Job Summary

The University of Utah announced the public phase of their current fundraising campaign, Imagine New Heights in September 2018.  As part of this effort the university’s central Annual Giving team, within Alumni Relations and Constituent Engagement, is expanding to meet the growing needs of the university and individual colleges and units.

As a part of the University of Utah, the University Advancement division is deeply committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).  We embrace this commitment to grow and maintain a diverse, safe, and inclusive workplace culture for all employees in University Advancement.  With an increasingly diverse population of alumni and donors, we recognize that nationally the most successful advancement offices employ individuals who can connect with these diverse communities and understand approaches that mirror a broad perspective of cultures, values, and experiences.  The long-term strength and viability of the University of Utah stem from the ongoing EDI practices, and we work intentionally to ensure these efforts are reflected in all aspects of our fundraising and advancement work.  We highly encourage applications from historically underrepresented minority groups, persons with disabilities, persons who have served in the military, and others who would bring additional dimensions of education and experience to our team.

Reporting to the Director of Annual Giving, the Associate Director of Annual Giving will be a critical member of the Annual Giving team. This person will provide leadership to and execution of a university-wide solicitation plan, help develop an encompassing engagement/solicitation strategy and oversee solicitation data requests, tracking and results reporting.

The Associate Director will be charged with sustaining and improving current efforts and creating new strategies to influence the team’s overall success in the areas of giving and alumni participation.  This role directly supervises one full-time Annual Giving Digital Engagement Manager and Student Philanthropy and Engagement Manager.

Responsibilities

• In partnership with the Annual Giving team, lead and execute a university-wide solicitation plan consisting of direct mail, phonathon, email, and other digital efforts.
• Develop and execute an annual giving strategy for things such as: gift anniversaries solicitations, first-time donors, faculty/staff solicitations based on best practices in the industry.
• Directly supervise; an Annual Giving Digital Engagement Manager whose focus is executing the digital engagement and solicitation plan; and a Student Philanthropy and Engagement Center Manager whose focus is running the student phone program and expansion. Additionally, oversees the U Giving Day internal staff committee.
• Collaborate with the entire Annual Giving Team to coordinate annual giving communications and share these transparently with campus partners.
• Responsibly to use professional development resources and stay current on best practices and trends within annual giving.
• Directs, manages, and oversees the creative content for all appeals, including U Giving Day, mail pieces, and other efforts. Determines timelines and sets appropriate expectations for results.
• Oversees Annual Giving content creation for all marketing channels using persuasive and creative writing to encourage current and soon to be donors to give.
• Following the purchasing guidelines of the university, manages the biding and selection process of external vendors working on behalf of Annual Giving’s direct mail, digital, and phone efforts.
• Manages partnerships with external vendors to ensure desired and agreed-upon expectations are met.
• Helps create an annual giving stewardship program with tools such as ThankView, handwritten student notes, Marketing Cloud, on-campus events, etc..
• Analyzes back-end results and responses and provides a strategy for tracking and reporting on mass solicitation results.
• Help direct and oversee some sections of the Annual Giving fiscal year budget.
• Maintain the highest level of discretion and confidentiality with sensitive donor information.

Qualifications

University Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business or Public Administration, a related area, or equivalency required; plus six years of progressively more responsible management experience; and demonstrated leadership, human relations and effective communication skills also required. Master’s degree in Business Administration or related area preferred.
• This position is not responsible for providing patient care.
• Applicants must demonstrate the potential ability to perform the essential functions of the job as outlined in the position description.

Department Requirements:

• Three years of fund-raising experience which includes direct solicitation of contributions, volunteer leadership support, written and verbal presentations, and strategy and market development are required. Demonstrated human relations and effective communication skills required.
• Experience working with print and annual giving vendors preferred. Demonstrated negotiating skills are also preferred.

Preferences:

• Experience working within higher education annual giving or development
• Experience with or an understanding of the organizational structure of a large public university
• Experience coordinating a broad-based marketing program, digital marketing experience highly desired.
• Proven ability to motivate, engage, and work with alumni, volunteers, and colleagues.
• Creativity and ability to motivate large groups.
• Knowledge of Salesforce, complex database systems, automated calling software, and market research practices is highly desired.