The Assistant Director of Donor Engagement at St. John Fisher University is responsible for coordinating and executing a comprehensive donor relations and stewardship program. This role focuses on ensuring that donors, regardless of their giving levels, have high-quality interactions with the university to foster long-term engagement and investment. Key responsibilities include recognizing and stewarding key donors through various methods such as events, annual reporting, special pieces, and awards. The role also involves facilitating scholarship recipient participation in events, creating content, and authoring scholarship reports to enhance student-donor relationships.

The position collaborates with internal partners to prepare and distribute annual reports, demonstrating the impact of donors' gifts. This involves working with various campus offices to ensure appropriate use of gifts and accurate data collection for reporting purposes. The Assistant Director oversees the review and approval process for gift agreements, requiring a solid understanding of legal, compliance, and university policy issues related to gift acceptance.

• Applying industry best practices to assist in the coordination and execution of a University-wide donor relations and stewardship program for donors at all levels of giving to ensure donors experience high quality interactions with St. John Fisher University that foster long-term engagement and investment.
• Recognize and steward key donors through a variety of methods, including but not limited to: donor recognition events and ceremonies, annual reporting, special stewardship pieces, physical recognition, internal and external awards and recognition, Spire Society recognition and more.
• Serve as facilitator of scholarship recipient participation and attendance at the annual endowed scholarship celebration.
• Create content and author scholarship reports to maximize student-donor relationships.
• Collaborate with internal partners to prepare and distribute annual reports to donors and internal audiences to demonstrate the impact of their gifts.
• Partner with offices from around campus to ensure that gifts are used appropriately, and to ensure the accurate and timely collection of key data for reporting purposes. Reports include but are not limited to: thank you notes to donors of named scholarships; annual stewardship reports to donors of named endowments and select non-endowed funds; annual endowment impact report, annual Spire Society impact report.
• Oversee the review and approval process for gift agreements drafted by gift officers and other colleagues.
• Develop and maintain a robust knowledge of legal, compliance and University policy issues pertaining to gift language and acceptance in order to provide accurate and up-to-date guidance.
• In collaboration with advancement colleagues, coordinate effective stewardship communications, including but not limited to: gift receipts and acknowledgements, memorial and tribute cards, first time donor cards, the year-end donor thank you video, holiday cards, donor reports, donor signage, online donor recognition, and more.
• Collaborate on the development of physical donor recognition pieces.
• Collaborate with Advancement colleagues to develop an intimate knowledge of top donors, VIP event attendees, high-profile alumni in the community and other regions to inform recognition and engagement strategies.
• Participate in and take leadership in events sponsored by the Office of Institutional Advancement.
• Serve as an integral part of the Alumni & Constituent Engagement Team through event planning and production to ensure quality donor experiences.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits:  

• Performance Review Policy
• Vacation and Holiday Policy  - 15 days PTO plus Holidays including December 24-January 2
• Medical, Dental, Health Insurance
• Life Insurance

Education: Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 2-5 years’ experience in stewardship, donor relations, development, alumni relations, advancement communications, or related field. Ability to work independently.

Experience/Personal Qualifications:

• Ability to coordinate and implement initiatives that deepen the level of understanding of and commitment to St. John Fisher University utilizing strong project management and event planning experience
• Strong interpersonal skills – ability to work well with others and a welcoming demeanor. Strong listening and interpretive skills.
• Ability to work effectively with donors, alumni, faculty, administrators, and students
• Skills in the research, development, and evaluation of policies and programs, including ability to collect, evaluate, and interpret data to develop sound conclusions and make appropriate recommendations
• Ability to anticipate problems and address them proactively
• Demonstrated ability to effectively interpret, organize, and present information and ideas in written or presentation form
• Diplomacy and discretion in dealing with sensitive and confidential information
• Demonstrated enthusiasm to learn and incorporate best practices in donor relations and new technologies
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusion as a University priority
• Demonstrated strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong attention to detail
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, including Access.
• Excellent verbal and written skills
• CRM experience preferred

Specific Requirements of Position:

• Newsletter Production
• Annual Report/Brochure Production
• Special Events Planning

Position Reports to:

Paige Bechle
Associate Director of Donor Engagement

Apply here: https://jobs.sjf.edu/postings/4153

Include with Correspondence:

• Resume
• References
• Cover Letter