Assistant Director of Athletic Development

Towson University•Towson, MD

About The Position

The Assistant Director of Athletic Development is responsible for creating and executing communication and solicitation plans to grow Towson’s Annual Fund. This role involves increasing total contributions and donors in support of athletic initiatives on campus. The position requires partnership with other members of the Athletic Development team and the Development Annual Giving team to build a comprehensive communication and solicitation calendar. Key responsibilities include motivating, engaging, and securing financial gifts for athletic causes, identifying data needs for segmented communications, and developing marketing materials that adhere to TU brand standards. The role also involves refining strategies based on data, improving engagement for leadership and major gifts, and conducting events to attract and retain constituents. Additionally, the Assistant Director will oversee graduate interns and student-interns responsible for donor stewardship, membership benefits fulfillment, and event planning. This includes managing thank you mailings, inventory of donor gifts, and planning engagement and fundraising events for the Tiger Athletic Fund (TAF) and head coaches, as well as TAF hospitality for Football and Men's Basketball home games.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree with one year of experience in strategic marketing and/or communications.
Experience in writing and design, preferably for fund raising/development purposes.
Prior experience in using data to drive marketing planning and decision-making.
Experience managing and creating content for social media.
Excellent written and oral communications skills to create copy and content for all messaging.
Ability to set priorities, handle multiple assignments and deadlines, and display good judgement while operating in a flexible and professional manner.
Customer-service orientation.
Strong interpersonal skills; ability to work collaboratively.
Strong capabilities in website design, branding, and content management.
Exceptional computer skills with the Adobe Creative Suite.
Initiative and independent thinking, planning and decision-making.
Ability to attend and interact with donors and prospective donors at Tiger Athletic Fund events and athletic competitions.
Exceptional understanding of the values of a public higher education institution and collegiate athletics, and the ability to articulate these values to internal and external constituents.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience working in higher education and/or an intercollegiate athletic environment.

Responsibilities

Create and execute communication and solicitation plans to grow Towson’s Annual Fund by increasing total contributions and donors in support of athletic initiatives on campus.
Work in partnership with other members of the Athletic Development team, and the Development Annual Giving team, to build a communication and solicitation calendar of activities to motivate, engage and secure financial gifts in support of athletic causes.
Partner with necessary teams to identify data needs to segment communications tools.
Develop and design materials to appeal to key segments of athletic audience through adherence to TU brand standards. Materials will increase the visibility of TU athletics across the region and will utilize significant skills in generating content, messaging, and visual design.
Utilize data to refine strategies to improve response and donor rates.
Develop marketing and communications materials to improve engagement of leadership and major gifts in support of Athletics.
Conduct activities and events to attract and retain constituents and donors including hospitality and other benefits.
Partner with other revenue generating teams within Athletics to ensure strategies across teams complement each other and are coordinated to benefit external constituents and TU.
Oversee and supervise the Tiger Athletic Fund Graduate Intern and student-intern programs.
Manage all donor stewardship activities including thank you mailings to donors, fulfilling membership benefits, and keeping inventory of Tiger Athletic Fund donor gifts.
Plan all athletics engagement and fundraising events for TAF and all head coaches, in addition to TAF hospitality for Football and Men's Basketball home games.