The Position
The director of donor relations leads, manages, and directs the Office of Donor Relations as it seeks to foster and nurture lifelong, meaningful relationships between the university and its donors and prospective donors. The director plays a central role in formulating and executing donor relations strategy and manages the day-to-day operations of the donor relations department. The director, in partnership with members of the university relations staff, oversees a broad range of activities designed to engage, acknowledge, and steward donors and potential donors. The Director of Donor Relations must be forward-thinking and creative in identifying and developing new methods of donor communication and stewardship. The director manages an office of three staff members and reports to the assistant vice president for university relations.

Donor Relations

• Oversee, manage, and execute the university’s overall donor relations strategy; and develop and implement sustainable strategies for an effective, comprehensive, and multi-faceted donor-centric stewardship program.
• Manage and direct a comprehensive donor matrix and recognition plan, which outlines acknowledgement and recognition across all levels of giving, to ensure donors are thanked consistently in an appropriate and timely fashion.
• Manage, direct, and staff all development events including annual donor recognition events, prospect cultivation events, stewardship events, and campaign-related events.
• Design and implement (with development officers, annual giving staff, and corporation and foundation relations staff when appropriate) customized cultivation and stewardship events for individual donors and prospective donors. Work with university relations leadership to draft and implement highly personalized stewardship plans for top donors, focusing on experiential stewardship.
• Serve as the central manager for information regarding endowment funds and donors. Manage and direct annual endowment reporting to appropriate donors of endowment gifts.
• Devise and track commemorative opportunities for new, renovated, and existing facilities. Manage all related donor recognition programs and initiatives including groundbreaking and dedication events.
• Develop and incorporate strategies and tactics that seek to better engage and steward key constituents, donors, and donor prospects; explore, develop, and implement activities and communications that maximize cultivation and stewardship impact.
• Manage and direct the preparation of significant portions of the President’s Annual Report and initiate and prepare other donor impact reports in collaboration with the Office of Communications.
• Develop and assist as appropriate with promotional material including event invitations, programs, brochures, and commemorative items.
• Draft correspondence for the president, the vice president for university relations, the assistant vice president for university relations, and other administrators as appropriate.

General

• Maintain currency on best practices and trends in donor relations and stewardship.
• Serve as a member of the university relations management team.

Other duties as needed.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in development or constituent relations, preferably at a small liberal arts institution;
• A track record of program development, management, and implementation;
• The ability to work autonomously, solve problems, exercise independent judgement, identify and test solutions, and think beyond what is typical or necessary;
• The ability to work and communicate effectively, orally and in writing, with a broad range of internal and external constituents including faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, and friends of the university;
• The ability to represent the university in an ethical manner and maintain confidentiality along with discretion, and navigate sensitive situations;
• Superior management and personnel skills;
• Highly developed computer skills including experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as well as constituent relations software such as Millennium;
• The willingness and ability to travel;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Excellent organizational and planning skills as well as superior attentiveness to detail;
• A bachelor’s degree; and
• The ability to respectfully work, communicate and provide leadership within a diverse campus community.

The University of Puget Sound is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to recruiting, hiring, and retaining the most qualified persons based on job-related criteria. The university will not engage in or tolerate any discrimination or harassment in the workplace as prohibited by local, state, or federal law. More specifically, no applicant or staff member will be discriminated against or harassed on the basis of his or her race, color, sex, religion, age, disability, marital or familial status, national origin, creed, veteran and military status, sexual orientation, sexual identity, gender identity and expression, genetic information, socioeconomic class, language spoken, documentation status, political beliefs or any other characteristic prohibited by applicable federal, state, or local law.