Assistant Director of Events and Donor Engagement - Veterinary Medicine

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign•Urbana, IL

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Encourage and strengthen connection to donors, alumni, clients, referring veterinarians and corporate and philanthropic partners as valued members of the College of Veterinary Medicine community by participating in donor relations, strategies, activities and events. Responsible for coordination, planning, and execution of college events.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree.
Two years in education, training, or work experience in event, philanthropic and/or advancement administration.
Demonstrated project management experience.
Experience managing budgets.

Nice To Haves

Two years of demonstrated ability to strategize, implement and build constituency programs and activities.
Two years of demonstrated experience in planning, implementing and managing multiple complex projects and their respective budgets, while meeting aggressive deadlines.
Demonstrated experience building philanthropic programming.
Demonstrated experience as a highly collaborative team member with a track record of professionalism and demonstrated accountability and credibility by following through on commitments.
An established history of confidently receiving constructive feedback from others and a desire to look for continual improvement.
Experience as a communications professional, or a demonstrated ability to communicate with internal and external stakeholders, with excellent verbal and interpersonal communication skills
Interest and knowledge of veterinary medicine and its constituencies.
Possess knowledge of policies and procedures specifically related to campus vendor and financial systems and/or higher education administration.

Responsibilities

Coordinate planning and execution of events according to college and university policies, including but not limited to: Campaign specific special events, CVM’s alumni awards and class reunions, alumni and donor receptions including Awards and scholarships; Other college events – conferences and investitures, job fairs, game day events, golf outings.
Organize and execute the college’s annual awards and scholarships to ensure proper award amounts, award criteria, and process. Execute process around all constituents’ recognition and involvement.
Collaborate with college stakeholder groups on events, including yearly planning to build a comprehensive college event calendar.
Communicate with outside groups (campus and public) on event operations and expectations.
Coordinate logistics including identifying potential vendors, venues, service needs, and acquiring vendor contracts.
Assist with event execution including coordination of event setup and teardown.
Work with Advancement administrative team to adhere to OVCIA and college budget for events. Manage events budget and estimate return on investment for events. Administer appropriate reports when necessary to inform decision making with regard to revenue and registration of events.
Manage a repository of policies and procedures for project and events management, deadlines and contacts within a shared-drive for team members. This will also include post event follow-up, lessons learned, etc.
Utilize campus central database (TED) for contacts, invitations, attendees.
Hire, train and evaluate student interns and volunteers.
Travel and work evenings and weekends as needed.
Partner with team members to craft unique donor engagement experiences for the College of Veterinary Medicine – specific donors. Develop, manage and maintain comprehensive donor engagement plans.
Manage donor-funded projects and naming opportunities, where related to events in order to maximize donor satisfaction.
Develop, implement and manage student-constituent initiatives for the college as directed providing students with organized opportunities to connect with constituents in order to increase philanthropic inclination (e.g., alumni speaking panels, scholarship thank you letters, etc.)
Develop, implement and manage referring-DVMs and alumni initiatives for the college as directed providing DVMs with organized opportunities to connect with College of Veterinary Medicine leadership, clinicians, faculty and students in order to increase philanthropic inclination.
Collaborate with team members to facilitate donor stewardship materials, report templates, giving-programs enhancement, etc.
Identify ways to involve others (i.e., dean faculty, student, alumni, volunteers, etc.) in cultivation and stewardship efforts. Actively share contacts and relationships with those who may have common goals or needs.
Engage with faculty and staff to gain a strong knowledge of academic and research programs in order to identify and define priorities for potential funding through donor and alumni support.
Participate in Stewardship and Donor Relations centered events including but not limited to scholarship receptions, award ceremonies, donor appreciation celebrations and regional alumni events.
Collaborate with advancement members and the college departments on engaging all alumni for events and stewardship.
Provide quarterly reporting on alumni interactions provided by advancement gift officers.
Develop and implement college alumni engagement events to ensure alumni and donor engagement.
Work with senior administrators and advancement colleagues to both provide process improvement recommendations and to research problematic funds, including preparation of alternate use proposals to present to the Stewardship committee of the University of Illinois Foundation when necessary.
Attend campus meetings as requested.
Other duties as assigned.