Associate Director, Engagement & Annual Giving

About the role

Reporting to the Senior Executive Chief Development Officer, the Associate Director, Engagement & Annual Giving will play a pivotal role in increasing philanthropic support for the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS). This position requires a strategic leader with a vision for increasing the number of donors annually, improving retention and engagement, and coordinating upgrade strategies to impact a growing philanthropic pipeline.

The Associate Director provides leadership for SBS's Annual Giving program by developing and implementing a range of effective engagement and solicitation strategies, including mentoring, events, departmental engagement, internship site hosting, and so on. This comprehensive strategy includes responsibility for increasing the number of engaged alumni and the number of gifts under $10,000 through tactics including online/mail/phone appeals. This position establishes benchmarks and regular reporting processes to measure results of activities, including creating new avenues for students and young alumni to establish and maintain connections with the school.

This position designs and implements departmental strategies and objectives to ensure departmental annual giving goals are met, maintaining clear lines of communication and collaboration with colleagues across campus. Works in partnership with colleagues to ensure a cohesive alumni and development strategy, and with the Advance system to ensure data accuracy. This position is also responsible for supervising student workers who support these functions.

Location: This is a full-time hybrid position and is open to employees in select US states: Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

What you'll do

1. Identifies, cultivates, solicits, and stewards constituents in support of top SBS initiatives through direct mail, email solicitation, social media, and telephone contact; executes a communication strategy in conjunction with the Central Annual Giving team and SBS Marketing and Communications to achieve engagement and annual giving goals.
2. Partners with the Senior Executive Chief Development Officer to create strategy and enhance the daily operations of engagement and annual giving at SBS, with a specific focus on donors with a giving capacity below $10K and young alumni. Collaborates with team members to transition the graduating class into young alumni and helps to maintain their status as both volunteers and donors.
3. Works with the SBS Marketing and Communications Department and frequently collaborates with the UMAF’s Annual Giving Team to increase participation and maximize annual giving revenue at SBS.
4. Partners with the Senior Executive Chief Development Officer and the UMAF Annual Giving team to support the #UMassGives campaign for SBS.
5. Assists in managing crowdfunding initiatives for alumni and students - Building of Minute Fund and Evergreen Pages/Content Creation/Outreach.
6. Identifies, cultivates, solicits, and stewards students, alumni, and parents, in support of top SBS initiatives through direct mail, email solicitation and social media; executes a communication strategy in conjunction with the UMAF Annual Giving Team and Marketing and Communications to achieve annual giving goals.
7. Coordinates the “From Classroom to Career” initiative, partnering with faculty to engage alumni in various capacities, including addressing classes, lunch sessions with students, and discussions on specific topics. Additionally, collaborates with faculty to invite and host alumni for in-person or virtual guest lectures.
8. Supports SBS events and represents SBS in internal and external events as they relate to engagement and annual giving.
9. UMAF is building and growing, and this position will support those efforts with other duties and projects as assigned from time to time.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• Working knowledge of Advancement databases.
• Experience in annual giving or alumni relations in an academic setting.
• Ability to excel in a self-directed manner and determine daily and competing priorities, make independent decisions, and manage large scale projects involving multiple constituents.
• Ability to exercise sound and independent judgment, particularly related to confidential materials and the prioritization of donor communications.
• Excellent verbal and interpersonal skills, and the ability to problem solve.
• Ability to write clearly and effectively with a thorough grasp of proper language structure and grammar.
• Expertise with Microsoft Office, including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook as well as fundraising databases and the ability to learn and adapt to new software platforms with limited training.
• Ability to travel occasionally.

Note: We’re passionate about building a diverse team. If your experience is close, but not an exact match, please consider applying. Experience comes in many forms, and skills are transferable. We know that diverse teams make better decisions and deliver better results, which is why we’re committed to adding new perspectives and encourage everyone to apply.

BENEFITS

• 20 vacation days, 12 holidays, 12 sick days, 5 personal days, and 2 office closure days.
• 4-day summer work week.
• 401(k) plan. You contribute 5% and receive a 10% match.
• Health insurance packages for medical, dental, and vision.
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave to use within 1 year of childbirth. An additional 6 weeks available for the birthing parent. Part-time work for full-time pay for the first 4 weeks post parental leave.
• Learn more about our benefits.

Proposed Annual Salary Range:

$68,000 - $75,000

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

At the UMass Amherst Foundation, we understand the value that diversity, equity, and inclusion bring to our workplace, our constituents, and our community. View our DEI Statement here