Associate Director of Stewardship

Reporting to the Senior Director of Donor Relations, the Associate Director will support the comprehensive stewardship program with a focus on building and maintaining acknowledgment and reporting systems for all University donors. Collaborating with development officers, deans and other University leaders, the Associate Director ensures that target audiences receive timely communication regarding their donations in a way that inspires ongoing philanthropy and deepens institutional involvement.

Baton Rouge, LA

LSU Foundation

<p>The LSU Foundation is the primary fundraising entity for academics at LSU.&nbsp;The LSU Foundation's sole purpose to provide philanthropic support to LSU, which we accomplish through the work of a campus-wide team of frontline development officers and a support team of advancement services, communications and marketing, donor relations, financial and talent management personnel. &nbsp;</p> http://www.lsufoundation.org/jobs

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Associate Director

Overview: Reporting to the Senior Director of Donor Relations, the Associate Director will support the comprehensive stewardship program with a focus on building and maintaining acknowledgment and reporting systems for all University donors. Collaborating with development officers, deans and other University leaders, the Associate Director ensures that target audiences receive timely communication regarding their donations in a way that inspires ongoing philanthropy and deepens institutional involvement. This position will serve as a resource for all LSU affiliates, colleges, units; and campuses belonging to the LSU system and collaborate with LSU Leadership to ensure the University&rsquo;s most generous donors and volunteers are actively and intentionally connected to their giving.&nbsp;
Responsibilities: <p><strong>Essential Duties &amp; Responsibilities</strong>&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li><strong>(25%) Establish and drive annual stewardship strategy:</strong>&nbsp;Responsible for the strategic development, management and coordination of the University&rsquo;s comprehensive stewardship efforts. Analyze donor behavior to drive broad-based stewardship, acknowledgment, and reporting tactics that deepen donor relationships. Establish and maintain a comprehensive annual calendar of stewardship touches and collaborate with campus partners to ensure that stakeholders are well informed of upcoming activities. Maintains training resources for internal staff and communicates acknowledgment and reporting activities to the larger frontline fundraising team as needed. Compiles metrics to measure and report stewardship activities and benchmark against peer organizations to assess program effectiveness. Identify and resolve donor relations issues as well as responding to donor or development officer inquiries. &nbsp;</li> <li><strong>(30%) Manage institutional acknowledgment programs:&nbsp;</strong>Oversee the comprehensive acknowledgment processes and procedures for the university at large, providing tools to ensure all donors are thanked in an appropriate and timely manner. Draft, prepare, distribute and track letters from the LSU Foundation and varying levels of LSU leadership acknowledging gifts of all levels, including those made in honor of and in memory of friends and loved ones. This includes building standardized templates for acknowledgments as well as customized acknowledgments when appropriate. Serve as the point of contact for acknowledgment inquiries from colleges and units and provide monthly reporting on acknowledgment productivity and timeliness.&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>(30%) Produce annual endowment and impact reporting:</strong>&nbsp;Execute the annual stewardship and impact reporting of endowed and non-endowed funds in accordance with the Foundation policy and individual gift agreements. This includes establishing working timelines, developing process improvements, researching and gathering fund and impact related information, collaborating with internal partners, as well as overseeing the assembly, mailing and production of such reports. This position will work collaboratively with financial aid, CFO&rsquo;s office and other campus partners to gather impact data, beneficiary testimonies, and fund utilization details.&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>(15%) Supervise stewardship team:</strong>&nbsp;Mentor and manage engagement team members, identifying areas of growth and professional development needed for each member to excel. Participate in regular face-to-face meetings, set and review annual goals and objectives, identify areas of growth, including but not limited to formal professional development activities. Works closely with other Donor Relations team leads to ensure effective and streamlined processes across functions. Support efforts of donor relations colleagues as needed during peak periods. &nbsp;</li> </ul> <p><strong>Marginal Duties &amp; Responsibilities</strong></p> <ul> <li>Develop template materials, guide books, best practices documents, etc. to assist colleagues in planning and implementing acknowledgments and donor reports that suit the unique needs of their individual units.</li> <li>Participates in and contributes to the University-wide Donor Relations Council.</li> <li>Utilize Advance to track, monitor, and manage stewardship activities for donors, prospects, and volunteers and evaluate programming and determine the return on investment.&nbsp;</li> </ul>
Requirements: <ul> <li>Bachelor&rsquo;s degree and a minimum of 3 years of progressive experience in a development, nonprofit or university setting, with an emphasis in donor relations, stewardship, advancement services, communications or a related field &nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li>Working knowledge of databases such as Raiser&rsquo;s Edge, Advance or similar and expert proficiency in Microsoft Office suite, with an emphasis on Excel and PowerPoint.</li> <li>Excellent writing and editing skills, including the ability to write copy with limited supervision to effectively convey impact of giving and independently incorporate changes, comments and critiques from multiple reviewers.&nbsp;</li> <li>Must be extraordinarily organized, demonstrate a meticulous attention to detail, and juggle multiple and varied tasks simultaneously to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines for a wide variety of assignments.</li> <li>Professional and diplomatic demeanor, strong work ethic and the ability to work well independently, as a member of a group or committee.</li> <li>Proven project management experience in a high-profile, fast-paced and deadline-driven environment.&nbsp;</li> <li>Demonstrated analytical, strategic-thinking, adaptability, communication and relationship-building skills are essential as well as the ability to successfully work within teams and manage change.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p><strong>Preferred Knowledge &amp; Skill Qualifications&nbsp;</strong></p> <ul> <li>Exceptional written and oral communication skills and experience writing and producing donor acknowledgments, impact reports or other donor correspondence or collateral.&nbsp;</li> <li>Experience with philanthropic fund management and reporting, including understanding of data and financial information.</li> <li>Experience working on large and complex fundraising projects especially major, multi-year capital campaigns, with specific experience in donor stewardship.&nbsp;</li> <li>Ideal candidate will have regularly participated in professional associations such as the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, Association of Donor Relations Professionals, Association of Advancement Services Professional or Association of Fundraising Professionals.</li> <li>Master&rsquo;s degree and/or Certified Fund-raising Executive (CFRE) is desirable.&nbsp;</li> <li>Experience in fundraising in higher education or the non-profit sector preferred.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Supervisory Responsibilities&nbsp;</strong></p> <ul> <li>May manage one staff member and/or student assistants with the expectation of growing the stewardship team.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Work Environment Requirements</strong></p> <ul> <li>May be required to work extended workdays, evenings and weekends to support the broader donor relations team with special events staffing or unit-wide projects and initiatives.&nbsp;</li> <li>Travel is limited to occasional professional development conferences.</li> </ul>