THE ORGANIZATION
Haggai international is a $17.8 million Christian nonprofit that has equipped and motivated more than 146,000 Christian marketplace and church leaders working in over 189 countries, containing 95% of the world’s population. At the core of their purpose are these strategically positioned leaders who multiply their influence in their own nations with one purpose in mind—to end Gospel poverty. The sad truth is that one out of every four individuals around the globe has never heard the Gospel. Haggai’s 33+ staff members are mainly located in Atlanta, GA and 40 International staff work around the globe. Together they carry an unwavering commitment to the mission and vision of equipping leaders to demonstrate and present the Gospel to those who haven’t heard and end Gospel poverty around the world.
Watch an overview of the ministry.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Haggai international seeks to hire two Directors of Advancement (DA); one in Texas, the other preferred in California, but Western U.S. is also possible. The DAs will be responsible for 60 to 100 “life-giving partners’” giving between $25K and $200K annually. This will involve both shepherding and growing existing partners’ gifts and developing new ones. This includes relationship management, fund development, promoting and living out the Haggai Transformational Giving Experience, CRM duties, communications and event development and direction. The positions will be remote, living within the target territories, and will require regular travel for donor meetings within the state and to the Atlanta headquarters.
THEIR STORY
A visit to Asia in the early 1960s convinced Dr. John Edmund Haggai that changes in global geopolitics, brought about by the end of colonialism, required a new strategy for demonstrating the good works and telling the good news of Jesus throughout the world. In 1969, after years of research, prayer, and development, he presided over the first advanced leadership seminar, to empower and mobilize nationals to reach their own people for Christ.
For a look at fifty years of God’s faithfulness through Haggai International click HERE.
WHAT THEY DO
Vision: Every nation redeemed and transformed through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Mission: Equip and inspire strategically positioned leaders to more effectively demonstrate and present the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to prepare others to do the same.
Gospel poverty exists wherever people lack the opportunity to hear and respond to the Good News of Jesus Christ; where entire countries, institutions, and cultures lack foundational Christian influence or authority; where concerns about issues of justice and human rights are significant; and where those who are Christian face discrimination or even persecution. Haggai International believes in the Gospel’s power to transform individuals, communities, and nations through indigenous leaders who see the need and have a vision for ending Gospel poverty in their nations. Through these leaders, Haggai strives to give every person the opportunity to experience the Gospel through a relationship with someone who shares their own cultural background . . . no matter where they live or what language they speak.
The Catalytic Haggai Model
(1) SELECT - Strategically positioned, influential leaders are selected in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East to attend the Haggai Leader Experience (HLE). Around 75% of these are marketplace leaders, and 25% are ministry leaders.
(2) EQUIP – Leaders engage in Haggai’s life-changing, transformational leader experience. They are equipped with tools and techniques to effectively demonstrate and present the Gospel by successful and internationally recognized non-Western faculty.
(3) MULTIPLY – The Gospel is advanced through equipped and empowered leaders as they demonstrate and present the Gospel while preparing 100+ other leaders to do the same in their own nations.
(4) SUSTAIN – Leaders are supported in ongoing ministry, and many create self-sustaining communities that increase Haggai’s impact for years to come.
Some people have more significant influence on the transformation—physical and spiritual—of a community; that’s the secret of Haggai’s work. Merely exporting Western models of instruction to other contexts is not as effective as raising up leaders, both men and women, within those contexts who already know the people, the culture, and the ways to communicate the Good News in deed and word. In addition to being at the forefront of contextualizing mission, Haggai has been at the forefront of equipping all leaders through their early moves to uplift women in leadership.
Learn more about the Haggai’s ministry impact HERE.
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Title: Director of Advancement (2 positions - Texas and California)
Classification: Exempt
Reports to: Chief Development Officer
Member of: Advancement Team
Direct Reports: None; Advancement Team supported by Relationship Manager
SUMMARY
The Director of Advancement for Major Donors works under the direction of the Chief Development Officer. They have responsibilities for donors (called “life-giving partners”) who give between $25,000 and $200,000 annually. Portfolio size will fluctuate between 60-100 partners.
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Relationship Management: This position will:
Be “high touch, high communication” with their portfolio.
Cultivate and grow relationships via in-person visits, phone, email, videocalls, and social media channels.
Be responsible for creating, maintaining, and tracking multiple touchpoints with donors across multiple channels.
Require regular travel in order to cultivate new and existing relationships with donors.
Fund Development: This position will:
Be responsible for identifying donors’ capacity for giving and crafting appropriate financial asks/invitations to partner with the ministry.
Measure, track, and grow donors’ affinity with the ministry by creating engagement opportunities as well as creating a giving community for donors to participate in.
Be expected, when appropriate, to help grow partner capacity from Major Gifts to Vision Gifts that are primarily managed by the CDO and CEO.
Partner with Advancement Services to research donor prospect capacity and create appropriate ask values and proposals.
Partner with marketing to identify donor prospects at this level and add them into the portfolio.
Transformational Giving Experience (TGE):
The TGE is a ministry Core Value, and DAs are responsible for applying TGE so that partners experience giving to Haggai as transformative both spiritually and personally.
Data Management and Organization:
Responsible for 60-100 data records that will require systematic review, update and management to effectively track, and cultivate their portfolio.
Communications:
Requires collaborating with the marketing and communications staff on fund development campaigns.
Event Management
Assists the marketing department with fund-raising events where partners in this portfolio would engage.
REQUIREMENTS
Education & Experience
Bachelor’s degree required.
Proven track record of relationship building and maintenance.
Sales or fundraising experience with proven record of managing accounts, growing accounts, and cultivating new leads. Outside sales experience a plus.
Ministry or pastoral work that focused on developing people and funds.
History of fund development or sales that shows proof of effective “closings” that produce revenue for the organization.
Character
Servant leader, someone who displays humility.
Relationship orientation, warm, focused listener.
Relishes reaching a lost world for Christ.
Collaborative.
Confident.
Truth-teller who holds confidences.
Flexible and open to change.
Competence
Excellent verbal communication both one on one and in groups of all sizes.
Skilled in written communication, particularly donor-facing.
High emotional intelligence; likeable.
Persuasive when appropriate.
Can manage multiple projects simultaneously through multi-tasking. Has a sense of urgency to achieve goals.
Able to see the big picture and also ensure details are managed well.
Chemistry with the Culture
Comfortable exploring new ideas, frontiers.
Enjoys participating on and collaborating with a team.
Creative, out of the box, thinking to create memorable experiences remotely.
Strong results orientation and enjoys fast-paced environments.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
A competitive benefits package will be discussed in a personal interview. A benefits package is available upon request.
Note: No vacation during the month of February due to the organization’s annual meeting/Global Summit preparations.
OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES
Opportunities
The organization is prepared to put significant support behind its Advancement Directors and the Advancement team, holding itself accountable to these initiatives:
Fill all open positions and source needed contractual support to accelerate fundraising.
Re-engineer the Advancement Department, focusing on portfolio size to increase donor engagement, provide multiple new giving options, and restructuring the giving level.
Finalize and make operational across all departments the Transformational Giving Experience. (Moving from transactional to transformational, donor-centric experience).
Move Marketing into the Advancement function to ensure it aligns in support of fundraising.
Generate qualified leads at every giving level through the Marketing Department.
Reposition the Haggai brand in the marketplace, align messaging with branding, create supporting marketing material and equipping all Haggai personnel, with an emphasis on the Directors of Advancement.
Haggai has the wildly important goal to equip 1,000,000 leaders by the end of 2030, adding to the more than 136,000 already equipped. They will accomplish this through International Sessions, National and Area Seminars, and the multiplication impact of international Haggai leaders equipping others. These 136,000 leaders, however, are only a fraction of a much larger impact. After their Haggai Leader Experience (HLE), Haggai leaders, on average, go on to equip 301 other believers for evangelism over the next five years. The magnitude of this multiplication effect over the years will never be known, but as they have begun to document this in recent years, they believe that God is calling them to an amazing yet attainable goal of equipping 1,000,000 leaders by the end of 2030.
Challenges
Increase the number of leaders equipped through National Ministries from 5,500 annually to 12,500 annually by FY2027. The National Ministry movement began just five years after Haggai’s first international session and has been foundational. There are currently 504 registered Alumni Associations around the world, rolling up into 120 National Ministries. These National Ministries exist to equip fellow leaders in evangelism effectiveness in their native language with contextualized applications.
During its first phase of fundraising, the founder led the charge, unafraid to ask his contacts and others to give and enjoy the Lord’s blessing. During this period there was little formal donor reporting and those who worked in the department largely supported—rather than spearheaded—asks made by Dr. Haggai. This began to change around 2007, and the “ask” changed from a 1-to-1 relational model (“sponsor a leader through training”) to an “impact model” (sponsor a class of leaders). Under the impact model, partners are invited to do their part to help 30 or so leaders go through the transformational equipping. Several staff members expressed the need for more giving options to be made available to engage donors who wish to make a transformational impact, and it is hoped the new Chief Development Officer will address that need.
The Texas DA will inherit a well-established network that needs further cultivation and work with existing partners to introduce new potential partners to Haggai. The California DA will need to reactivate and renew partners who have not received consistent care over the past several years, while forging new relationships and strategy. This entrepreneurial individual will need to have an eye for the most-likely-to-respond regions within the state and have confidence in cultivating new relationships.
Both DAs will be well-served by a pastoral heart that has a proven track record of developing partners spiritually by coming alongside to help them make their best gifts to fulfill their callings from God.
NEXT STEPS
If, after prayerfully reviewing this information, you believe this role fits you well, or if you know someone you would like to recommend, please contact:
Dr. Naomi Cramer Overton, MBA
Search Consultant
mobile:: (720) 385-5487
company main :: (615) 422–0884
email :: naomi@missionleadership.org
Dr. Rich Kidd
Partner
mobile:: (757) 642-0622
company main :: (615) 422–0884
email :: rich@missionleadership.org