What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Director, Annual Giving and Alumni Engagement position at South Texas College of Law Houston?
SUMMARY The Senior Director, Annual Giving and Alumni Engagement is responsible for the development and implementation of a comprehensive annual giving and alumni engagement program, focused on growing annual giving from law school constituencies as well as engaging with alumni in variety of creative and innovative ways. This position involves a high level of contact with individuals inside and outside the College.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned.
Build and implement strategic and tactical plans to achieve annual fundraising and engagement goals, ensuring that the law school is a leader among its peers.
Manage budgets for the annual giving and alumni programs, and report regularly on the program ROI.
Manage vendors who support direct marketing, planned giving marketing, and alumni engagement programs.
Annual Giving
Oversee strategies for direct response, digital solicitation, planned giving marketing, and other revenue generating programs that produce a successful stream of projectable, predictable income, primarily from alumni support.
Analyze and report on campaign results, using data to innovate for continued optimization and growth.
Develop persuasive and effective annual fund solicitation materials that effectively communicate the need for philanthropy and its impact on the law school.
Working with the Database team, maintain regular reporting for the annual giving program to show growth, activity, status toward goals, and to-date comparisons with prior years for context.
Partner with the Donor Relations team to create and execute creative stewardship strategies to ensure that donors are engaged, appreciated, and will give again.
Alumni Engagement
Along with the VP, support the Alumni Association Board of Directors by arranging its meetings, staffing its committees, and ensuring strong and productive relationships between its members and the law school's leadership and students.
Support and elevate connections between alumni and students by collaborating with Student Engagement, Admissions, Career Services, and other departments as needed to identify meaningful opportunities for alumni participation to engage with the law school and support student needs.
Oversee alumni affinity chapters and groups, working with internal constituencies to develop creative and effective strategies to bring alumni back to the law school to support programs and priorities.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
Supervises at least one team member
QUALIFICATIONS To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Thorough understanding of best practices and trends in annual giving and alumni engagement
Strategic approach to the entire donor lifecycle, with a proven commitment to donor-centric fundraising.
Strong knowledge and understanding of current philanthropy trends, with a clear desire to constantly learn and improve skills.
Flexibility and initiative, as well as the ability to work independently, combined with the skills for thriving in a team environment to achieve institutional goals.
Ability to interact personally with donors and volunteers, with demonstrated skills in volunteer management.
Exceptional interpersonal skills that support meaningful relationships with law school leadership, staff, and high-level volunteers.
Experience in, and commitment to, data driven decision making.
Proven ability to work with a high level of independence, maintain confidentiality, prioritize assignments, and manage time effectively.
Strong, positive communication skills, both verbal and written.
Ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously with attention to accuracy and detail.
Mastery of Microsoft Office programs, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
Ability to receive and give constructive feedback.
Ability and willingness to travel periodically for alumni engagement events, and to work on evenings and weekends when needed.
EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE
Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree appreciated.
Minimum seven years of experience in annual fund, direct marketing fundraising, and/or alumni engagement/volunteer management required.
Database experience required, and experience with Raiser’s Edge NXT preferred.
Experience in an institution of higher education, or an environment of similar complexity, is preferred.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Ability to read and comprehend simple instructions, short correspondence, and memos. Ability to write simple and complex correspondence. Ability to effectively and professionally communicate in one-on-one small group and large group situations to students, alumni, clients, and other employees of the organization.
MATHEMATICAL SKILLS
Ability to perform basic math essentials.
REASONING ABILITY
Ability to define routine problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions to solve routine problems and/or deal with a variety of variables in situations, especially when department head may be out of office or unavailable. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.
CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS
NA
PHYSICAL DEMANDS The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and talk or hear. The employee is regularly required to stand and walk. Occasional light to moderate lifting from floor level, at waist, and above shoulders required. Infrequent bending and stooping necessary. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision in order to accurately input data and proofread; distance vision in order to recognize and assist visitors to the department.
WORK ENVIRONMENT The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Fast paced, multi-tasking, non-smoking work environment. Must be able to work the general business schedule of the College (9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) plus evenings and weekends as necessary.
