With the assistance and under the guidance of the Associate Director of the Annual Fund, the Assistant Director of Donor Engagement is responsible for the implementation, maintenance and oversight of Loyola University Chicago School of Law’s stewardship and recognition efforts in addition to student and recent alumni philanthropic campaigns and programming. In collaboration with the entire School of Law Advancement team, this role will assist in executing the strategic plan and achieving the goals of the School of Law.

This position is critical to the success of Advancement efforts, in building relationships with students, alumni and other donors, tracking Donor Relations activities, and measuring impact of such work. The position will interact with all Advancement departments and individuals in Financial Aid, Finance, Marketing, and other areas in implementing stewardship efforts for all major donors and prospects to Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Donor Relations: 50%

• Researches and writes gift impact reports for use in special stewardship reports, giving society materials and other forms of donor stewardship.
• Prepares customized gift acknowledgment letters, emails and mailings for all law gifts and manages the process for weekly phone calls to steward donors.
• Leads the planning and execution of annual and periodic special events, including the annual Scholarship Dinner and Damen Society Luncheon.
• Coordinates annual scholarship student stewardship materials to include profiles, headshots, thank you letters and connecting students with donors/benefactors at the annual dinner and afterwards.
• Collaborates with members of the Central Donor Relations team on projects where there is overlap, including but not limited to managing the coordination of donor recognition signage.
• Manages the production and integration of video and digital reporting into stewardship efforts
• Meets with administrators and faculty as needed to obtain background information and/or determine how to best align written materials with the School of Law’s fundraising priorities.
• Works collaboratively and maintains excellent relationships with colleagues in Advancement, Finance, Financial Aid, Marketing, and faculty from across the university.
• Tracks relevant data within existing Donor Relations and Advancement systems, including information on scholarship recipients and donors.
• Facilitates meetings between students and donors when necessary.
• Creates stewardship touches for Board of Governors and other volunteers to use in their outreach.
• Secures stewardship touches for various events during the year and develops an archive of readily available content as needed.

Annual Giving: 50%

• Works with the Associate Director of the Annual Fund to ensure solicitation and stewardship content for young alumni and student philanthropy is coordinated and streamlined within the team’s annual content and communications calendar.
• Manages and implements the School of Law’s annual student philanthropy campaign including the oversight of volunteer outreach, online fundraising content (E-mail and social media), direct mail, events, print advertisements and personal solicitations as needed.
• As the primary contact for student philanthropy, recruit, train, and provide strategic support for student philanthropy volunteers who are part of the School of Law’s annual student philanthropy campaign to ensure progress toward fundraising goals are maintained.
• Coordinates and manages meetings for student philanthropy volunteers in addition to any necessary events or programs to support the annual campaign.
• Orders and distributes incentive materials to support the student philanthropy campaign.
• Develops a unique acknowledgement campaign for the student philanthropy campaign.
• Attends and/or supports School of Law alumni events especially those focusing on recent alumni programming in an effort to build a continuum of support from current students through their transition to recent graduate.
• Collaborates with team members to transition the graduating class into engaging as recent alumni, and helping to maintain their status as both volunteers and donors.
• Oversees the recent alumni events committee including developing a strategy to engage this group in support of all recent alumni programming.
• Coordinates efforts with 5th and 10th year reunion committees in support of the School of Law’s Alumni Awards and Reunion weekend to ensure recent alumni are engaging with Loyola.
• Develops and executes digital and print materials to advertise the recent alumni level of the Damen Society in an effort to build a continuum for support.
• Engages in face-to-face visits with prospective student and recent alumni donors in an effort to cultivate a long-term relationship resulting in solicitation for a philanthropic gift of support to the School of Law.
• Effectively benchmarks and monitors progress and reports fundraising results as needed to the advancement team in addition to the School of Law’s Alumni Board of Governors.

Other Responsibilities

• Performs timely database recording of visits and alumni record changes
• Collaborates with the Advancement Information Services (AIS) team to maintain volunteer roles and positions for coding in Advance, the Advancement Division’s CRM software.
• Pulls and analyzes reports needed to monitor and achieve fundraising goals
• Reports on progress to the department and the School of Law’s Alumni Board of Governors as requested
• Solicits and incorporates comments and critiques from multiple reviewers using exceptional writing and editing skills.

Qualifications, Minimum Education and/or Work Experience:

Bachelor’s degree supplemented with three years’ experience working in a fund-raising or nonprofit environment required, with a significant period of time spent directing and developing stewardship activities strongly preferred; or equivalent combination of education and experience in donor relations, relationship management or communications.

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field and three years of experience with writing and editing responsibilities in a professional setting or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Excellent writing and editing skills. Ability to produce clear, elegant, concise, and effective pieces and reports. Requires the ability to adapt writing style to a wide variety of situations and audiences.
• Excellent verbal communications and interpersonal skills. Ability to work effectively with colleagues, administrators, development officers, faculty and students. Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Strong project management skills. Ability to meet deadlines while handling multiple projects simultaneously and maintaining good relations with colleagues.
• Extremely precise attention to detail and accuracy. Strong research, analytical, organizational and problem-solving skills. • Experience conducting research using databases and Internet resources.
• Advanced proficiency in Word, mid-level proficiency in Excel.
• Understanding of higher education endowment purposes and financials a plus.
• Experience in fundraising for higher education a plus. Certificates/Credentials/Licenses: N/A Computer Skills: Proficiency with MS Office Suite, Internet and email applications. Familiarity with BSR/Advance a plus.

Supervisory Responsibilities: No
Required operation of university owned vehicles: No