligence.
• Proven collaborative leadership style with experience working across high-performing teams.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and public-speaking communication skills.
• Strategic thinker with patience for long cultivation cycles and comfort navigating ambiguity. 
• Proficient in Raiser’s Edge NXT, Microsoft Office, and project management tools.

• Master’s degree preferred.

World Relief offers a competitive benefits package and employee discount program for full-time, Regular, employees.

World Relief is honored to be recognized with the Gold-level Cigna Healthy Workforce Designation for exceeding the core components of our well-being program including leadership and culture, program foundations and execution, and whole person health.

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Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA employer M/F/D/V. We maintain a drug-free workplace and perform pre-employment substance abuse testing.

For World Relief staff, strong commitment to the mission, vision, and values of World Relief is essential, and Christian faith is a prerequisite for employment, based upon United States federal guidelines provided in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.