Director of Donor Relations

Director of Donor Relations

University Job Title: Director 1, Development
Bargaining Unit: None - Not included in the union (Yale Union Group)
Time Type: Full time
Duration Type: Regular
Compensation Grade: Administration & Operations
Wage Ranges: Click here to see our Wage Ranges
Work Location: Central Campus
Worksite Address: 157 Church Street
New Haven, CT 06510
Work Week: Standard (M-F equal number of hours per day)
Searchable Job Family: Development
Total # of Hours to be Works: 37.5

Position Focus:
The Director of Donor Relations is a member of the Alumni Engagement and Development team, responsible for overseeing the recognition of donors, ensuring that donors are aware of the impact of their private support, aiding in fostering long-term relationships between donors and the school, and assisting in nurturing a culture of philanthropy within the school and among its graduates. The Director reports to the Executive Director for Advancement Services.

The director: Oversees the development and coordination of stewardship communications and related activities to ensure all donors are aware of the impact of their philanthropic support in a timely and relevant way. Creates materials and communications relevant to key donor segments. Develops a strategic plan for donor relations that aligns with and supports AED's overarching priorities and objectives. Produces reports to track and manage progress. Oversees and at times assists with the production of tailored stewardship reports for a portfolio of current-use and endowed funds, including acquiring information on how the funds have been spent, working with fund beneficiaries and recipients to create compelling stories of impact, compiling information into narrative donor reports, and writing and editing appropriate correspondence to accompany reports. Partners with fundraisers to produce stewardship materials to advance cultivation and solicitation strategies. Oversees and at times assists with outreach to students, faculty, and senior leaders to elicit letters of appreciation and impact updates. Identifies and develops strategic content and messaging for reporting to donor's and alumni about the school's campaign fundraising priorities. Oversees the implementation of a robust stewardship tracking mechanism that utilizes the University's CRM (Hopper). Generates regular reports and presentations about stewardship plans, timelines, and activities for internal and external constituents. Ensures the timely production of impact reports and acknowledgement letters. Serves as a communications project management resource within the AED team providing a broad timetable of when impact communications are going out across AED, the school, and the university. Leads the project management of the Annual Report of Giving. Develops messaging strategy, identifies potential stories for inclusion, and provides feedback on report drafts. Helps with planning and organizing donor recognition opportunities to ensure quality and appropriate donor engagement and acknowledgment. Develops strategic framework for utilizing the Yale Law School website to steward donors; oversees creation of content and ongoing management to insure that website is best leveraged to advance donor relations and AED goals. Develops personal annual performance goals as well as performance metrics for team members and provides regular feedback regarding performance against individual and team goals. Stays abreast of initiatives and activities at the school on an ongoing basis in order to provide content ideas for stewardship projects. Partners with colleagues in OER and across the School to gather, synthesize, organize, and share programmatic information for donor reporting purposes.

The director will have a deep understanding of and demonstrated ability with a multichannel donor recognition, including digital and print reporting, web site development and content management, gift acknowledgements, recognition societies, events, and bespoke actions designed to recognize and celebrate giving by the most generous donors to the School.

The successful candidate will be a collaborative, innovative, strategic, creative and intellectually curious/broad thinker who will create and execute new communication and stewardship strategies that build on the University and School's strong tradition of philanthropic giving and committed alumni base.

Essential Duties:
1. Directs the efforts of the Development office and its staff to create and promote opportunities for communicating the needs and priorities of assigned departments, schools, and divisions to potential donors; formulates and develops programs to identify and cultivate prospective donors. 2. Directs development activities including: cultivation and solicitation events; proposal preparation; donor visits with staff and faculty; stewardship events; special exhibits and events, etc. that promotes and recognizes donors. 3. Directs and monitors development of prospect donor lists in collaboration with the research department; develops policies and procedures related to identification of needs and priorities of specific schools or department; creates opportunities for donors to support the needs of the various schools and departments. 4. Oversees and ensures schools are well-served in one or more of the following: prospect research, donor stewardship, development for major gifts, annual fund programs, and alumni relations function. 5. Directs, leads, coaches, and motivates development officers throughout the University to educate fundraisers and ensure that potential donors understand the opportunities provided in special events, stewardship programs, alumni programs, fellows programs, parent giving and student fundraising programs; works with student volunteers, administrators, faculty, and staff to build awareness of these programs. 6. Directs development office staff in planning special events working with student volunteers in planning type of event, timing, venue, invitation and/or promotion, activities or purpose, and anticipated results in order to maximize staff, faculty, administrator and donor experience. 7. Supervises a staff of non-exempt and exempt employees. 8. May perform other duties as assigned.

Required Education and Experience:
Minimum requirement of Bachelor's Degree in related field and six years of related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Required Skill/Ability 1:

Demonstrated supervision and management skills. Must be able to work in a team-based environment, and have the ability to direct and motivate staff and volunteers.

Required Skill/Ability 2:

Demonstrated success in developing and executing strategic donor relations materials, events, and plans.

Required Skill/Ability 3:

Excellent communication, interpersonal, presentation, and organizational skills. Commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace.

Required Skill/Ability 4:

Must have strong computer software skills including MS Office, Excel, PowerPoint, Canva, databases and networked information systems.

Required Skill/Ability 5:

Excellent analytic skills to ensure data-driven results. Ability and willingness to travel, and work some weekends and evenings as needed.


Preferred Education, Experience and Skills:
Experience in a complex, matrixed university setting working with alumni and donors. Familiarity with Yale University. Ten years of experience.

Drug Screen: No
Health Screening: No

Background Check Requirements:


COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement:
Thank you for your interest in employment at Yale University. Please also note that the university has a https://covid19.yale.edu/covid-19-vaccination-policy "> COVID-19 vaccination and booster requirement for all students, staff & faculty which is described in the https://yalehealth.yale.edu/yale-covid-19-vaccine-program"> COVID-19 Vaccine Program. As you search our open positions, you will see that all postings list their on-site addresses which gives more detail on the on-campus work location of the role.


Posting Disclaimer:
The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the essential functions that will be required of the position and should not be construed as a declaration of specific duties and responsibilities of the particular position. Employees will be assigned specific job-related duties through their hiring departments.

To apply, visit https://sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Search/home/HomeWithPreLoad?partnerid=25053&siteid=5248&PageType=JobDetails&jobid=1565553



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