Staff Assistant, Major & Leadership Gifts, Duke Alumni Engagement and Development

 

Staff Assistant, Major & Leadership Gifts, Duke Alumni Engagement and Development (AED)

 

 

Occupational Summary

 

This position will provide advanced level of direct administrative support to two to three Regional Major Gift Directors.  This position will handle administrative duties, which include but are not limited to, arranging meetings, travel and events, recording gifts and pledges accurately, drafting high level correspondence and briefings, conducting research, as well as providing technical and logistical support to the directors.  This position will also work cooperatively with other Development Assistants, the Director and Assistant Director for Administration and Operations and Regional Major Gift Directors (RMGD) within the Office of Major Gifts.

 

Essential Job Functions

 

Travel and Events

• Coordinate RMGDs trip preparation and travel arrangements, including providing suggestions on prospect visits, establishing the itinerary, making flight and hotel arrangements, and preparing the travel binder. Anticipate and identify appropriate supporting documentation and briefing materials for the RMGDs such as research materials and historical gift, biographic and prospect information.
• Contact Duke Alumni, parents and friends to request and schedule RMGD appointments. Respond to inquiries from donors, especially in the RMGD’s absence.
• Participate in the planning of select events for cultivation, solicitation and/or stewardship purposes. Compile and maintain lists for major gifts events or meetings. Serve as liaison to University Development special events office to oversee implementation of meetings and events.

 

Reporting

• Draft a wide variety of written materials including detailed individual prospect briefings, letters and internal and external correspondence.   Gather information from faculty, administrators, academic units, and other colleagues to support the development of gift proposals.
• Develop the criteria, initiate the requests and follow up on reports required by the RMGDs. Verify the data and proof financial and fundraising reports after receipt. Research and investigate gift commitments using office files and the database and prepare reports.
• Assist in the tracking of major gift proposals, endowment agreements and contact reports. Use the moves management database to enter moves and solicitations and check the accuracy of reports consisting of moves management data.

 

 

Administrative

• Screen and prioritize mail and documents to determine which items to respond to independently or which to bring to director's attention based on content of communication and knowledge of office activities.
• Set up and maintain varied office files of records, reports and correspondence required for reference and efficient operation of office.
• Maintain RMGD calendars including scheduling internal /external meetings, alerting RMGD to important dates. Prepare and/or provide necessary documents for RMGD’s use in meetings. Attend meetings as requested to take minutes.

 

Training

• Assist in the training of new employees. Participate as a team member by sharing workloads and maintaining knowledge of colleagues’ activities.
• Perform other related duties incidental to the work described herein. The above statements describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this classification. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties required of personnel so classified.

 

Required Behavioral Competencies

 

• Attention to Detail:   Accurately maintains schedules or calendars to monitor details for more complex assignments or projects. Regularly follows up with others to ensure information is complete.
• Collaborating with Others:  Ability to work collaboratively, formally and informally within one’s team and across the organization. 
• Curiosity and Information Seeking:  Personally investigates the problem or situation.
• Dealing with Ambiguity:  Effectively copes with change and shifts gears comfortably. Decides and acts without having the total picture.
• Decisiveness & Judgement:  Uses sound judgment to make appropriate, timely decisions in moderately complex situations where information may be missing. Knows when to escalate a decision to a higher level.

• Flexibility:  The ability to adapt to and work effectively with a variety of situations, and with various individuals or groups.

• Initiative:  Acts and works independently, taking prompt action to accomplish objectives