Job Description:

The Fundraising Data Specialist position in Virginia Tech is a key partner in leveraging data insights and fundraising trends while ensuring the execution of a best-in-class direct response fundraising program to increase revenue and alumni giving.

The Fundraising Data Specialist will help tackle one of the biggest challenges in higher education fundraising today: increasing alumni participation while also growing revenue. The Fundraising Data Specialist is a key team member of the Annual Giving group and will have autonomy to work cross-functionally with marketing, donor relations, and other teams to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities to optimize fundraising strategies. This role is also responsible for audience optimization for all solicitations and lead the data execution for annual giving fundraising efforts.

The Fundraising Data Specialist is a pivotal collaborator and self-starter who will be responsible for leading the analytics and insights needs for the Annual Giving team. This role is at the center of the team and should be a solutions-oriented colleague ready to jump in, ask questions, and translate business questions into actionable insights in order to optimize the performance of the solicitation marketing and constituency giving behavior.

Required Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent level of training and or experience
• Knowledge of modern data analytics tools such as Tableau to analyze trends and strategies in existing dashboards
• Experience with queries, gathering, analyzing reports, and presenting findings using tools such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access
• Demonstrated experience working with large relational databases
• Demonstrated ability to work with a high degree of speed and accuracy, with strong attention to detail
• Ability to work with a wide range of constituencies (internal and external); strong interpersonal and collaborative team skills
• Strong organizational and time management skills while working in a fast-paced, rapid-change environment
• Effective communicator and curious problem-solver across individuals and teams

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge of data visualization tools such as Tableau and SAS
• Experience working with CRMs
• Experience in higher education, nonprofits, fundraising, or marketing