Senior Associate Director, Donor Relations - College

Department
 

ARD Donor Relations

About the Department
 

Alumni Relations and Development (ARD) engages alumni (~220k), current students, parents, and friends of the University through intellectual, professional, and social activities on campus, around the world, and online. ARD raises $600 Million annually to support faculty and researchers, practitioners and patients, and students and programs across the University. Our work supports priorities in every division, school, department, and institute.

The Donor Relations team oversees and promotes the University of Chicago’s best practices in outstanding donor stewardship. The University’s relations program is committed to providing exemplary stewardship experiences, which enhance relationships with and increase the engagement of the University's alumni, donors, and friends.

Job Summary
 

This role develops and implements programs with senior leadership and colleagues to lead a comprehensive University-wide donor relations program to enrich the relationship between donors and the University. Plans, organizes, and leads the donor program to recognize, steward, and cultivate individuals in meaningful ways and at different giving levels.

Responsibilities

• Oversees program(s) to steward and engage donors to the College at all giving levels.
• Creates and executes stewardship plans in partnership with ARD and University leadership.
• Engages with donors and students remotely and at visits, meetings, and events.
• Serves as representative and voice of donor, participating in the planning and execution of events and experiences that are donor and student-centric, strategic, advance overall fundraising goals, and are consistent and coordinated across the University.
• Develops and manages communications plans for donor stewardship and engagement.
• Acts as a key partner and strategist for naming opportunities and donor recognition events such as building dedications.
• Educates and trains colleagues on policies and best practices through a variety of communication tools and vehicles including written information, meetings, presentations, and staff training.
• Manages staff including hiring, assignment of work, mentoring, promoting professional growth, and evaluating performance. 
• Seeks opportunities for professional development that will enhance job performance, including building networks within the University and with colleagues at peer institutions and to broadly diversify the advancement profession.
• Guides the creation of University-wide standards on appropriate ways to recognize and steward donors. Uses a deep understanding of donor programs to develop policies and quality control guidelines for donor relations programs.
• Has full authority to develop communication strategies for publications related to donors and volunteers.
• Has a deep understanding within the areas of recognition, stewardship, acknowledgement, and proposal writing. Sets activity goals and develops the annual operating budget for donor related programs.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications
 

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

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Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 5-7 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

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Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Coursework in project management, business, finance, economics, analytics, library and information science, or non-profit management.

Experience:

• Minimum five years of professional experience in nonprofit management, donor relations, development, alumni relations, marketing, public relations, sales, or similar professional work experience.
• Minimum one year leading a project team or managing staff.
• Minimum one year experience developing and monitoring budgets.

Technical Skills or Knowledge:

• Demonstrated skill and knowledge of, or ability to learn quickly, the internal workings of the University as well as the technology tools available to the Office of Alumni Relations and Development, including the University's donor relationship management system, Microsoft Windows computer environment, and the Microsoft Office Suite.

Preferred Competencies

• Build, lead, mentor, and motivate a diverse team, and encourage growth and change in both people and programs. A strong commitment to personal and professional development, and foster a collaborative and inclusive team environment.
• Outstandin