Vice President, Direct Marketing & Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Job Title: Vice President, Direct Marketing & Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Department: Development
Location: Hybrid within Washington D.C. Metro area
Reports to: Chief Development Officer
Direct Reports: No
Classification: Exempt
Position type: Full-Time Employee
Anticipated Pay Range at Commencement of Employment: $128,000 - $177,000 per year
Blue Star Families
Blue Star Families is the largest nonprofit dedicated to making military life better for families. Each year, we support over 1.5 million military- and veteran-connected family members through a national network of 300,000+ members and local chapters in communities across the country.
Our mission is simple and bold: We make military life awesome for families.
We listen, share, partner, and act to deliver evidence-based, data-driven solutions that work for real people. We’re a lifestyle organization, a friend and neighbor, and a trusted partner. Our approach is collaborative, human-centered, and designed with the whole family in mind.
A Blue Star Family is one with an immediate family member — a spouse, parent, or child — actively serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, including the Guard and Reserves. These families face unique challenges: frequent relocations, deployments, career disruption, and isolation. We respond with research-informed programs that create connection, build resilience, and foster a true sense of belonging.
We serve with urgency but build trust over time — because change happens at the speed of trust. Whether we’re driving spouse employment, supporting caregivers, or helping communities welcome military families, we strive for upstream solutions.
Who We’re Looking For:
Bold thinkers. Fast movers. Smart collaborators. People who want to build, lead, and drive measurable change — and who care deeply about making an impact that matters.
What You’ll Do Here:
Solve complex challenges with data, heart, and humility
Build cross-sector partnerships that get things done
Help military families feel at home wherever they live
If you're ready to work in a high-performance, mission-driven environment — and to make life better for those who serve — Blue Star Families is where you belong.
General Description
The Vice President, Direct Marketing & Peer-to-Peer Fundraising leads the strategy and performance of Blue Star Families' direct response and peer-to-peer fundraising programs. This role grows BSF's broad base of individual donors through multi-channel direct marketing. It also builds scalable peer-to-peer and grassroots giving programs that engage volunteers, ambassadors, chapter members and community members as fundraisers on behalf of military families.
Reporting to the Chief Development Officer and directly supervising [direct report title(s)], this leader partners closely with Marketing, Development Operations and Chapters/Programs staff to integrate direct marketing and peer-to-peer fundraising into the organization's broader revenue strategy.
This role requires the ability to travel overnight several times per year to attend team offsites, leadership sessions, fundraising events and company-wide events. Attendance and participation in these gatherings is a non-negotiable component of the position.
Key Job Functions
Direct Marketing & Mass-Market Fundraising
Oversee multi-channel direct response strategy, including donor acquisition, retention, reactivation, and upgrade pathways across direct mail, email, digital advertising, SMS, and other mass-market channels.
Set annual revenue goals, budgets and performance benchmarks for direct marketing programs.
Ensure rigorous segmentation, A/B testing, and performance-based ROI analysis to inform channel investment, with a bias toward rapid experimentation and scaling winning plays.
Manage relationships with external direct marketing vendors and agencies (e.g., MissionWired), ensuring quality, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness; hold partners to the same high-performance standard as internal team members.
Monitor campaign performance, donor acquisition costs, retention, and lifetime value metrics, adjusting strategy as needed.
Build a clear pathway that moves donors from first-time gifts to recurring, mid-level and major gift potential.
Peer-to-Peer & Grassroots Fundraising
Design and grow peer-to-peer fundraising programs (e.g., team and individual fundraising campaigns, DIY fundraising, ambassador programs) to diversify and expand BSF's donor base.
Partner with Marketing to build compelling peer-to-peer campaign assets, digital fundraising pages, and participant communications.
Develop toolkits, training and playbooks that equip volunteers, ambassadors and chapter leaders to fundraise effectively.
Set and track participant recruitment, fundraising, and retention goals across peer-to-peer campaigns.
Create a visible scoreboard and recognition program that celebrates top fundraisers and teams and fuels healthy competition.
Launch, test, and iterate on new peer-to-peer concepts quickly, scaling winning approaches and retiring those that underperform.
Convert peer-to-peer donors and participants into ongoing supporters through targeted direct marketing follow-up.
Team Leadership & Performance Management
Supervise staff and provide leadership and coaching to expand the chapter fundraising support function.
Develop, coach, and appraise staff to ensure high performance and professional growth, providing regular, candid feedback and addressing performance gaps promptly.
Build a high-talent-density team in which every member understands the strategy, owns their results, and makes decisions quickly.
Foster a collaborative, solutions-oriented culture aligned with BSF values across the chapter network, grounded in freedom, responsibility, and accountability.
Program Integration & Cross-Functional Coordination
Partner with Marketing & Communications on donor messaging, campaign creative, branding and channel strategy.
Coordinate with the Chapters/Programs team to engage chapter members and volunteers in peer-to-peer campaigns.
Ensure alignment between direct marketing, peer-to-peer, major gifts, corporate and events strategies to build strong donor pipelines.
Systems, Data & Reporting
Oversee accurate tracking of chapter and peer-to-peer fundraising activity within the CRM, ensuring data integrity and consistent reporting.
Establish performance dashboards and revenue pacing for direct marketing and peer-to-peer channels,