Development Officer for Parent Giving

Posted on 09/18/2023

UNCW is recruiting for a frontline fundraiser who is eager to make a lasting impact on the lives of students by leveraging the power of parent involvement and philanthropy.

The Development Officer for Parent Giving will play a key role in enhancing UNCW’s culture of philanthropy by building and developing relationships with current parents, encouraging involvement, securing private support to enhance the student experience, and communicating impact. This role will personally solicit parents for leadership annual gifts ($25,000 to $1,000). In addition, the Development Officer for Parent Giving will design effective engagement opportunities, provide counsel to the annual giving team on solicitation strategies and messaging, and assist with the discovery and cultivation of major gift-rated parent prospects. This role will help strengthen the donor pipeline at UNCW and will report to the Associate Vice Chancellor for University Advancement.

This is a great opportunity to join a university on the rise with the impending conclusion of a $125 million comprehensive campaign and the introduction of a new 10-year strategic plan. UNCW’s Division for University Advancement offers a fast-paced yet lighthearted working environment where work-life balance and teleworking flexibility are afforded, all while honoring our values of accountability, collaboration, and efficiency.
 
Brief Summary of Work for this Position:
  • Manages a comprehensive parent giving program to engage and inspire philanthropic support from parents. Coordinates strategies within Advancement to identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward parents.
  • Creates and manages a portfolio of leadership annual giving rated parent prospects
  • Develops a strong understanding of UNCW’s parent community to be able to provide counsel to colleagues on priorities, perceptions, and preferences.
  • Cultivates relationships with parents through personalized outreach, meetings, events, and volunteer opportunities
  • Collaborates with Advancement staff as well as with campus partners on effective engagement opportunities
  • Participates in the coordination of research efforts to identify highly rated parent prospects
  • Responsible for management of the Parents Council (a parent-giving society) with the goal of refining and building upon its current structure to maximize its impact and increase membership
  • Implements strategies to increase unrestricted support of the Parent Opportunity Fund
  • In conjunction with university leadership, identify mini-fundraising campaign projects that would resonate with parent donors
  • Plans, implements, monitors, and evaluates both engagement and solicitation strategies to determine the successful return on investment in support of the division’s strategic goals and fundraising targets

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements:

  • A bachelor’s degree is required. A minimum of three years of professional frontline fundraising experience and/or experience in sales, marketing or communications.
  • Understanding of the nuances and sensitivities involved in engaging and soliciting parents
  • Ability to translate thought leadership into actionable strategies and effectively collaborate with others to achieve shared objectives
  • Ability to request and interpret complex data reports to evaluate prospects and progress
  • Highly organized and detail-oriented, capable of managing multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously
  • Superior verbal and written communication, interpersonal, relationship-building, and creative problem-solving skills
  • Demonstrated ability to work interdependently and independently in a collaborative environment
  • Computer literacy with Microsoft products and customer relationship management systems
  • Self-motivated and results-driven
  • Ability to work evenings, and weekends and travel occasionally
  • Strong judgment and personal code of ethics

Preferred Education, Knowledge, Skills & Experience:

  • Previous professional experience in parent-giving
  • Volunteer management experience
  • Experience using Raiser’s Edge/NXT
  • Experience with the Campus ESP platform
The Division for University Advancement is responsible for the following primary goals:
  • Coordinate a campus-wide, comprehensive effort to raise philanthropic funds that support the strategic plan and mission of the university.
  • Manage an inclusive alumni engagement program designed to serve and engage nearly 100,000 alumni as ambassadors, advocates and donors.
  • Strengthen and expand UNCW’s donor pipeline through effective discovery, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship strategies.
  • Ensure that external boards (UNCW Foundation Board, Board of Visitors, Student Aid Association Board, Alumni Association Board of Directors and the Friends of UNCW) are effective in their mission of supporting UNCW.
The division’s fundraising efforts are enhanced by effective partnerships with the campus community as well as external constituents including alumni, parents, corporations, foundations, volunteers and friends. Development areas include annual giving, leadership annual giving, major gifts, principal gifts, corporate and foundation engagement and planned giving, as well as alumni engagement. Prospect development, events and board management, stewardship, communications and advancement services are support services for the fundraising activities of the division.
 
The University of North Carolina Wilmington, the state’s coastal university, is dedicated to the integration of teaching, mentoring, research and service. Widely acknowledged for its world-class faculty and staff and continuously recognized at a national level for scholarly excellence and affordability, UNCW offers a powerful academic experience that stimulates creative inquiry and critical thinking and a community rich in diversity, inclusion and global perspectives.

A public institution with nearly 18,000 students, UNCW offers a full range of baccalaureate- and graduate-level programs, as well as doctoral degrees in educational leadership, marine biology, nursing practice and psychology; and many distance learning options, including clinical research, an accelerated RN-to-BSN program, an Executive M.B.A. program structured for working professionals, and the nation’s only bachelor’s degree program focused on coastal engineering.

The university’s efforts to advance research and scholarly activities have earned UNCW the elevated designation of “Doctoral Universities: High Research Activity” institution (R2 University) by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

UNCW has been part of the University of North Carolina System since 1969.

 
Required Documents:
  • Cover Letter
  • Resume
  • List of 3 Professional References

To apply for this job please visit jobs.uncw.edu.